Overview: Quakers and Chocolate provides a brief history of chocolate, focusing on the convictions and actions of some members of the Quaker families who did so much to make chocolate part of everyday life.

Verdict: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Rowntree’s Kit Kat, and Fry’s Turkish Delight are all well-known [notably British] chocolate treats. The three cocoa families who indulged our chocolate cravings for over a century were all Quakers, and this affected both how they amassed their fortunes and how they spent them.

George and Richard Cadbury in Birmingham, Joseph Rowntree in York, and Fry’s of Bristol all strove to improve the lives of those living in Victorian slums. They built factories and towns in the countryside, provided recreation and medical facilities, and gave away significant proportions of their wealth to establish charitable trusts.

Some of their descendants carried on the family businesses, but others made significant contributions elsewhere. Richard’s daughter Beatrice campaigned vigorously against capitalism and for peace, and Joseph’s son John Wilhelm was instrumental in bringing Quakerism in line with the latest discoveries in science.

In the mid-19th century the Quaker chocolate dynasty Fry & Sons developed a way to mix cocoa powder with sugar and cocoa butter to produce a smooth paste which could be poured into a mold. This is considered to be the first chocolate bar designed for eating rather than being converted into a drink.

Looking back and a major part of the reason that Quakers chose the confectionery business was due to matters of conscience. Cocoa and sugar appeared to be ethical alternatives to alcohol, seen as a cause of great moral evil to Quakers of the time. The companies were primed to succeed as Quakers had already built up a reputation for business integrity, thanks to their faith-inspired insistence on fair pricing and paying off debts.

During the Victorian era, the popularity of chocolate catapulted the three Quaker confectioners into public prominence. They experimented with new flavors and styles, and also adopted innovative approaches to business. George and Richard Cadbury chose to build houses, parks and recreation centers in Bourneville, Birmingham so that their workers had comfortable accommodation away from city smog. Quaker employers also pioneered pension schemes and lobbied for improved labor laws.

None of the Quaker chocolatiers exist today, though many of their products do. Fry’s merged with Cadbury’s in 1919; Rowntree’s was finally taken over by Nestlé in 1988 and Cadbury’s by Kraft in 2010. The Quaker influence in these businesses had either declined or disappeared by the time these takeovers and mergers took place, but their collective histories - along with the fact that chocolate was a good alternative to alcohol and therefore was known as an ‘innocent trade’ - means we still, to this day, can enjoy this tasty confectionery treat.

About the Author - Helen Holt has PhDs in physics and Quaker studies and an MSc on the relationship between science and religion. She is active in her local Quaker meeting in the beautiful Scottish Borders.

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