11. Attitudes towards imperialism in Britain Flashcards
When was Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee?
1897
Supporters for Imperialism?
Khaki election - Conservatives won the 1900 election using the victories in the Boer War
High Imperialists =
Made people in colonies ‘subjects’ rather than citizens
Lord Curzon - Empire was ‘an instrument’ for the ‘good of humanity’
Alfred Milner - Round Table movement - promote closer union between Britain and its self governing colonies - All self governing colonies had them by 1911
Joseph Chamberlain - ‘National crisis’ of other powers developing faster than Britain that only the Empire could solve - ‘Imperial preference’
Victoria League 1901 - Womens league designed to bring union between the Empire
Empire Day - 1902 from Lord Meath
Daily Express in 1916 promoted the Day as the ‘imperial family’
What were the views of the Empire among the political parties?
Conservatives - Good government and ‘White rule’
Liberals - ‘Education’ and improvement of colonies and their peoples to achieve self rule - however were still reluctant to bring an end to the Empire
Labour and Liberals agreed freedom ‘through’ Empire rather and ‘from’ it
Lord Salisbury
Served three times as conservative Prime Minister
(85-86) (86-92) (95-1902)
Imperialist
British rule was better for the advancement of ‘backward’ races
Opposed alliance systems
Critics of the Empire
John Hobson - economist who wrote Imperialism in 1902 - Empire only for the rich capitalists - his views catalysed by Boer War - was a ‘capitalist plot’ - aimed to secure gold reserves for rich British entrepreneurs
Emily Hobhouse - Welfare campaigner - led to report in concentration camps - tarnished Imperialisms reputation to civilise the world
Wilfred Blunt - said the real White Man’s burden was the ‘burden of his cash’ in response to Kipling’s poem
William Digby - Raised awareness about Indian grievances in the British Parliament
Why was there need for National efficiency?
450,000 British troops served against 30,000 Boers for 2 and a half years
Led to demand for a better quality army
Needed ‘home grown’ soldiers not just those from the Empire
40% of British recruits from Britain were unfit
Poor diet and living conditions weakened Britons manpower
In 1902 newspapers would say that Newspapers said that Britains needed ‘national efficiency’ to stop decline
How did Britain improve its ‘national efficiency’?
1902 Education Act - raise school standards and open 1000 new secondary schools in the following decade
Modernisation of the Royal Navy - the Dreadnought - first launched in 1906 - In the wake of German naval expansion
1907 ‘Imperial College’ opened - centre for technological, scientific and medical excellence
Liberal reforms - 1906 free school meals - 1907 School medical inspections - 1908 children’s welfare charter - 1908 old age pensions - trade boards act 1909 - unemployment and health insurance 1911
New Liberal philosophy headed by David Lloyd-George and Winston Churchill
Popular press
1890-1914 was the ‘golden age’ for newspaper publication
Alfred Harmsworth pioneered the Daily Mail in 1896 aimed at the lower-middle class - sold at low price - during Boer war averaged a million copies a day - damming Boers and Kruger - Hobson criticised it for its ‘crude sensationalism’
Changed to going against Germans leading up to war
Imperial literature
Rudyard Kiplings - ‘White Man’s Burden’ - almost religious belief in empire - ‘The Jungle Book’ - Nobel Prize for literature in 1907
G.A Henty’s tales of military campaigns ‘Dash for Khartoum’ - Victorian bestseller
Gertrude Page - emigrated to Rhodesia in 1900 and produced 20 novels - British India became the most popular setting for her novels
Imperialist music
Edward Elgar - ‘Imperialist’ composer who created mental images with his music of the ‘nobility of the Empire’ - wrote ‘Imperial March’ for the Diamond Jubilee (1897)
Sir Henry Coward took his Sheffield choir on a musical tour of the Dominions if 1911
The Empire and its impact on the youth
Increased education meant there was a new market for comics and imperial books - exotic tales in E.J Brett’s Boys of the Empire (1888-1900)
Religious Tract Society produced the Boy’s Own Paper and the Girl’s Own Paper and secured up to a half a million readers from 1890-1914
Comics read in schools and church halls
Howard Spicer published a Boys Empire League of books which boasted 7000 members in 1900 - also annual book focusing on colonies and winner would receive £25 and a trip to a colony
Boy’s brigade 1883 -
Boy Scout Movement 1908 - trained on the Empire competitively for badges - prompted imperialism and to grow up in its service
Girls guides 1912
History and Geography books emphasised the glories of the empire and presented explorers and missionaries as heroes
Representations of the Empire
Through architecture = Lutyens - Johannesburg Art Gallery 1911 and the British Pavilion - invited in 1912 to design New Delhi as the new capital
Represented through the Queens Diamond Jubilee 1897
King George V’s coronation was also celebrated with a festival of the Empire at Crystal Palace in London 1911
Imperial products were favoured
Intra-Empire sports championship which became known as the British Empire Games (Commonwealth)
