Beatrice Webb was born in 1858 into a wealthy and privileged family. However, she renounced society life to fight for the "people of the abyss", venturing in disguise into the slums of the East End, and challenging Lloyd George in a campaign to abolish the workhouse. Socialism became a secular religion for Beatrice, with her passionate and emotional nature devoted to its cause. Longing to become a mother, she gave up the one man she loved, Joseph Chamberlain the dazzling leader of the radicals, to marry Sidney Webb, a Cockney hairdresser's son, in a brave act of class rebellion.