1892–1897 Marriage, Politics and Writing

Abstract

On 24 July 1892 the Webbs set off to Dublin for their honeymoon. As so often abroad, their reaction towards the natives was less than charitable: ‘the people are charming but we detest them’, Sidney wrote to Wallas ‘as we should the Hottentots — for their very virtue’. And Beatrice acidly added: ‘Home Rule is an absolute necessity — in order to depopulate the country of this detestable race!’¹ It was a busman’s holiday: in Dublin they investigated the ‘ramshackle’ trade societies and in Belfast they interviewed ‘hard-fisted employers and groups of closely organised skilled craftsmen’.