View source for Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield

{{redirect|Sidney Webb|the English cricketer|Sidney Webb (cricketer)|the English footballer|Sid Webb}}
{{Short description|English socialist economist (1859–1947)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = The Lord Passfield
|honorific-suffix = [[Order of Merit|OM]] [[His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|PC]]
|image = Sidney Webb (cropped).jpg
|caption = Webb in 1893
|imagesize = 
|order1 = [[President of the Board of Trade]]
|term_start1 = 22 January 1924
|term_end1 = 3 November 1924
|monarch1 = [[George V]]
|primeminister1 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
|predecessor1 = [[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme]]
|successor1 = [[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme]]
|order2 = [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs]]
|term_start2 = 7 June 1929
|term_end2 = 5 June 1930
|monarch2 = [[George V]]
|primeminister2 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
|predecessor2 = [[Leo Amery]]
|successor2 = [[James Henry Thomas]]
|order3 = [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]
|term_start3 = 7 June 1929
|term_end3 = 24 August 1931
|monarch3 = [[George V]]
|primeminister3 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
|predecessor3 = [[Leo Amery]]
|successor3 = [[James Henry Thomas]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1859|07|13}}
|birth_place = London, England
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1947|10|13|1859|07|13}}
|death_place = [[Liphook]], Hampshire, England
|party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|alma_mater = [[Birkbeck, University of London]] <br /> [[King's College London]]
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Beatrice Potter]]|1892|1943|end=her death}}
|birth_name = Sidney James Webb
}}
'''Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|OM|PC}} (13 July 1859 – 13 October 1947) was a [[History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom|British socialist]], economist and reformer, who co-founded the [[London School of Economics]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Mary E. |date=1948 |title=In Memoriam: Sidney Webb, 1859-1947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2771223 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=295–296 |doi=10.1086/220176 |jstor=2771223 |issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was an early member of the [[Fabian Society]] in 1884, joining, like [[George Bernard Shaw]], three months after its inception. Along with his wife [[Beatrice Webb]] and with [[Annie Besant]], [[Graham Wallas]], [[Edward R. Pease]], [[Hubert Bland]] and [[Sydney Olivier]], Shaw and Webb turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent politico-intellectual society in [[Edwardian]] England. He wrote the original, pro-nationalisation [[Clause IV]] for the British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].

==Background and education==
Webb was born at 45, Cranbourn Street, near [[Leicester Square]], London, the second of three children of Charles Webb (1828/9-1891) and Elizabeth Mary (1820/21-1895), née Stacey. His father was "variously described as an accountant, a perfumer, and a hairdresser"; his mother was a "hairdresser and dealer in toiletries". Webb's upbringing was "comfortable", the family employing a live-in servant; his father was "a man of local substance" as a rate collector, guardian, and sergeant in a volunteer regiment. Having attended a "first-class middle class day school" at [[St Martin's Lane]], and his parents having sent him abroad to Switzerland and Germany to extend his education,<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-36799 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36799 | date=2004 | last1=Davis | first1=John | title=Webb &#91;née Potter&#93;, (Martha) Beatrice (1858–1943), social reformer and diarist }}</ref> Webb later studied law at the [[Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution]] for a degree of the [[University of London]] in his spare time, while holding an office job. He also studied at [[King's College London]], before being [[called to the Bar]] at [[Gray's Inn]] in 1885.

==Professional life==
In 1895, Webb helped to found the London School of Economics with a bequest left to the Fabian Society. He was appointed its Professor of Public Administration in 1912 and held the post for 15 years. In 1892, he married [[Beatrice Potter]], who shared his interests and beliefs.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sidney-and-Beatrice-Webb |title=Sidney and Beatrice Webb {{!}} British economists |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=2017-08-25 |language=en}}</ref> The money she contributed to the marriage enabled him to give up his clerical job and concentrate on his other activities. Sidney and Beatrice Webb founded the ''[[New Statesman]]'' magazine in 1913.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/media/magazines/2013/04/leader-world-movement-towards-collectivism The world movement towards collectivism], Beatrice and Sidney Webb, [[New Statesman]], 12 April 1913;<br/>[http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2013/04/leader-bending-arc-history-towards-justice-and-freedom Bending the arc of history towards justice and freedom], [[New Statesman]], 12 April 2013, retrieved 13 May 2014.</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Beatrice and Sidney Webb, 1932.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Sidney Webb and [[Beatrice Webb]]]]
Webb and Potter were members of the Labour Party and took an active role in politics. Sidney became Member of Parliament for [[Seaham (UK Parliament constituency)|Seaham]] at the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922 general election]].<ref>The History of the Fabian Society, Edward R. Pease, Frank Cass and Co. LTD, 1963</ref> The couple's influence can be seen in their hosting of the [[The Coefficients|Coefficients]], a dining club that drew in some leading statesmen and thinkers of the day. In 1929, he was created '''Baron Passfield''' of Passfield Corner in the County of Southampton.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33509 |date=25 June 1929 |page=4189}}</ref> He served as [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] and as [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs]] in [[Ramsay MacDonald]]'s [[second Labour Government]] in 1929.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

