John Cadbury 1801 – 1889 was proprietor of a small chocolate
business in Birmingham, England, that later became part of
Cadbury plc, one of the world’s largest chocolate producers.
Cadbury also campained against alcohol, and he led a campaign to
ban the use of child labour for sweeping chimneys and campaigned
against animal cruelty, forming the Animals Friend Society, a
forerunner of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. As a Quaker in the early 19th century, he was not
allowed to enter a university, so could not pursue a profession
such as medicine or law. As Quakers are pacifist, a military
career was also out of the question. So, like many other Quakers
of the time, he turned his energies toward business and began an
apprenticeship as a tea dealer in Leeds in 1818. Returning to
Birmingham in 1824, Cadbury opened a small one-man grocery shop
at 93 Bull Street. In 1831, he switched his business and rented
a small factory (an old malthouse) in Crooked Lane to begin the
manufacture of dri