British Possessions Research Articles

The Establishment of the Zululand Administration in 1887: A Study of the Criteria Behind the Selection of British Colonial Officials

Zululand became a British possession as from 19 May 1887.' By 21 June the new Governor, Sir Henry Havelock (who was in addition already Governor of Natal), had made his final choice concerning the appointment of officials. The infant Colony's administration In line with the British government's penny-pmching approach to imperial expense, Zululand's official establishment was created on a 'small and economical sc a l e ' .While consequently allowing for only a very limited number of posts, this restriction had at least the advantage of increasing Havelock's chances of exercising some discrimination when filling them. A rush of applications for so remote and untamed a colony as Zululand had obviously never been anticipated, but even a slight surplus allowed the Governor to insist on a basic minimum of desirable criteria when making his selection. Such had indeed proved the case, and it is ties phenomenon of a severely limited establishment, formed only after a process of application and followed by the careful scrutiny of credentials, that allows for a manageable study of the attributes considered necessary in an official of a minor colony on the fringes of the Empire. Such an investigation serves also to throw considerable light on official attitudes and expectations in the neighbouring, but well-established Colony of Natal, for it was mainly from the circles of the Natal civil service

"Mommy sock": the child's understanding of possession as expressed in two-noun phrases.

ABSTRACTThirty children with a mean length of utterance ranging from 1·00 to 4 and an age range of 1; 7 to 5; 5 were tested by their own mothers for comprehension of two-noun possessive phrases such as mommy's shoe. Three types of possessive relationships (alienable, intrinsic and reciprocal) in addition to anomalous possessive phrases were used to uncover children's knowledge of the semantics and syntax of English possession. Results indicated, first, that even young children may have detailed notions of which objects are likely to serve as possessors and which as possessions, and second, that word order may not be used to comprehepossessive phrases until considerable linguistic development has occurred.

The Hong Kong College of Medicine (1887-1915).

Visitors arriving for the joint clinical meeting of the British Medical Association in Hong Kong in November will land at Kai Tak International Airport. Kai perpetuates the memory of a talented local doctor who had a vital role in establishing the first British medical school in East Asia, and later in founding the University of Hong Kong. In 1843, two years after Hong Kong island became a British possession, a medical missionary hospital was opened to provide the benefits of Western medical knowledge to the small Chinese population. Most of the Chinese, however, preferred traditional herbal remedies. The European-trained doctors were moved to other cities in mainland China, and the first hospital venture closed down after a few years. Further efforts by other missionary organisations failed for similar reasons. A purely Chinese hospital, the Tung Wah, was established in 1875.

Public Prosecutor v. Anthony Wee Boon Chye and Another

States as international persons — State succession — In matters of extradition — Continuity of the law — British possession — Singapore — English extradition statute made applicable — Independence of Singapore — Becoming part of the Federation of Malaysia — Whether extradition statute continues as part of the law of Singapore — Whether continuation inconsistent with the sovereignty of the successor and the Constitution — Fugitive Offenders Act 1881 — The law of Malaysia

The Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, and the South African Loan and War Contribution Act of 1903

Few crises in the British Empire demonstrated its vulnerability as did the Boer War. In addition to showing itself woefully ill prepared for military conflict, the British government strained its financial resources to the utmost during the South African struggles. Its war debt amounted to nearly one hundred and sixty million pounds and this figure did not include the effects of the dislocation of trade and long-term debt charges, and telegraph cable subsidies. From the Treasury's point of view, the War exerted extreme pressure on the fragile financial framework of taxation. Treasury officials therefore called for retrenchment and economy. But the South African conflict also demonstrated significant weaknesses in Britain's military preparedness. Many in the Cabinet, and in the country as well, called for army and admiralty reorganization and further naval construction. This in turn meant increased government expenditure which gave rise to acrimonious Cabinet debates and ultimately the Chancellor of the Exchequer Michael Hicks Beach's resignation.The struggle between those concerned with the financial stability of the British government and those preoccupied with its political and strategic position in an increasingly hostile world provided the backdrop for the evolution of the South African Loan and War Contribution Act of 1903 (3 Ed. VII, c. 27). The Peace of Vereeniging, May 31, 1902, had solemnized Britain's annexation of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony in the Previous year. With the war over and the Boer Republics now crown colonies, post-war rehabilitation was the order of the day. The South African Loan Act sought to facilitate the renewal of commercial, mining and agrarian enterprises in the new British possessions. Though divided on other party policies, the Salisbury and Balfour governments of 1902-3 agreed on the importance of reconstruction, but for different reasons.

