When John Cadbury opened his shop in the centre of Birmingham in 1824, he sold coffee, tea, cocoa and drinking chocolate. What he definitely DIDN’T sell was alcohol. And there was a good reason for it.
John Cadbury was a religious man, a member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers as they were known. Quakers wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol – they thought it caused ordinary people misery and deprivation. So John Cadbury sold his hot drinks as good alternatives.
What else did Quakers believe in? They were one of many nonconformist groups formed in the 17th century as a protest against the established Church. They set out to carry their ideals into ‘campaigns for justice, equality and social reform, putting an end to poverty and deprivation’.
Because they were nonconformists, Quakers weren't allowed to go to university, so they couldn’t enter ‘the professions’ and get high-status jobs such as lawyers or doctors. Military service was out too, because Quakers were pacifists and didn’t believe in war.
It’s why so many Quaker families went into business in Victorian Britain – Cadbury, Frys of Bristol, Rowntrees and Terrys of York in confectionery, Sampson Lloyd of Birmingham who founded Lloyd’s Bank, the Hanburys who brought tinplate to Wales and the Darbys of Coalbrook who were the founders of the British iron industry.
Quakers were also hugely influential in social reform and helped transform society and industry in Victorian Britain. For instance John Cadbury led the campaign to outlaw the use of climbing boys to sweep chimneys – a dirty, dangerous and often fatal job. Furthermore he set up the 'Animals Friend Society', one of the forerunners of the RSPCA.