As Colonial Secretary he issued the [[Passfield White Paper]] that revised the government policy on [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], previously set by the [[Churchill White Paper]] of 1922. In 1930, failing health caused him to step down as Dominions Secretary, but he stayed on as Colonial Secretary until the fall of the Labour government in August 1931.{{cn|date=November 2021}}

The Webbs ignored mounting evidence of atrocities being committed by [[Joseph Stalin]] and remained supporters of the [[Soviet Union]] until their deaths. Having reached their seventies and early eighties, their books, ''Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?'' (1935) and ''The Truth About Soviet Russia'' (1942), still gave a positive assessment of Stalin's regime. The [[Trotskyist]] historian [[Al Richardson (historian)|Al Richardson]] later dubbed ''Soviet Communism: A New Civilization?'' "pure Soviet propaganda at its most mendacious".<ref>Al Richardson, "Introduction" to [[C. L. R. James]], ''World Revolution 1917–1936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International''. Humanities Press (reprint), 1994; {{ISBN|0-391-03790-0}}</ref>

==Writings==
Webb co-authored with his wife ''[[The History of Trade Unionism]]'' (1894). For the Fabian Society he wrote on poverty in London,<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=Facts for Londoners: An exhaustive collection of statistical and other facts relating to the metropolis: with suggestions for reform on socialist principles |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=8 |year=1889 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/facts-for-londoners-an-exhaustive-collection-of-statistical-and-other-facts-with-suggestions-for-reform-on-socialist-principles-1889/90590}}</ref> the [[eight-hour day]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=An Eight Hours Bill in the form of an amendment of the Factory Acts, with further provisions for the improvement of the conditions of labour |date=May 1890 |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=9 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/an-eight-hours-bill-in-the-form-of-an-amendment-of-the-factory-acts-with-further-provisions-for-the-improvement-of-the-conditions-of-labour-1890/90736}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=The case for an Eight Hours Bill |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=23 |year=1891 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-case-for-an-eight-hours-bill-1891/91212}}</ref> land [[nationalisation]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=Practicable land nationalization |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=12 |year=1890 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/practicable-land-nationalization-1890/90860}}</ref> the nature of socialism,<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=Socialism: true and false. A lecture delivered to the Fabian Society |date=21 January 1894 |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=51 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/socialism-true-and-false-1894/92531}}</ref> education,<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=The education muddle and the way out: a constructive criticism of English educational machinery |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=106 |year=1901 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-education-muddle-and-the-way-out-a-constructive-criticism-of-english-educational-machinery-1901/94492}}</ref> [[eugenics]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=The decline in the birth-rate |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=131 |year=1907 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-decline-in-the-birth-rate-1907/95436}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-17 |title=Eugenics: the skeleton that rattles loudest in the left's closet {{!}} Jonathan Freedland |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/17/eugenics-skeleton-rattles-loudest-closet-left |access-date=2020-06-15 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> and [[reform of the House of Lords]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Webb |first=Sidney |title=The reform of the House of Lords |journal=Fabian Tract |volume=183 |year=1917 |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-reform-of-the-house-of-lords-1917/97806}}</ref> He also drafted [[Clause IV]], which committed the Labour Party to public ownership of industry.{{cn|date=November 2021}}

