British Empire Research Articles

The Analysis of the Roles of Women in the Windrush Generation

After the British Nationality Act was enacted in 1948, the legislation expanded the pathway to immigration. In the same year, HMT Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury with 1,027 Caribbean immigrants that were, later on, referred to as the Windrush generation. As the turning point of the UKs migration history, this specific historical period from 1948 to the 1970s had been studied thoroughly by scholars. However, only a limited proportion of them are about the 200 or more women on the Empire Windrush. Thus, this paper, through a method of literature review, explores and analyzes the roles played by women in the Windrush generation. The paper finds that Windrush women, firstly, often join the public phase and work as a paid workforce after immigrating to London through chain migration. By doing so, they not only provided additional income to their family but also contributed to the post-war recovery of the British Empire. Meanwhile, they served as community builders who not only managed chores but also bonded their family members and even the entire immigrant community. Moreover, the Windrush women became active advocates that voiced for racial and gender equality and social justice.

The Influence of Historical Events on Victorian Literature

Victorian literature serves as a rich reflection of the 19th century’s transformative historical events, including the Industrial Revolution, the expansion of the British Empire, social reform movements, and challenges to traditional religious beliefs. This article explores how authors such as Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Rudyard Kipling, Charlotte Brontë, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold addressed themes of industrialization, colonialism, class conflict, and spiritual doubt. Through their works, Victorian writers critiqued societal norms, highlighted inequalities, and grappled with the shifting moral and intellectual landscape of their time. Their literature remains a vital lens through which to understand the complexities of the era and its enduring relevance today.

Subjects, aliens, and undesirables: Managing mobility and insecurity in the British Empire

How do states use migration control to track both foreign and domestic threats? This article approaches this question historically, examining colonial migration control policies employed by the British Empire in South Asia. Studying the imperial state reveals important antecedents for the contemporary migration regime and shows that empire states engaged in similar practices even as they were monitoring imperial rather than nation-state borders. Papers – in the form of identity documents such as passports that could be flagged – emerged as a critical tool in the quest to repress transnational solidarities and anti-colonial resistance. Examining the ways in which migration control was operationalized within the empire along with the logics guiding such regulation, this article argues that colonial migration control was deployed as a tool to target threats to the empire, not only those considered Britain’s enemies abroad but also British subjects and citizens. The pretext of collaboration with enemy aliens allowed the hardening of borders and an intensification in how they were policed. I argue that states use the justification of external or foreign threats to monitor internal or domestic threats. The colonial border did not merely serve as a tool to constrain the movement of enemy aliens or foreigners, but also to enable the surveillance of ‘undesirable’ British Indians who were considered suspicious. This article thus centers the imperial security perceptions that undergird the contemporary racialized migration regime and shows that these perceptions were crystallized at the height of empire.

Comparative portrayals of the British Empire in history textbooks, 1920s–2020s: influences, paradigms and historical frameworks

Debates over the content, aims and purpose of school history are salient features in educational landscapes across the world, and in recent years in the UK many such debates have focused on how the history of the British Empire should be taught in schools. With the aim of better understanding how British imperial histories are, and have been, approached in English classrooms, this study compares two samples of history textbooks, one of books published between 1920 and 1939, and the second of books published between 2015 and 2023. Additionally, the study explores changing traditions in English history education more generally, and in particular compares how histories of the British Empire have been narrated under the influence of two pedagogical traditions: the ‘great tradition’, which dominated English history education for most of the twentieth century until the 1970s, and ‘new history’, which came to dominate from the early 1970s onwards, and which was particularly influenced by the establishment of the Schools Council History Project in 1972. A complex range of factors have influenced how histories relating to the British Empire have been narrated in textbooks over the years, but the study particularly considers the extent to which the founding principles of the Schools Council History Project continue to influence how histories are narrated half a century after the establishment of the project, and what implications this might have in the context of empire histories specifically. We also consider how such patterns may influence further developments in textbook portrayals of British imperial history in the future.

