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This ubiquitous chocolate brand was founded by a deeply Christian family. Enjoy some delicious bite-sized nuggets of the fascinating history behind Cadbury! This family changed society for the better in many ways.

‘What to bring when you’re told not to bring a thing.’

It’s Cadbury Favourites of course. Yep, the big purple box with its treasure of miniature confections inside — chocolates as uniquely Australian as Uluru or a kangaroo.

You’ll find a teeny tiny Crunchie bar, a Picnic, a Dream, a Cherry Ripe, a Timeout and a Boost — all of them invented in Australia, along with Roses chocolates and Freddo Frogs.

The Cadbury factory in Claremont, a suburb of Glenorchy in Tasmania, is part of a residential development modelled after the specially-created town of Bourneville in England.

Workers’ Rights

Factories in Victorian England were usually dark, oppressive and unhealthy places to work. Fatalities often occurred. The Cadbury brothers, who revolutionised the production of chocolate, were at the forefront of improving working conditions for their employees.

The Cadbury family were devout followers of Jesus and His teachings. They were continually conscious of Jesus’ golden rule — do unto others as you would like them to do to you. They built a radically innovative workplace with warm rooms to dry clothes and rooms to cook food. They followed this with a workers’ village incorporating sporting fields and lily ponds and enough land for each house to have a vegetable garden. To cap off these ground-breaking social benefits, there was even a retirement plan.

Successful Substitute

Despite many setbacks, John Cadbury pioneered the commercial production of drinking chocolate and cocoa. A social activist, John campaigned against slavery, the exploitation of children in the workforce and cruelty to animals. His dream was to produce a drink that would be an alternative to alcohol.

His belief that drinking chocolate was not only healthy but could pull families away from pubs is reflected in some of his early brand names: Churchman’s Chocolate and Homeopathic. Certainly, neither of them has the ring of Rocky Road or Caramello, does it?

Yet his vision has continued to influence Bourneville. This district, around the original Cadbury factory outside of Birmingham, has been ‘dry’ for over a century. Even today, none of the local pubs, bars or shops serve alcohol.

Pacifists

John Cadbury’s concern for the welfare of workers continued through many generations of his family. His son George ploughed the profits of the firm into pension reform and, as a pacifist, opposition to the Boer War.

Quakers, also known as Friends, fervently believe in pacifism — non-violent solutions to the world’s problems. It has been a challenge for them during the world wars of the twentieth century to show their patriotism, despite refusing to enlist.

In the Second World War, Paul Cadbury reactivated the Friends’ Ambulance Unit to support the troops in many battle theatres. Because of the Cadbury connection, the name given to pacifists and conscientious objectors who worked in the war zone as non-combatants was ‘chocolate soldiers’.

Unfortunately, the high ideals of the Cadbury family have been all but lost in our modern society.

Their Christian legacy however has not totally been lost, as their efforts to create a just and equitable society have changed the face of the western world. They were people who not only put their money where their mouth was, but where their heart was. They followed the Scriptural directive:

‘… what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
~ Micah 6:8 (NIV)

Those qualities are the very things the Cadbury family has shown the world — when you’re told not to bring a thing: justice, love, mercy and humility are never out of date.

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Originally published at DIDUNO by Annie Hamilton. Photo by alleksana.