==References in literature==
[[File:Beatrice and Sidney Webb, c1895 (9259293969).jpg|thumb|right|Beatrice and Sidney Webb working together in 1895]]
In [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The New Machiavelli]]'' (1911), the Webbs, as "the Baileys", are mercilessly lampooned as short-sighted, bourgeois manipulators. The Fabian Society, of which Wells was briefly a member (1903–1908), fares no better in his estimation.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Beatrice Webb in her diary records that they "read the caricatures of ourselves... with much interest and amusement. The portraits are very clever in a malicious way."<ref>{{cite web |title=Webbs on the Web &#124; LSE Digital Library |url=https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/list/collections/18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Explore our collection {{!}} Beatrice Webb's typescript diary, 2 January 1901 – 10 February 1911 |url=http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/ |website=LSE Digital Library}}</ref> She reviews the book and Wells's character, summarising: "As an attempt at representing a political philosophy the book utterly fails..."<ref>{{cite web |title=Explore our collection {{!}} Beatrice Webb's typescript diary, 2 January 1901 – 10 February 1911 |url=http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/ |website=LSE Digital Library}}</ref>

==Personal life==
{{Moresources|section|date=November 2021}}
When his wife, Beatrice, died in 1943, the casket of her ashes was buried in the garden of their house in Passfield Corner, as were those of Lord Passfield in 1947.

Shortly afterwards, [[George Bernard Shaw]] launched a [[petition]] to have both reburied in [[Westminster Abbey]], which was eventually granted – the Webbs' ashes are interred in the nave, close to those of [[Clement Attlee]] and [[Ernest Bevin]].

The Webbs were also friends of philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]].<ref>''Autobiography of Bertrand Russell'' (London: Allen and Unwin, 1969).</ref>

In 2006, the London School of Economics, alongside the Housing Association, renamed its Great Dover Street student residence Sidney Webb House in his honour.

==Archives==
Sidney Webb's papers form part of the Passfield archive at the London School of Economics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.lse.ac.uk/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=PASSFIELD. |title=Collection Browser}}</ref> Posts about Sidney Webb regularly appear in the LSE Archives blog.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100419031104/http://lib-1.lse.ac.uk/archivesblog/?tag=webbs Out of the box.]</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
;Works by Sidney Webb
*Facts for Socialists (1887)
*Fabian Essays in Socialism – The Basis of Socialism – Historic (1889)
*{{Cite journal |last = Webb | first = Sidney | author-link = Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield | author-mask=0 |date=April 1889 |title=Socialism in England |journal=Publications of the American Economic Association |volume=4 |issue=2 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i342415}}
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/a-plea-for-an-eight-hours-bill-1890/91040 A plea for an eight hours bill] (1890)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/english-progress-towards-social-democracy-1890/90977 English progress towards social democracy] (1890)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/practicable-land-nationalization-1890/90860 Practicable land nationalization] (1890)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-workers-political-programme-1890/90775 The workers' political programme] (1890)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/what-the-farm-laborer-wants-1890/91129 What the farm laborer wants] (1890)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/a-labour-policy-for-public-authorities-1891/91788 A Labour policy for public authorities] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/londons-neglected-heritage-1891/91628 London's neglected heritage] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/londons-water-tribute-1891/91735 London's water tribute] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/municipal-tramways-1891/91691 Municipal tramways] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-municipalisation-of-the-gas-supply-1891/91655 The municipalisation of the gas supply] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-reform-of-the-poor-law-1891/91050 The reform of the poor law] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-scandal-of-londons-markets-1891/91771 The scandal of London's markets] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-unearned-increment-1891/91611 The "unearned increment"] (1891)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/socialism-true-and-false-1894/92531 Socialism : true and false] (1894)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-london-vestries-what-they-are-and-what-they-do-with-map-table-of-vestries-etc-1894/92770 The London vestries: what they are and what they do: with map, table of vestries, etc.] (1894)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-difficulties-of-individualism-1896/92936 The difficulties of individualism] (1896)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/labor-in-the-longest-reign-1837-1897-1897/93132 Labor in the longest reign (1837-1897)] (1897)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-economics-of-direct-employment-with-an-account-of-the-fair-wage-policy-1898/93762 The economics of direct employment] (1898)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/five-years-fruits-of-the-parish-councils-act-1901/94410 Five years' fruits of the Parish Councils Act] (1901)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-education-muddle-and-the-way-out-1901/94458 The education muddle and the way out] (1901)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/twentieth-century-politics-a-policy-of-national-efficiency-1901/94568 Twentieth century politics : a policy of national efficiency] (1901)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-education-act-1902-how-to-make-the-best-of-it-1903/94762 The Education Act, 1902 : how to make the best of it] (1903)
*London Education (1904)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-london-education-act-1903-how-to-make-the-best-of-it-1904/94900 The London Education Act, 1903 : how to make the best of it] (1904)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/paupers-and-old-age-pensions-1907/95563 Paupers and old age pensions] (1907)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-decline-in-the-birth-rate-1907/95436 The decline in the birth-rate] (1907)
*Grants in Aid: A Criticism and a Proposal (1911)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-necessary-basis-of-society-1911/96592 The necessary basis of society] (1911)
*[https://econpapers.repec.org/article/ucpjpolec/v_3a20_3ay_3a1912_3ap_3a973.htm The Economic Theory of a Legal Minimum Wage] (1912)
*Seasonal Trades, with A. Freeman (1912)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/what-about-the-rates-or-municipal-finance-and-municipal-autonomy-1913/97232 What about the rates? : or, Municipal finance and municipal autonomy] (1913)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-war-and-the-workers-handbook-of-some-immediate-measures-to-prevent-unemployment-and-relieve-distress-1914/97414 The War and the workers : handbook of some immediate measures to prevent unemployment and relieve distress] (1914)
*The Restoration of Trade Union Conditions (1916)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/when-peace-comes-the-way-of-industrial-reconstruction-1916/97657 When peace comes : the way of industrial reconstruction] (1916)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-reform-of-the-house-of-lords-1917/97806 The reform of the House of Lords] (1917)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-teacher-in-politics-1918/97946 The teacher in politics] (1918)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/national-finance-and-a-levy-on-capital-what-the-labour-party-intends-1919/97978 National finance and a levy on capital] (1919)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-root-of-labour-unrest-an-address-to-employers-and-managers-1920/98294 The root of labour unrest] (1920)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-constitutional-problems-of-a-co-operative-society-1923/98582 The constitutional problems of a co-operative society] (1923)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-labour-party-on-the-threshold-1923/98844 The Labour Party on the threshold] (1923)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-need-for-federal-reorganisation-in-the-co-operative-movement-1923/98629 The need for federal reorganisation in the co-operative movement] (1923)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/the-local-government-act-1929-how-to-make-the-best-of-it/99727 The Local Government Act, 1929 - how to make the best of it] (1929)
*[https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/what-happened-in-1931-a-record-1932/99969 What happened in 1931: a record] (1932)

