Webb, Sidney, 1859-1947

Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, was born on July 13, 1859, in London, England.

He was a British social reformer, economist, and historian. He studied law at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution and King's College London. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn, and, in 1886, he obtained his LL.B. from London University. In 1885, G.B. Shaw introduced Webb to the Fabian Society, and he wrote for it on poverty in London, the eight-hour day, land nationalization, the nature of socialism, education, eugenics, and reform of the House of Lords, e.g., "Facts for Socialists" (1887) and "Facts for Londoners" (1889). They turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent politico-intellectual society in Edwardian England. In 1913, together with his wife, Webb founded the New Statesman magazine. In 1895, he helped found the London School of Economics and served as its Professor of Public Administration from 1912 to 1927. In 1929, he was created Baron Passfield of Passfield Corner in the County of Southampton. He served as Secretary of State for the Colonies (1929-1930) and as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (1930-1931). Webb was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1944 and received honorary degrees from the Universities of London, Wales, and Munich. He wrote the original, pro-nationalization Clause IV for the British Labour Party. Webb co-authored with his wife Beatrice “The History of Trade Unionism” (1894) and “Soviet Communism: a New Civilisation?” (2 vols., 1935).

In 1892, he married Martha Beatrice Potter (1858–1943). He died on October 13, 1947, in Liphook, Hampshire, England.