Maronage in Slave Plantation Societies: A Case Study of Dominica, 1785–1815

Ever since the establishment of plantation colonies in the New World by European powers, the African who had been forcibly removed from his homeland and transported across the Atlantic to supply the labour force, reacted to his enslavement. This reaction took many forms. It ranged from collective and violent acts such as revolts to individual acts such as poisoning or murder, refusal to work, and flight from the plantation as individuals or in groups. Even though individual acts of flight were annoying to the planter because of the loss of labour power, such actions were hardly threat to the plantation system itself or social stability in the islands since they generally represented peaceful methods of resistance to slavery rather than collective or violent ones. When, however, the escaped slaves established viable self-sufficient communities and used them as bases for collective assaults on the settled plantations -assaults involving arson, plunder and murder, the very existence of the plantation system was at stake. It is this type of activity which has been termed maronnage, and indeed, the Maroon communities which were to be 'found in almost every plantation colony in the New World,1 put up heroic struggles for their freedom and independencestruggles which seriously disrupted white economic activity and threatened to destroy the social order itself. In some of these struggles the metropolitan powers either suffered outright military defeats or were unable to gain victory and in such instances were forced to sign treaties with the Maroons guaranteeing them their independence. The Maroons of Dominica were part of these struggles. The island of Dominica became British colony in 1763 at the Peace of Paris which terminated the Seven Years War with France. At that time the island had population of 1,718 Frenchmen and 5,872 slaves engaged in the cultivation of coffee, cocoa and spices. Within the next ten years; the British had established sugar industry and slave society with population of 3,850 whites and 15,753 slaves. For the next forty-two years the existence of the plantation economy and the slave society was threatened by Maroon activity. According to one contemporary writer, the Maroons were originally slaves of Jesuit missionaries resident on the island at the time it became British possession. With the establishment of British rule, the missionaries sold their lands and slaves to English settlers. It is alleged that these slaves for some reason took dislike to their new masters and deserted the plantations with their wives and children for interior of the island where they were joined from time to time by runaway slaves from other estates, whom / they sheltered and protected. There they organised themselves into social and political units headed by chiefs, sub-chiefs and captains.4 From these bases, these banditti5 demonstrated their hostility to the British presence by making attacks on the plantations which resulted in the destruction of property and loss of life. The actual number of Maroons cannot be established with great degree of accuracy. One estimate given in 1785 put the number at 3006 and when they were defeated in 1 8 1 4, the tally was 578. Again in 1 8 00, military captains found camp of eighty houses, each capable of holding: from ten to twelve persons.8 Whatever their actual numbers, however, they were certainly force to be reckoned with. According to Richard Price,9 Maroon communities had to be almost inaccessible and located in inhospitable,' out-of-the-way areas if they were to be viable. The topography of Dominica offered .such viability and effectively aided the Maroons in their struggles. As one governor reported in 1785, the mountainous interior which the Maroons inhabited abounded in fastnesses, places of concealment and roads that were almost impassable. In addition, there was a great plenty of ground provisions in all parts and streams of water on almost every acre. …

Anglo-American Diplomacy and the British West Indies (1783-1789)

On the eve of the American Revolution colonial trade with the islands of the British West Indies had reached considerable proportions. Close to 40% of the ships leaving the ports of New York and Boston alone sailed directly to the English possessions in the Caribbean, and an estimated 500 sloops and schooners were involved in both direct and indirect commerce. The year 1767 saw a total of 2000 vessels cleared through American ports for the West Indies.The landowners in the West Indies were highly dependent upon the American colonies for supplies of foodstuffs (including livestock) and lumber. Therefore agricultural America had an outlet for its primary products, while the West Indian planter had a steady market for his sugar economy. In effect the trade with the BWI had become, on the eve of the Declaration of Independence, a cornerstone of American commerce. The importance of this trade can, and has, been documented. But no better than by the remark of Paul Revere shortly after the famous midnight ride. Traveling through the major commercial areas of New England, Revere reported “a sentiment in favor of Congress, so constituted, in order to place a restriction on the trade of the West Indies.” Actually the colonies were not about to injure this trade. After Boston harbor was shut down, John Adams remarked that its commerce was “an essential link in a vast chain, which has made New England what it is, the southern provinces what they are, the West India islands what they are.”

