Baron Passfield of Passfield Corner, Sidney James Webb was a social reformer, co-founder of the London School of Economics, Cabinet minister, and historian, who deeply affected social ideas and institutions in England. He was born in London on June 25, 1865, into a lower middle class family, his father a freelance accountant, his mother a shopkeeper. Anxious for her children to do well in life, Elizabeth Webb sent Sidney and his brother Charles to Switzerland for a time to learn French. Upon his return, Sidney was admitted to the civil service and passed the bar examination in 1884. For some time, he had been the friend of young Bernard Shaw, who introduced him to the newly formed Fabian Society, a socialist organization, in 1885. This group was jokingly named for the Roman consul Fabius Cunctator, who was said to have defeated Hannibal with cautious tactics. Webb became a dominating influence in the...