British Empire, Chinese Nationalism, and Protestant Mission Schools: Navigating Loyalties in the Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College (1925-1930)

Focusing on the dynamics of appointing a “suitable” Chinese principal, this article examines the multiple interests and loyalties that were implicated and manifested in a British mission school of prestige situated in the treaty port of Tianjin during a series of anti-imperialist and anti-Christian campaigns in the 1920s. The case study of the Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College (TACC) illustrates the intricate and ambiguous nature of the interplay between the British settlers, Christian missions, the Chinese government, and the local community, set against the backdrop of heightened nationalism in Republican China. The article argues that the issue of loyalties in a mission school setting – as exemplified by the TACC – can be far more complex and should not be simplistically reduced to a binary opposition between loyalty to the British and loyalty to the Chinese, even at a time of intensifying Sino-British tensions. Local social networks and pragmatic interests in politics, religion, international relations, trade, and educational administration were inextricably intertwined, exerting a profound impact on the dynamics of Sino- British relations in Tianjin.

Decolonising education otherwise: Rabindranath Tagore and the spirit of secular criticism

ABSTRACT ‘Decolonise education!’ This exhortation has travelled far and wide – in the Global North and Global South, in formally independent former colonies and settler colonial societies. As such voices grow, we might ask: What does decolonising education entail? How should this be undertaken? And, importantly, who decides on the terms by which such an undertaking should be guided and by what authorities? If this line of questioning appears abstract or tentative in the face of a struggle many take to be of utmost urgency, then what this essay hopes to offer is clarity and tangibility to this caution. With present day India as an example, I sketch out ambivalences in the way decolonial theory has travelled. I then counterpose decolonial theory with the decolonial thought of two exemplars: the cultural critic Edward Said, whose work provides a clear argument for ‘secular criticism’ against recourse to any quasi-religious or nativist orthodoxy that purports to stand beyond the complicated entanglements of human history; and the Bengali writer and educational leader Rabindranath Tagore who, under the pall of British imperialism and amidst an ascendant chauvinistic Indian nationalism in the early-twentieth century, embodied such a secular criticism in his approach to decolonising education.

Archaeology and identity in the Malta Pavilion at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition

The interwar period was a delicate stage in the balance of power between the colonial government in London and its colonies around the globe. Malta, then under British rule, was no exception, as its demands for greater self-determination were carefully entertained. Debates about the origin and identity of the ‘Maltese race’ had direct political and economic implications, both regarding their ability to govern themselves, and to determine how they should be categorized in the racist frameworks that imperial administrations depended on. Archaeology was inevitably caught up in these debates. The representations of Malta and its archaeology and history put on display at the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in 1924 may be better understood in this context. A series of previously unpublished drawings of the Malta pavilion are used here to shed new light on its design. The Malta pavilion crystallized a new and ambivalent conception of the island's identity, at once European, Christian and civilized, but also claiming a primordial ancestry in prehistory. It is argued that the pavilion deployed the past to shape perceptions of Malta, among the Maltese themselves, and among the wide public that visited the exhibition. It is further argued that the pavilion contributed to some deeply-ingrained conceptions of the past and of Maltese identity that still persist today.

Patriotic Humanitarianism: Toward an Emotional and Experiential History of Children’s Actions During the First World War

Abstract Children throughout the British Empire were encouraged by schools, organisations and communities to participate in the First World War as future citizens and humanitarians. Their emotions, and their experiences, were cultivated collectively. This broad understanding of humanitarianism was sometimes tied to peace activism, but was more often tied to militarism for the majority of children in the British Empire. Children raised money by holding events and selling handmade things. They visited soldiers in hospital and brought them presents. They collected for the Red Cross, the Belgian and Serbian Relief funds and other causes. In Star City, Saskatchewan, and Mitta Mitta, Victoria, and in villages, towns and cities in between, children wrote essays, drew pictures, and composed letters to officials detailing their thoughts and efforts. Children, through their numerous everyday humanitarian actions (often non- material and leaving no trace), contributed to the enormous emotional effort of the war. This essay examines these child-directed humanitarian efforts. Why were so many children motivated to contribute in such substantial ways to the war effort? What sort of emotional and experience formation was required in order to stir children to action? And from where was the impetus – social, school, community, family, peer and/or individual?