Anglo-American Diplomacy and the British West Indies (1783-1789)

On the eve of the American Revolution colonial trade with the islands of the British West Indies had reached considerable proportions. Close to 40% of the ships leaving the ports of New York and Boston alone sailed directly to the English possessions in the Caribbean, and an estimated 500 sloops and schooners were involved in both direct and indirect commerce. The year 1767 saw a total of 2000 vessels cleared through American ports for the West Indies.The landowners in the West Indies were highly dependent upon the American colonies for supplies of foodstuffs (including livestock) and lumber. Therefore agricultural America had an outlet for its primary products, while the West Indian planter had a steady market for his sugar economy. In effect the trade with the BWI had become, on the eve of the Declaration of Independence, a cornerstone of American commerce. The importance of this trade can, and has, been documented. But no better than by the remark of Paul Revere shortly after the famous midnight ride. Traveling through the major commercial areas of New England, Revere reported “a sentiment in favor of Congress, so constituted, in order to place a restriction on the trade of the West Indies.” Actually the colonies were not about to injure this trade. After Boston harbor was shut down, John Adams remarked that its commerce was “an essential link in a vast chain, which has made New England what it is, the southern provinces what they are, the West India islands what they are.”

Soviet and U.S. Interests in the Indian Ocean

THE INTERESTS OF THE superpowers in the Indian Ocean are conditioned by a variety of factors, but the most important are the geographical diversity of the areas that border the Ocean and the strategic significance of the principal channels of communication leading into the Indian Ocean-the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the Bab-el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea to the Malacca Straits and the Cape Route.' Russian interest in this region dates back to the time of Tsar Paul and the attempt made in 1801 by the Russian Empire to eliminate British influence in India. These attempts were never very serious, either because the Russians did not have the military capability to challenge the British or be. cause their army was involved in other conflicts in Europe against the Turks or in the Crimean War or in the Russo-Japanese War. Nevertheless, this interest lingered on throughout the nineteenth century. More significant, perhaps, was the reported Soviet claim to a sphere of influence "extending in the general direction of the Indian Ocean" agreed to in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed in October 1940. Ribbentrop proposed the division of the British empire between Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union. Germany was to divide Africa with Italy, Japan was to inherit the British possessions in the Pacific Basin, and the Soviet Union would get the area in between, including the Indian Ocean.

Keeping British Columbia British: The Law-and-Order Question on a Gold Mining Frontier

THE GOLD RUSH was a great nineteenth-century phenomenon, and in the case of Califormia, British Columbia, Australia, and New Zealand, the lure of gold attracted a type of population anxious for easy profit. Not surprisingly, therefore, the question of law and order teetered precariously in the balance in each of these places. Each rush found Americans in the gold fields, and these persons influenced to varying degrees, and sometimes adversely, the developments of progress and especially law and order on the frontier. In British Columbia, as in other parts of the British Empire, a high degree of law and order was maintained, and this in marked contrast to the American record in California. Where law was strictly upheld, there it was respected. Among the documents in the Huntington Library relating to British Columbia are several interpretations of the Fraser River gold rush of 1858. What makes these letters especially noteworthy is that they are among the very few extant reports by Californians who either were considering going to the mines or were actually in the gold fields. Hitherto unused, they provide us with an indication of what American citizens either expected to find or found in British Columbia; they go far in showing that the fear of lawlessness was not held by British citizens and officials alone, and that prospective American miners similarly feared the breakdown of law and order. They also show that some Americans on their way to the gold fields were anxious to violate English law if they could and to twist the Lion's tail when the opportunity arose. One Californian, James T. Jones of San Francisco, wrote a series of letters in 1858 to his mother, who lived in the eastern United States. As far as is known, Jones never got to Fraser River. He knew well, however, that the effect of the new rush on California would be great indeed. The new humbug mines in the British possessions are taking many from this state, he wrote from San Francisco on June 5. If a Ten thousand dollar lump is taken from our old California Mines, it creates no excitement, but if a letter from John Brown is received from some new place, a thousand miles off, saying there is color of gold, everyone is crazy to go. -there is not one word of reliable information so far from Frazer's River, and no gold. Newspapers here are not to be believed.'

