Critical Memories of Crafted Virtues

This article provides a critical legal analysis of the rhetoric surrounding the “modern slavery” problems associated with the Cadbury Brothers firm during the early 20th century. The Cadbury firm sued The Standard newspaper for libel, alleging that the firm's directors' reputations had been damaged. The author argues that critical analysis of this libel trial shows how the crafting of Victorian or Edwardian virtues often involved the defense of imperial reputations, and in this case British liberals and conservatives debated each other as they critiqued Portuguese colonial practices. The author concludes that the work of Henry Nevinson and other investigators continues to influence modern interrogations of contemporary cocoa business practices.