The Right Honourable The Lord Passfield OM PC |
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Carbon print by W. & D. Downey, published in 1893
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President of the Board of Trade | |
In office 22 January 1924 – 3 November 1924 |
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Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
Preceded by | Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme |
Succeeded by | Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme |
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs | |
In office 7 June 1929 – 5 June 1930 |
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Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
Preceded by | Leo Amery |
Succeeded by | James Henry Thomas |
Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
In office 7 June 1929 – 24 August 1931 |
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Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
Preceded by | Leo Amery |
Succeeded by | James Henry Thomas |
Personal details | |
Born |
London |
13 July 1859
Died | 13 October 1947 Liphook, Hampshire |
(aged 88)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) |
Beatrice Potter (1858–1943) |
Alma mater |
Birkbeck, University of London King's College London |
Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield OM PC (13 July 1859 – 13 October 1947) was a British socialist, economist, reformer and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. He was one of the early members of the Fabian Society in 1884, along with George Bernard Shaw (they joined three months after its inception). Along with his wife Beatrice Webb, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Edward R. Pease, Hubert Bland, and Sydney Olivier, Shaw and Webb turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent political-intellectual society of England during the Edwardian era and beyond. He wrote the original Clause IV for the British Labour Party.
Webb was born in London to a professional family. He studied law at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution for a degree of the University of London in his spare time, while holding down an office job. He also studied at King's College London, prior to being called to the Bar in 1885.
In 1895, he helped to establish the London School of Economics, using a bequest left to the Fabian Society. He was appointed Professor of Public Administration in 1912, a post he held for fifteen years. In 1892, Webb married Beatrice Potter, who shared his interests and beliefs. The money she brought with her enabled him to give up his clerical job and concentrate on his other activities. Sidney and Beatrice Webb founded the New Statesman magazine in 1913.