;Works by Sidney and Beatrice Webb
*''[[History of Trade Unionism]]'' (1894)
*''[[Industrial Democracy]]'' (1897);<ref>{{Citation |last1=Webb |first1= Sidney |last2= Webb |first2= Beatrice |year=1897 |title= Industrial Democracy  |volume= I |edition= 1|publisher= Longmans, Green & Co |publication-date=1897 |publication-place= London, New York, Bombay |url=https://archive.org/details/industrialdemocr01webb |access-date= 5 October 2014}}; {{Citation |last1=Webb |first1= Sidney |last2= Webb |first2= Beatrice |year=1897 |title= Industrial Democracy  |volume= II |edition= 1|publisher= Longmans, Green & Co |publication-date=1897 |publication-place= London, New York, Bombay |url=https://archive.org/details/industrialdemocr02webb |access-date= 5 October 2014}}</ref> translated into Russian by Lenin as ''The Theory and Practice of British Trade Unionism'', St Petersburg, 1900
*''Problems of Modern Industry'' (1898)
*''Bibliography of road making and maintenance in Great Britain'' (1906)<ref name="RIA bibliography">{{cite web |title=Full text of "Bibliography of road making and maintenance in Great Britain" |url=https://archive.org/stream/bibliographyofro00webbrich/bibliographyofro00webbrich_djvu.txt |website=Internet Archive |access-date=21 March 2022}} A sixpenny pamphlet for the [[Roads Improvement Association]].</ref>
*''[[English Local Government]]'' (1906 through 1929) Vol. I–X
*The Manor and the Borough (1908)
*The Break-Up of the Poor Law (1909)
*English Poor Law Policy (1910)
*The Cooperative Movement (1914)
*Works Manager Today (1917)
*The Consumer's Cooperative Movement (1921)
*Decay of Capitalist Civilization (1923)
*Methods of Social Study (1932)
*{{cite book |title= Soviet Communism: A new civilisation? |edition= 1st |year= 1935 |place= |publisher= |via= [[Internet Archive]]}} [https://archive.org/details/SovietCommunismVolOne Vol I] [https://archive.org/details/SovietCommunismVolTwo Vol II]) (the 2nd and 3rd editions of 1941 and 1944 did not have "?" in the title)
*The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942)
}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Bevir, Mark. "Sidney Webb: Utilitarianism, positivism, and social democracy." ''Journal of Modern History'' 74.2 (2002): 217–252 [http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7vm01529#page-1 online]
*Cole, Margaret, et al. ''The Webbs and their work'' (1949)
*Davanzati, Guglielmo Forges, and Andrea Pacella. "Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Towards an Ethical Foundation of the Operation of the Labour Market." ''History of Economic Ideas'' (2004): 25–49
*Farnham, David. "Beatrice and Sidney Webb and the Intellectual Origins of British Industrial Relations." ''Employee Relations'' (2008). 30: 534–552

