Richard Cadbury

For the British abolitionist, see Richard Tapper Cadbury.

Richard Cadbury
Richard Barrow Cadbury
Born	Richard Barrow Cadbury (1835-08-29)29 August 1835 Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England
Died	22 March 1899(1899-03-22) (aged 63) Jerusalem, Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire
Occupation(s)	Chocolate manufacturer, entrepreneur, philanthropist
Years active	1861–1899
Known for	Co-founder of Bournville with his brother George Cadbury
Children	Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury
Relatives	Cadbury family

English Heritage blue plaque at Wheeley's Road, Edgbaston

Richard Barrow Cadbury (29 August 1835 – 22 March 1899) was an English entrepreneur, chocolate-maker and philanthropist. He was the second son of the Quaker John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company.

Career

Together with his younger brother George he took over the family business in 1861. Richard was the first to commercialise the connection between romance and confectionery with the company producing a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in 1868.^[1] In 1878 they acquired 14 acres (57,000 m²) of land in open country, four miles (6 km) south of Birmingham where they opened a new factory in 1879. Over the following years, more land was acquired and a model village was built for his workers, which became known as Bournville.

He donated Moseley Hall to the City of Birmingham, for use as a children's convalescent home.^[2]

Death

Having fallen ill with diphtheria during a trip to the Khedivate of Egypt, Cadbury was taken for treatment to the hospital of the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, but succumbed to his illness on 22 March 1899, aged 63^[3] At that time, he and his brother George owned 100% of the ordinary shares in their business.^[4]

Aftermath

In 1905 the executors of Cadbury's estate distributed £40,000 to various charities including £10,000 to the Temperance Hospital in London.^[5]

His wife Emma died in 1907 after falling down some stairs while at sea on the Empress of India. His daughter Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury worked as an educational reformer and, for her work saving Jewish children during the Holocaust, was posthumously honoured as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.^[6]

References

1. Guinness World Records 2017. Guinness World Records. 8 September 2016. p. 90. ISBN 9781910561348. Richard Cadbury, eldest son of John Cadbury who founded the now iconic brand, was the first chocolate-maker to commercialize the association between confectionery and romance, producing a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in 1868
2. "Moseley Hall". Retrieved 13 September 2013.
3. "Chocolate, Tragedy, and Redemption". CMJ Israel. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
4. Franks, Julian; Mayer, Colin; Rossi, Stefano (2005). "Spending Less Time with the Family: The Decline of Family Ownership in the United Kingdom". In Morck, Randall K. (ed.). A History of Corporate Governance around the World: Family Business Groups to Professional Mergers. University of Chicago Press. p. 600. ISBN 0-226-53680-7.
5. "Mr, Richard Cadbury's Will - Munificent Bequests". Gloucester Journal. 25 March 1905. p. 1.
6. "Gezinsblad van Beatrice Cadbury". De geschiedneis van het humanitarisme in Nederland (in Dutch and English). Retrieved 10 July 2022. Yad Vashem file number M.31.2/4963/1

• Williams, I. A. "Cadbury, George". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32232. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

Media related to Richard Cadbury at Wikimedia Commons