Twisted Words: Torture and Liberalism in Imperial Britain by Katherine Judith Anderson (review)

Twisted Words: Torture and Liberalism in Imperial Britain by Katherine Judith Anderson (review)

The Politics of Drink in England, From Gladstone to Lloyd George by David M. Fahey, and: Imperial Wine: How the British Empire Made Wine's New World by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre (review)

The Politics of Drink in England, From Gladstone to Lloyd George by David M. Fahey, and: Imperial Wine: How the British Empire Made Wine's New World by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre (review)

:Age of Emergency: Living with Violence at the End of the British Empire

:<i>Age of Emergency: Living with Violence at the End of the British Empire</i>

“One Certain Standard”: Colonial Currencies and the Politics of Economic Knowledge in Late Stuart Britain

Abstract Chronic coin shortages plagued Ireland and Britain's American colonies throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Despite complaints, every proposal to mint money in early modern Britain's overseas Atlantic empire failed, whether in Ireland, the Caribbean, or North America. This article explains why. Although the rulers in the court and Parliament were sometimes enthusiastic about colonial mints, the Officers of the Royal Mint exercised enduring influence and managed to obstruct each of these projects. The evolution of the Mint officers’ advice into a maxim of monetary uniformity allowed the doctrine of “one certain standard” to survive the ensuing decades of upheaval as it shed its visible politics. While their advice grew out of the particular politics of the early Restoration, it gained special power and durability when it took on the character of technocratic expertise. Still, an investigation of the same actors’ treatment of a parallel issue—the rates of the foreign coins that circulated in colonies—reveals that an authoritarian style had an enduring hold on imperial monetary policy. This article offers an explanation for the British Empire's peculiar monetary geography, and also demonstrates the way that seemingly apolitical technical knowledge can disguise a potent politics.

From Tradition to Reform: A Comparative Study of Personal Laws in India

The legal system of India is characterized by its diverse structure, where individual laws concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption are influenced by a person's religious and communal affiliations. The rules, originating from religious traditions, have continuously adapted to mirror shifting social contexts and emerging concepts of fairness and impartiality. This paper provides a comparative analysis of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Parsi personal laws, tracing their historical foundations, core tenets, and the complex challenges they face within India’s contemporary legal landscape. The genesis of these personal laws can be traced to religious scriptures and practices, with formal codification occurring under British colonial rule. Reforms aimed at advancing gender equality have transformed Hindu law, particularly through the 2005 inheritance amendments, yet issues persist, notably within Muslim law, where doctrines related to divorce and inheritance often favor male beneficiaries. Christian and Parsi laws are more egalitarian by comparison, though they still bear vestiges of colonial legal structures The discussion surrounding the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), as outlined in Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, is gaining momentum, portraying the UCC as a tool to harmonize personal laws in pursuit of gender equality and social justice. However, the UCC remains challenging, with many communities concerned that it may destroy cultural autonomy. This paper critically explores the evolution and current state of India's personal laws, evaluating the possibilities and implications of a UCC. It believes that, while a path to legal uniformity is conceivable, it necessitates a nuanced approach that protects religious plurality while advancing individual rights and gender parity.

To revive India’s industries: The global and imperial roots of swadeshi in the nineteenth century

Abstract This article explores the long roots of swadeshi (economic self-reliance) in nineteenth-century India, focusing on attempts at industrial revival through pedagogical institutions, exhibitions, and associations. These roots, which influenced the Swadeshi Movement and Gandhian swadeshi activity in the early twentieth century, demonstrate how it is impossible to understand swadeshi without taking an extensive global perspective. Indian thinkers engaged in contemporary global economic debates and with British imperial deliberations on free trade and protection; they fine-tuned comparative perspectives on the Indian economy through international travel and their readings of global history. In a similar spirit, Indians forged core swadeshi techniques through observing associational, institutional, and technological innovations across the British empire and the wider world. History was a powerful motivating force. Popular conceptions of deindustrialization under colonial rule fired Indians’ imaginations about a past when the country was a global powerhouse for manufactured exports—and directly stimulated specific swadeshi endeavours. Situated at the confluence of profit-making and patriotism, swadeshi enterprise in the nineteenth century created some unexpected alliances: between Britons and Indians, colonial officials and nationalists, and urban intellectuals and small-town entrepreneurs.

