Hubert Bland

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Hubert Bland (3 January 1855-14 April 1914) was an early English socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society.

Born in Woolwich, south-east London, Bland wanted to join the army but instead became a bank clerk. In 1877, he met 19-year-old Edith Nesbit, a follower of William Morris. They married on 22 April 1880 with Edith already seven months pregnant. They did not immediately live together as Bland initially continued to live with his mother.

Bland also continued an affair with Alice Hoatson which produced two children (Rosamund in 1886 and John in 1899), both of whom Nesbit raised as her own. With Nesbit, he produced three children: Paul (1880-1940), Iris (1881-?) and Fabian (1885-1900, who died aged 15 after a tonsils operation).

In 1883, the Blands joined a socialist debating group which evolved to become the Fabian Society in January 1884. Bland chaired the first meeting and was subsequently elected to be the Society's treasurer. Fellow members included Edward Pease, Havelock Ellis, and Frank Podmore.

Around 1885, Bland was briefly a member of the Social Democratic Federation, and in about 1893 he joined the Independent Labour Party. His support of Britain's imperial interests (notably the Second Boer War) began to make him unpopular with his fellow socialists. He taught for a while at the London School of Economics.

The couple lived in Well Hall House, Eltham from 1899. In 1911 Bland began to go blind and had to be supported by Edith, by this time a successful poet and novelist, The Railway Children (1906) being perhaps her most famous work. Bland died of a heart attack on 14 April 1914 and was buried in Woolwich cemetery.