* Hamilton, Mary Agnes. ''Sidney and Beatrice Webb: a study in contemporary biography'' (1933). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.81184/page/n4/mode/1up online]
*Harrison, Royden. ''The Life and Times of Sydney and Beatrice Webb, 1858-1905'' (2001) [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230598065 online]
*Kaufman, Bruce E. "Sidney and Beatrice Webb's Institutional Theory of Labor Markets and Wage Determination." ''Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society'' 52.3 (2013): 765–791. [http://uwrg.gsu.edu/files/2014/01/2013-1-2_Kaufman_Webbs_labor-economics-2.pdf online]

* Kidd, Alan J. "Historians or polemicists? How the Webbs wrote their history of the English poor laws," ''Economic History Review'' (1987) .40#3  pp.400-417. 
* MacKenzie, Norman Ian, and Jeanne MacKenzie. ''The First Fabians'' (Quartet Books, 1979)
*Radice, Lisanne. ''Beatrice and Sidney Webb: Fabian Socialists'' (Springer, 1984) [https://archive.org/details/beatricesidneywe0000radi_r3r4 online]
*Stigler, George. "Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, and the Theory of Fabian Socialism," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' (1959) 103#3: 469–475
* Wrigley, Chris. "The Webbs Working on Trade Union History," ''History Today'' (May 1987), Vol. 37 Issue 5, pp.51-56; focuses mostly on Beatrice.

===Primary sources===
*Mackenzie, Norman, ed. ''The Letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb'' (3 volumes. Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp. xvii, 453; xi, 405; ix, 482) 
**''Volume 1. Apprenticeships 1873–1892'' (1978)
**''Volume 2. Partnership 1892–1912'' (1978)
**''Volume 3. Pilgrimage, 1912–1947'' (1978)

==External links==
{{commons category|Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield}}
{{NIE Poster|year=1905|Webb, Sidney|Sidney Webb}}
*{{Hansard-contribs |mr-sidney-webb |Sidney Webb }}
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/ch12.htm#ch12-1 Critique of Webb by Leon Trotsky in ''The Revolution Betrayed'']
*[http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk The Webb Diaries available in full from LSE]
*{{Gutenberg author |id=Webb,+Sidney |name=Sidney Webb}}
*{{Internet Archive author |name=Sidney Webb}}
*{{PM20|FID=pe/018215}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par |uk}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Evan Hayward]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Seaham (UK Parliament constituency)|Seaham]]
 |years=[[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]–[[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ramsay MacDonald]]}}

{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Fred Jowett]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=Chair of the [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|Labour Party]] |years=1922–1923}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Ramsay MacDonald]]}}

{{s-off}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[President of the Board of Trade]] |years=1924}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton |Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame]]}}

{{s-bef |before=[[Leo Amery]] |rows=2}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs]] |years=1929–1930}}
{{s-aft |after=[[James Henry Thomas]] |rows=2}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] |years=1929–1931}}
{{s-end}}

{{Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs}}
{{First Macdonald Ministry}}
{{London School of Economics}}
{{Presidents of the Board of Trade}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Sidney}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom|Passfield]]
[[Category:English reformers]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey|Passfield]]
[[Category:Chairs of the Labour Party (UK)]]
[[Category:British co-operative organisers]]
[[Category:English socialists]]
[[Category:Labor historians]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Members of London County Council]]
[[Category:Members of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Potter family]]
[[Category:Progressive Party (London) politicians]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for the colonies]]
[[Category:Socialist economists]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1922–1923]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1923–1924]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1924–1929]]
[[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages]]
[[Category:Writers about the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:British secretaries of state for Dominion affairs]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Board of Trade]]
[[Category:People from Liphook]]
[[Category:Barons created by George V]]