William Beveridge

William Beveridge (1879-1963) was a British social administrator who is widely considered one of the principal founders of the British welfare state. He chaired a major government committee during World War II with responsibility for planning the reorganization of government social programs. Their report (subsequently known as the Beveridge Report) was the basis for a massive expansion of British social services following the war and earned its chairman an international reputation as a founder of the welfare state.

Beveridge abandoned legal studies at Oxford University to move into Toynbee Hall the pioneering settlement house in the East End of London which also served as inspiration for Jane Addams in the founding of Hull House in Chicago.