How did Herbert Spencer influence Beatrice Potter Webb?

The philosopher Herbert Spencer exerted the greatest intellectual influence on Beatrice Potter Webb during her early life. As a frequent visitor to her father’s home, Spencer engaged in discussions that helped shape her formative years.1

Beyond his role as an intellectual mentor, Spencer served as a close friend and adviser to Potter throughout her development as a social reformer. Their relationship remained significant into his later life; Potter frequently visited him during his final illness and later provided a sympathetic, detailed account of his concluding years in her work My Apprenticeship (1926).2