Webb

BEATRICE WEBB (1858 - 1943)

The celebrated Beatrice Potter (later Beatrice Webb) stayed at the Bath Hotel in Tynemouth (now the Royal Sovereign Hotel, Bath Terrace) from early September to 16 October 1891, after spending a busy week at the Trades Union Congress in Newcastle.

Sidney Webb joined her later in Tynemouth for two weeks, discreetly staying at another hotel while pretending to be her secretary. This was 'a blessed time', writes Beatrice, as the two toiled away at her books on trade unionism, with brief intervals of 'human nature' over cigarettes and afternoon tea.

Drudgery in offices and trudging to interviews took up much time; one of their meetings seems to have been with Sir Hugh Bell, father of Gertrude Bell (q.v.). Beatrice sent Sidney to interview the 'Good Intent Coopers' the evening before his departure, and both had spent the day before that interviewing plumbers in a Newcastle pub. Such was the dedication of the Webbs, who helped to lay the foundations of the welfare state. Founders of the London School of Economics in 1895, they were prominent figures in the Labour movement throughout their long lives, consorting with glamorous figures like Bernard Shaw (q.v.) and H.G. Wells. They appear in the latter's novel The New Machiavelli as rather over-dedicated folk (Beatrice Webb had 'pro bono publico' inscribed in her wedding ring). The heroine of Shaw's The Millionairess is based on Beatrice.

The Webbs produced many books together and Beatrice wrote two volumes of autobiography My Apprenticeship (1926) and Our Partnership (1948). Her absorbing diary is a classic of its kind. Oddly enough, though Beatrice had read Harriet Martineau's autobiography, she does not refer to the earlier writer's long residence in Tynemouth in her entries for this period. Cookson Street, off Westgate Road in Newcastle is the site of the old St Philip's vicarage, described by Beatrice Webb as 'badly built and designd but pleasantly appointed'. For five weeks in the summer of 1900, the Webbs stayed there with the vicar, William Moll, a Fabian Society member, while they studied the workings of Newcastle local government (they were not impressed). Beatrice and Sidney also visited Wallington Hall on Saturday 20 August 1900. She describes it without Ruskinian rapture as 'a moderate-sized country house, with a certain stateliness, a pretension surrounded by beautiful woods, and the romantic scenery of the highlands of Northumberland.' The meeting with George Otto Trevelyan (q.v.) and his wife was cool on both sides. 'Between the old Trevelyans and ourselves there is no sympathy and little liking'. She regarded them as boring and tight-fisted. This failing extended to their son C.P. Trevelyan, whom they wanted to like. Beatrice remarks:

'The Trevelyans throughout their lives, tried to do the correct thing: they have never been carried away to do the right thing.'

Beatrice was glad to return to the ugly vicarage in Newcastle. The house was well furnished with theological books and the Webbs took some with them on their holiday break to Bamburgh. They had evidently met John Theodore Merz of The Quarries, Grainger Road, near Newcastle General Hospital. He had written a long erudite work A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth century and Beatrice tells us that a 'remarkable Newcastle man, Dr Merz', gave them his own History of Thought to read. On the coast at Bamburgh, they spent three weeks 'lying in a tent on the sand, watching the sea, or cycling over moorland and mountain, or wading out to rocks or islands - a quite enchanting holiday.'

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
BEATRICE WEBB (1858 - 1943) The celebrated Beatrice Potter (later Beatrice Webb) stayed at the Bath Hotel in Tynemouth (now the Royal Sovereign Hotel, Bath Terrace) from early September to 16 October 1891, after spending a busy week at the Trades Union Congress in Newcastle. Sidney Webb joined her later in Tynemouth for two weeks, discreetly staying at another hotel while pretending to be her secretary. This was 'a blessed time', writes Beatrice, as the two toiled away at her books on trade unionism, with brief intervals of 'human nature' over cigarettes and afternoon tea. Drudgery in offices and trudging to interviews took up much time; one of their meetings seems to have been with Sir Hugh Bell, father of Gertrude Bell (q.v.). Beatrice sent Sidney to interview the 'Good Intent Coopers' the evening before his departure, and both had spent the day before that interviewing plumbers in a Newcastle pub. Such was the dedication of the Webbs, who helped to lay the foundations of the welfare state. Founders of the London School of Economics in 1895, they were prominent figures in the Labour movement throughout their long lives, consorting with glamorous figures like Bernard Shaw (q.v.) and H.G. Wells. They appear in the latter's novel The New Machiavelli as rather over-dedicated folk (Beatrice Webb had 'pro bono publico' inscribed in her wedding ring). The heroine of Shaw's The Millionairess is based on Beatrice. The Webbs produced many books together and Beatrice wrote two volumes of autobiography My Apprenticeship (1926) and Our Partnership (1948). Her absorbing diary is a classic of its kind. Oddly enough, though Beatrice had read Harriet Martineau's autobiography, she does not refer to the earlier writer's long residence in Tynemouth in her entries for this period. Cookson Street, off Westgate Road in Newcastle is the site of the old St Philip's vicarage, described by Beatrice Webb as 'badly built and designd but pleasantly appointed'. For five weeks in the summer of 1900, the Webbs stayed there with the vicar, William Moll, a Fabian Society member, while they studied the workings of Newcastle local government (they were not impressed). Beatrice and Sidney also visited Wallington Hall on Saturday 20 August 1900. She describes it without Ruskinian rapture as 'a moderate-sized country house, with a certain stateliness, a pretension surrounded by beautiful woods, and the romantic scenery of the highlands of Northumberland.' The meeting with George Otto Trevelyan (q.v.) and his wife was cool on both sides. 'Between the old Trevelyans and ourselves there is no sympathy and little liking'. She regarded them as boring and tight-fisted. This failing extended to their son C.P. Trevelyan, whom they wanted to like. Beatrice remarks: 'The Trevelyans throughout their lives, tried to do the correct thing: they have never been carried away to do the right thing.' Beatrice was glad to return to the ugly vicarage in Newcastle. The house was well furnished with theological books and the Webbs took some with them on their holiday break to Bamburgh. They had evidently met John Theodore Merz of The Quarries, Grainger Road, near Newcastle General Hospital. He had written a long erudite work A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth century and Beatrice tells us that a 'remarkable Newcastle man, Dr Merz', gave them his own History of Thought to read. On the coast at Bamburgh, they spent three weeks 'lying in a tent on the sand, watching the sea, or cycling over moorland and mountain, or wading out to rocks or islands - a quite enchanting holiday.'
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