Beatrice Webb

(1858 - 1943)

Beatrice Webb was a socialist historian and economist who, along with her husband Sidney Webb, coined the term “collective bargaining” in their book Industrial Democracy. The pair formed an influential bloc in the Fabian Society, which frustrated fellow member H.G. Wells. “Their supreme delight,” he reportedly said, “is to giggle, and they permeate English society with their reputed Socialism about as much as a mouse may be said to permeate a cat.” After she died, George Bernard Shaw successfully lobbied to have her and her husband’s ashes moved to Westminster Abbey.