Trevelyan's Friend and Family

If you didn't read all about Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan the other day - and I'd be dead amazed if you did - you won't have read what his friend, Beatrice, said about him.  But first, a bit about her.

Beatrice Webb
Photo from Wikipedia

Beatrice Webb (nee Potter) 1858-1943) co-founded the London School of Economics and Political Science, or LSE, which suggests she was more than a pretty face with a well-endowed purse.  Through her interest and work in the area of social work and economic theory, she gave us the term 'collective bargaining'. As well as helping create the LSE, she was also active in the Fabian Society and in the formation of the Cooperative movement. She was altogether an amazing woman.  So now you're all set for the next pub quiz.

My cousin Frank, in Glasgow, once remarked that having seen some of the amazingly grand houses in Britain he was astounded that there hadn't been a revolution here like there was in much of Europe in the late 1800s, early 1900s.  I think it might well be in part because of the work of the aristocrats with socialist leanings. 

Anyhow, what Beatrice Webb said about Sir Charles is 

[He is] a man who has every endowment - social position, wealth, intelligence, an independent outlook, good looks, good manners.

Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan (1870-1958)
(photos from Wikipedia)

Sounds like a good catch, eh? His wife, Mary Katherine Bell apparently did nothing more exciting than bear the next baronet, who was effectively disinherited when Sir Charles donated Wallington Hall to the National Trust.  However her half-sister's name rang a...never mind.  I once did my best to read a biography of Gertude Bell, but didn't manage. Perhaps I'll try a different one some time. Surely the life of the first woman to cross the Sahara Desert is worth reading about.