Rainbow Circle

The Rainbow Circle took their name from their meeting place on Fleet Street, The Rainbow Tavern, where a group of Fabians, liberals and socialists met regularly over dinner. The different political groups had began meeting in 1893, motivated by a shared desire to advance social progress and reform. The future Labour leader (James) Ramsay MacDonald and Liberal Home Secretary Herbert Louis Samuel, wished the diners club 'to provide a rational and comprehensive view of political and social progress' that 'could be ultimately formulated in a programme of action and in that form provide a rallying point for social reformers'. These meetings were a sign of the new social liberalism which emerged from a shared dissatisfaction with the current Liberal government, whom they perceived as indifferent and ineffective. The circle had an annual theme and each meeting began with a lecture and was followed by discussion. In 1896, the meetings moved from the tavern to a member's house in Bloomsbury. Here discussions continued to inform much of the welfare and progressive ideology of the early 20th Century.