Empire influence on British Attitudes and culture

Question 1

Explain how the Empire influenced popular press

Answer 1

• Reporting in the growing popular press saw the value of stories of the exotic, of heroism and of national one-
  upmanship.
• The Times – suffered in the period 1857-1890 as circulation declined, almost to the point of collapse but then
  revived.
  -> tended to represent traditional wealthy views and promoted an imperialist agenda.
• The Daily Mail – Began in 1896 and tended to be a cheap paper appealing to current issues.
  -> It tended to have
  a jingoistic approach to many foreign and Empire issues. It appealed to a new class of reader – the lower
  middle class.
• After the fiasco at Khartoum, newspapers such as the Times, the Daily Telegraph and Punch turned sharply
  away from Gladstonian liberalism.

Question 2

Explain the Empire’s influence on education

Answer 2

• The Education Act of 1870 had increased national literacy rates so more people had access to stories of Empire.

Question 3

Give an example of Empire’s influence on literature

Answer 3

• works of literature such as Rider Haggard’s ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ and ‘She’ were filled with tales of adventure in the Empire.

Question 4

Explain empire’s influence on Youth organisation and magazines

Answer 4

• The new comic genre told tales of adventure and appealed to younger readers.
• The Boy’s Own Paper first appeared in 1879 and featured stories portraying soldiers and bravery across the
  globe.
  -> It included contributions from Colonel Baden-Powell who urged readers to lead ‘manly and Christian’ lives.
  -> had a circulation of more than half a million.
• School books also reflected similar themes.
• Clubs and associations such as the Boys’ Brigade (1883) reinforced imperialistic values by offering military training and by reminding young men what it meant to be part of the ‘glorious’ British Empire.

Question 5

Explain Empire’s influence on missionaries

Answer 5

• By the 1870s stories of explorer and missionaries were being avidly read in British newspapers and magazines.
  -> Heroic tales helped reinforce the idea of benevolence and superiority.
• The British saw their empire as an ‘Empire of races’ and believed themselves infinitely superior to other
  indigenous peoples in everything from their religion and morals to their laws and political institutions.
• also believed that they could ‘civilise’ indigenous people, leading them away from their savage existence
  and turning them into law-abiding citizens.

Question 6

Explain Empire’s influence on science

Answer 6

• The view that white races were naturally superior was encouraged by the publication of Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species in 1859.’
• Darwin never suggested it himself but his idea of natural selection was soon applied to races.
• Quasi-scientists justified their view by pointing to the disappearance of the ‘weak’ North Americans,
  Maoris and Aborigines, while anthropologists seized on the theory to define racial attributes and categorise
  different racial groups.

Question 7

What was the role of exhibitions

Answer 7

• reinforced the British sense of physical and social superiority.
• They had originally been intended as
  international and educational but were, by the 1880s, becoming more imperial and entertaining.

Question 8

Give examples of exhibitions

Answer 8

• The Great Exhibition of 1851 which received 6 million visitors.
• The International Exhibition of 1862.
• the colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886.
• African Exhibition in 1890.

Question 9

What was the International Exhibition of 1862

Answer 9

• held in South Kensington and received 6 million visitors.
• It featured
  over 28 000 exhibitors from 36 countries.
• It represented a wide range of industry, technology, and the arts and displayed 7000 exhibits from India alone.

Question 10

What was the colonial and Indian exhibition in 1886

Answer 10

• received 5.5 million visitors and was held in South Kensington to
  ‘give a demonstration of the wealth and industrial development of the outlying portions of the British Empire’
• The buildings that housed the 1886
  exhibition were built in an Indian style with a huge princely gateway.
• Innumerable artefacts were displayed,
  from ceremonial swords to fly-swatters and native Indians were brought to Britain as ‘living exhibits’.

Question 11

What was the African Exhibition of 1890

Answer 11

• This was to showcase Henry Morton Stanley’s Africa travels.
• It celebrated
  exploration and colonisation and provided a display of photographs and maps showing colonial expansion in
  Africa and the routes of famous British explorers.
• There was also a trophy display of shields, spears, axes,
  throwing knives, an African hut and two boys from Bechuanaland.
• The exhibition stimulated scientific and
  anthropological interest and appeared to justify the British presence in Africa, bringing the word of the Christian God to the natives.