Today many men and women maintain Christian values in their work and run their businesses on Christian ethical principles. Some companies that are household names were founded by men whose private and business lives openly reflected their commitment to Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Bible.
Some built new villages to take their workers away from the slums: George Cadbury (the chocolate maker) at Bournville, Joseph Rowntree (the sweet manufacturer) at New Earswick, William Lever (founder of what is now Unilever) at Port Sunlight and Titus Salt, who owned the largest textile mill in Europe, at Saltaire. With neat houses and gardens, open spaces, sanitation and community halls these ‘model’ villages set standards for future urban development. Care for their workers extended beyond housing. Titus Salt stood almost alone in fitting smoke burners to his factory chimneys in Bradford. George Palmer of Bristol, who owned the largest biscuit factory in the world, introduced sickness benefits and a pension scheme. In 1872 Jeremiah Colman, of mustard fame, appointed the first industrial nurse in Britain and provided accident insurance for his workers. In 1902 Cadbury’s factory in Birmingham was the first to appoint a resident doctor and by 1907 Rowntree was providing free medical and dental services along with seven full-time welfare workers. In the same year William Lever introduced into Parliament the idea of a state Old Age Pension paid through the Post Office. W.H. Smith established his chain of newsagents in 1828 and kept his shops closed on Sundays. Because of his Christian principles he refused to sell indecent magazines. | |  
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