Fabian Society

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Characters Mary Augusta Ward
This novel traces the growth of the radical young Fabian Marcella (Venturist as she is called in the novel) who, as she says, was not brought up at all; I have had to make...
Cultural formation Annie Besant
In the course of her life, AB explored many facets of religion and politics. Early in her life she entertained a passionate Christian devotion and was inspired by the idea of sacrifice, even martyrdom. She...
Cultural formation Amber Reeves
Born a New Zealander, she clearly regarded herself later in life as English. Her parents were highly educated professionals. Her mother was a suffragist, and both parents became members of the Fabian Society (founded three...
Education Nina Bawden
Later she went to Ilford County High School. In retrospect, she saw herself as lucky to have attended this school: A lot of our teachers were the childless spinsters of the First World War; women...
Employer Katharine Bruce Glasier
Katharine Conway, later KBG , made her debut as a lecturer for the Fabian Society at Nelson in Lancashire.
Thompson, Laurence. The Enthusiasts. Victor Gollancz Limited.
71
Family and Intimate relationships Amber Reeves
AR 's mother, named Magdalen but known as Maud Pember Reeves , was born in Australia. In New Zealand she had been women's editor on a newspaper (edited by her husband), been a strong advocate...
Family and Intimate relationships Amber Reeves
AR 's time at the London School of Economics was ended when she became pregnant as a result of a sexual liaison with H. G. Wells , which had begun while she was at Cambridge...
Family and Intimate relationships E. Nesbit
EN bore her second son and third child, who was named Fabian after the recently founded Fabian Society ; he remained the youngest of her own children.
Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924. Hutchinson.
62
Family and Intimate relationships Isabella Ormston Ford
IOF 's cousins Elizabeth Pease Nichol and Katharine Blackhouse were among the leaders of the Ladies' National Association when it campaigned on the national stage for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Another cousin,...
Family and Intimate relationships Anna Wickham
AW 's father, Geoffrey Harper , came from a long line of tenant farmers and musicians in Shropshire. His own father, Edwin Harper (AW 's grandfather), was a gifted musician and organist at...
Family and Intimate relationships E. Nesbit
In 1886, the year of EN 's first stillbirth, her close friend Alice Hoatson became her husband's mistress. Alice then moved in with the Blands: ostensibly to help look after their children, since she was...
Family and Intimate relationships E. Nesbit
EN conducted a flirtation and probably a brief affair with Shaw , whom she met at the Fabian Society around 1885. In his words she became passionately attached to him, though it appears he had...
Family and Intimate relationships Amber Reeves
AR and the young Fabian lawyer George Rivers Blanco White were married; she accepted his proposal because she was pregnant by H. G. Wells .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924. Hutchinson.
314
Friends, Associates Annie Besant
Soon after AB met George Bernard Shaw , possibly as early as 1884, they became close friends, sharing a bond in their activities with the Fabian Society . Shaw later claimed that some romantic intrigue...
Friends, Associates Dorothy Richardson
It was H. G. Wells who introduced her to the Fabian Society ,
Fromm, Gloria G. Dorothy Richardson: A Biography. University of Illinois Press.
38
and their friendship developed into a love-affair.

Timeline

January 1884: The Fabian Society was founded in London...

National or international item

January 1884

The Fabian Society was founded in London to publicize socialist ideas and investigate the application of socialist principles to British conditions.

September 1886: A famous meeting of the Fabian Society resolved...

National or international item

September 1886

A famous meeting of the Fabian Society resolved that it was desirable for socialists to form a politial party; this was the first germ of the Labour Party .

October 1886: Freedom, a popular anarchist newspaper, was...

National or international item

October 1886

Freedom, a popular anarchist newspaper, was founded in London by Charlotte M. Wilson and Peter Kropotkin .

26 May 1905: The Fabian Society set up a committee under...

Building item

26 May 1905

The Fabian Society set up a committee under Sidney Webb to investigate the declining birth rate and the level of infant mortality.

October 1908: Edith Morley won a battle in her ongoing...

Building item

October 1908

Edith Morley won a battle in her ongoing struggle against gender discrimination when she became the first female professor at any British university or college.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

16 December 1911: The National Insurance Act received Royal...

National or international item

16 December 1911

The National Insurance Act received Royal Assent; it introduced maternity benefits (payable to husbands) and covered manual workers from sixteen to seventy employed in certain industries subject to recurrent unemployment.

November 1981: Shirley Williams (daughter of Vera Brittain)...

Women writers item

November 1981

Shirley Williams (daughter of Vera Brittain ) became the first member of the Gang of Four, leaders of the newly-founded Social Democratic Party , to win a seat in Parliament : for Crosby, Lancashire.

Texts

Brophy, Brigid. Religious Education in State Schools. Fabian Society, 1967.
Webb, Beatrice. The Wages of Men and Women: Should They be Equal?. Fabian Society, 1919.
Webb, Beatrice. Women and the Factory Acts. Fabian Society, 1896.