Inheriting Empire, Wealth, and Art: The Baring Family and London’s National Gallery in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT The Baring family was one of the most influential families in nineteenth-century Britain. They held great financial power through the merchant bank Baring Brothers, political influence as members of parliament, and cultural pre-eminence through their longstanding involvement with institutions such as the National Gallery. The Barings were also esteemed art collectors. Members of the family gained wealth from both the British East and West Indies, as well as owning plantations and enslaved people in the Danish West Indies. Simultaneously, they gained profits from imperial commerce, made public statements both for and against abolition, while being praised for their picture collection, thus complicating the relationships between their commercial, political, and cultural identities. In light of the Gallery’s bicentenary in 2024, this article, engaging with previously underutilised archival sources, argues that we can write back into the National Gallery’s history the previously absent histories of the British Empire, including the lived experiences of colonised people by using as a case study an intergenerational investigation of a single family.

British ideas for new colonial universities at the end of empire

ABSTRACT This article shows that longstanding connections established through inclusion in the British Empire were maintained in significant ways after individual countries became independent, but remained within the Commonwealth. Although Britain declined as an international power, and largely lost its empire, it reveals ongoing British soft-power in academic cultures. The article provides a new scholarly analysis, moving away from presumptions about the anglicised university ideal in the Global South. How did British ideas transfer themselves to former colonial universities? Who was involved in the process? To answer to these questions, this research focuses on the transnational activities of the Inter-University Council, the University of London and African and Caribbean universities during the late and post-colonial eras. Liberal, elite and residential education, a balance of teaching and research schemes were combined; institutional autonomy was a further added important elements in the classic British university cultures. However, the notion of Britain’s institutional autonomy differed in colonial universities, but functioned well for protecting their academic freedom. The circulation of British ideas for universities was a means of anglicising overseas universities at the end of empire. Britain succeeded in keeping alive the bonds of the Commonwealth universities across the wider world.

Shipping the Color Line: Migration and Transport Policy in the British Empire, 1943–51

Shipping the Color Line: Migration and Transport Policy in the British Empire, 1943–51

Zimmern, Athens, and the British Empire: Ancient and Modern Imperialism in The Greek Commonwealth

This article offers a reading of the intersections of ancient and modern imperialism in Alfred Zimmern's 1911 monograph The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in Fifth-Century Athens. The first section looks at Zimmern's use of ancient and modern comparisons and shows that, far from modernizing the ancient Greeks, as scholars have argued, he in fact insistently drew attention to the differences between the ancient and modern worlds. The second section examines the complexities of Zimmern's narrative of the Athenian empire, in particular the tension between politics and economics intimated by the book's subtitle and foregrounded by its structure. The article as a whole sets Zimmern's account in the context of Edwardian reflections on ancient and modern imperialism and shows, with the help of his own reflections, that his use of historical parallels was designed to encourage thought about modern political and economic problems as well as action to remedy them.

The Linguistic Empire of English: Issues and Challenges for Scientific Communication

In this article, entitled "The linguistic empire of English: issues and challenges for scientific communication.", we examine the impact of English as a lingua franca on scientific communication and the dynamics of power and linguistic identity. Researchers perceive English as an indispensable tool for the visibility and dissemination of knowledge, but retain an attachment to their mother tongue. The sociolinguistic framework of the study explores the interactions between languages on ResearchGate, highlighting the duality between the usefulness of English and the preservation of mother tongues. Received: 10 September 2024 / Accepted: 6 November 2024 / Published: 20 November 2024

The British Empire's Mixed Legacy: An Analysis of Slavery Abolition, Industrial Revolution, and Disease Management

This paper examines the complex legacy of the British Empire, focusing on three key areas: the abolition of slavery, the Industrial Revolution, and the management of diseases, particularly malaria. While acknowledging the Empire's role in perpetuating slavery, this study argues that its eventual abolition efforts, contributions to industrial progress, and advancements in disease control had significant positive impacts. By analyzing historical events and their long-term consequences, this research provides a nuanced perspective on the British Empire's influence on global development and human rights.