Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield (13 July 1859 – 13 October 1947) was a British socialist, economist, reformer and a co-founder of the
London School of Economics. He was one of the early members of the
Fabian Society in 1884, along with
George Bernard Shaw (they joined three months after its inception). Along with his wife
Beatrice Webb,
Annie Besant,
Graham Wallas,
Edward R. Pease,
Hubert Bland, and
Sydney Olivier, Shaw and Webb turned the
Fabian Society into the pre-eminent political-intellectual society of England during the Edwardian era and beyond. He wrote the original
Clause IV for the British
Labour Party.