Helen Cadbury

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Many associate the name Cadbury with chocolate confectionery, but one of the family members was Helen Cadbury, who founded a business far different from the business of making chocolate confectionery.

At the age of twelve, she came to know the joy of having the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. Having repented of her sin and put her faith in Christ, she wanted to tell her school friends that they, too, could have Him as their Lord and Saviour. She did this by placing a Bible on her school desk. A Christian group grew from this, but they found that heavy Bibles were difficult to cope with in the playground. So the girls had pockets sewn into their dresses so that they could carry a small New Testament. Within a few years, the group had sixty members under the name of the Pocket Testament League. Members promised to read part of their New Testaments each day and tell others how to be saved by repentance and faith in Christ.

Cadbury’s Chocolate

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The name Cadbury is associated, in many peoples minds, with their range of chocolate products but there is more to their story than the production of sweet confectionery.

In 1879 George and Richard Cadbury moved their factory out of the centre of Birmingham into the healthy clear air of the rural Bournbrook Estate. George Cadbury was appalled at the terrible living conditions of workers in the city and he wanted better lives for those he employed. So alongside the new factory a village was constructed. The brothers adopted a french sounding name Bournville, for the area, as France had a good reputation for food and they thought that this might help in boosting sales of their products.

An Architect was employed to design the village. Rules were strict, each house was not to occupy more than a quarter of the building plot. Gardens had to be not less than one sixth of an acre and have at least six fruit trees.