Sidney and Beatrice Webb are the most important British contributors to the socialist tradition. They had a hand in founding many of the institutions that form the fabric of British society; notably the Fabian society, the Labour Party, the London School of Economics, the New Statesman , the Political Quarterly and Tribune. This is the first authorized biography of the Webbs commissioned by the Passfield Trustees; this life of the 'oddest couple since Adam and Eve' differs from previous studies in considering their literary and institution-building accomplishments and not just their personal idiosyncrasies.

Royden J. Harrison is Emeritus Professor of Social History at the University of Warwick.

Abbreviations Introduction PART 1: THE MAN WITH NO INSIDE: SIDNEY WEBB 1859-1890 The Shaping of a Professional Man 1859-1885 The Prevailing Fabian 1885-1890 PART 2: THE DIVIDED SELF: BEATRICE POTTER 1858-1890 The Making of a Gilded Spinster 1858-1885 From Social Investigator to Socialist 1885-1890 Note: Beatrice Potter Versus Beatrice Webb: Towards an Autocritique PART 3: THE EARLY YEARS OF THE PARTNERSHIP 1890-1903 The Formation of the Partnership 1890-92 Democracy and the Labour Movement 1890-1900 Heroic Opportunism: Towards a Third Culture and Education in London 1893-1905 Squalid Opportunism: Fabianism and Empire 1893-1903 PART 4: EPILOGUE An Ideal Marriage? Select Bibliography Index