attitudes to empire 1947 - 1967 Flashcards
post colonial ties:
politics
maintained strong ties
created new nation states with representative institutions and practices
parliaments, ministries, wigged judges and british style legal systems were all legacies of the british
post colonial ties:
the commonwealth
regular commonwealth conferences took place every two years - economic conference 1952
all meetings took place in london - reinforced britain’s power
bolstered britain’s international position by providing a diplomatic network
post colonial ties:
military
recruited citizens from commonwealth nations - remained eligible to serve in forces
britain even retained a remnant of the old indian army in the brigade of the gurkhas
post colonial ties:
the queen
held her own regular meetings with heads of government from commonwealth countries
visited commonwealth countries
christmas day boradcast
post colonial ties:
economy
the city of london remained as one of the world’s major financial centres. the headquarters of banking, insurance and investment companies
british government made every effort to keep ex colonies within the sterling area - informal empire
movement from britain to empire
between 1946 and 1957, 1 million people left britain
by 1948, 25% of people in britain were in contact with relatives in the dominions
by the late 1950s, improved living standards and full employment in britain helped curve the flood of people to the dominions
abolition of national service closed off another outlet for travel
1967 - 87,100 people moved to australia
movement from empire to britain
immigrants came from the caribbean in the 1950s, and from pakistan and india in the 1960s to seek work
british nationality act 1948 - gave full british citizenship and free entry to every inhabitant of empire and the commonwealth
as the economy recovered, there was plenty of paid work - 1956 london transport took on 4000 new recruits
british reaction was curiosity mixed with uncertainty but as the post war boom slackened, prejudice grew
oswald moseley’s anti immigration also increased prejudice. stood on an anti immigration platform in the 1959 election in kensington and issued pamphlets provocatively featuring black people with spears entering britain and slogans such as ‘stop coloured immigration’ and ‘houses for white people’
by 1952, 90% of people supported legislation to curb immigration and 80% agreed there were too many immigrants in britain
tv series - alf garnett in till death do us part
notting hill race riots 1958
a gang of white working-class teens known as teddy boys’ were beginning to display hostility towards black families in the area
majbritt morrison had been arguing with her jamaican raymond a group of various white people attempted to intervene in the argument, and a small fight broke out between the intervening people and some of
the following day morrison was verbally and physically assaulted by a gang of white youths that had recalled seeing her the night before
the youths threw milk bottles at morrison and called her racial slurs
that night a mob of 300 to 400 white people were seen on bramley road attacking the houses of west indian residents. rioting and attacks continued every night until 6th september.
police arrested more than 140 people during the two weeks of the disturbances
the 1962 commonwealth immigrants act
an attempt to control escalating immigraiton
free immigration ended, even if people held a british passport. instead a work permit scheme was put into place
the irish were exempt and had skills which enabled them to obtain vouchers
unskilled black immigrants found it hard to obtain vouchers, and 12 months following the act, only 34,500 arrived in britain
70% people supported
the residual impact of empire and cultural ties
familiarity and interest in empire declined in britain through the 1950s and 1960s, with society becoming more subject to americanisation
empire day was abolished in 1962
a strong patriotic current which had been nurtured by victory in ww2 helped nurture support for some sort of imperial links, perhaps imparting the nostalgic idea of the family to be nurtured by the mother country
people in former british colonies continued to use anglicised names and speak variants of english
union jack in the corner of many flags
commonwealth games
popular culture
children’s stories and comics abandoned formerly popular imperial themes and the boys comic eagle explicitly informed its writers that foreigners were not to be depicted as either enemies of villains
fewer films used empire as a backdrop
north west frontier 1959 - concerned a british officer’s attempt to protect a hindu prince from a murderous muslim uprising. hinted that empire was necessary to preserve order
lawrence of arabia 1962 - critical view of empire. ww1 hero lawrence was torn between loyalty to king and empire and to his arab allies who he collaborated with to defeat the turks
black and white minstrels
music
music that immigrants brough with them did not significantly shape culture in britain
west indian musicians were heavily involved in calypso, jazz and other genres, but did not leave much of a mark
milly small’s ‘my boy lollipop’ reached number 2 in the charts in 1964
west indian musicians did sow the seeds for later popularity of reggae
food
shaped every day british life more immediately
the influence of caribbean cuisine emerged slowly, with a findness for dishes such as jerk chicken remaining relatively local to places such as certain parts of london
curry had been available to british restaurant goers since the 19th century but going for an indian was a distinctly post-war phenomenon
chicken tikka masala
1957 - 50 chinese restaurants in the uk
1963 - 1,400 chinese restaurants in the uk