Three different predicate relationships that underlie some surface structure possessives in English

Three different predicate relationships that underlie some surface structure possessives in English

V. Britain and the Siamese Malay States, 1892–1904: a Comment

THIS is an attempt to provide a broad and critical analysis of British policy towards the Siamese Malay States which lay to the north of the British possessions and protectorates in the Malay Peninsula. Four of them, Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu, were transferred to British suzerainty in 1909 and now form part of Malaysia. The period under examination was one of unusually keen rivalry between Britain and France in the whole of mainland Southeast Asia and one of its unique features was the preservation of the independence of the Kingdom of Siam. Apart from the other needs of imperialism, the policies of die two Powers in Siam were to a considerable extent influenced by the presence of their vast colonial possessions in the periphery of Siam. These basic facts of the history of the region have, not unnaturally, led to a variety of approaches to the problem of the extension of British political control in the Malay Peninsula.

R. v. Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Another, Ex parte Demetrious

States as international persons — Types of States — Protected States — Qatar — Status of — Jurisdiction exercised by Britain — Whether Qatar a “British possession” for purposes of Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881 — Return of British subject from United Kingdom on warrant from Qatar.

Disaffection and Revolts in Nigeria During the First World War, 1914–1918

Nigeria, the biggest of the British dependencies in West Africa and the most populous of British African possessions found herself involved in the First World War barely eight months after the amalgamation of the separate southern and northern Protectorates, to form a single unified British possession. The country naturally did not have time to digest the new administrative changes that had just taken place before the war broke out. The policy of federating contiguous but separate political units, had become of the cardinal principles of British imperial policy. Unification with all its shortcomings had worked well enough in Canada, Australia, and South Africa with their sophisticated electorates and even in small African countries like Uganda and the Gold Coast which, when compared with Nigeria, had the benefit of cultural homogeneity. Amalgamation in Nigeria brought in its trail the problem of finding a common administrative policy in an ethnically variegated country. To complicate things the country was put under an autocratic Governor-General Lugard. This was an unfortunate thing for a country with its 337,000 square miles and about 20 million people in an area one third of that of British India and a population greater than that of Ceylon, British Malaya, Australia, New Zealand and British West Indies all added together. 1 It was not just the size of Nigeria that was overwhelming, but the administrative problems that went with the size proved almost unsolvable. These problems, to make matters worse, were tackled with a rather dogmatic approach of pseudo anthropologist who having designed what African political models should be, tried as much as possible to shape the actual societies to fit into a sort of administrative strait-jacket. Since force was needed to make the Nigerian conform to the official political philosophy of indirect rule, any attempt at withdrawal of these visible signs of Imperial control was of necessity fraught with danger. Before the outbreak of the war Nigeria had a single brigade of five battalions known as the Nigeria Regiment. The total strength of this brigade was about

The Coalescing Problem of Southern Africa

THE southern segment of the African continent includes: Angola and Mozambique, two vast Portuguese colonies whose peoples are in revolt; Rhodesia, a British possession whose government is in rebellion; the Republic of South Africa, officially committed to a racist ideology; and the international Territory of South West Africa, illegally occupied by the neigh boring Republic. These diverse lands share a common attribute, which is both unique and menacing: domination by white mi norities of black populations many times their number. To the north, newly liberated nations are groping toward a ful filment of freedom which they regard as the promise of history. The southern area, however, is besieged from within and without by demands for an equal chance and a free choice, conditions ac cepted everywhere else in the world as normal objectives of the social order. Southern Africa sometimes is depicted as a bastion of culture and progress. It is, to the contrary, the last refuge of a twisted concept of the relationship between the individual and society, one which allots opportunities and burdens according to the accident of race. When demands for equality are pressed by those who are of the same race as their rulers, the consequences can be violent enough, as the colonial revolutions in our own hemisphere made clear. But the use of discrimination and colonial exploitation to further the interests of a dominant racial group multiplies the dangers, both to the area of repression and to the wider community of nations. Enforcement of a deeply resented status quo of racial or colonial privilege undermines the processes by which societies normally effect just change. When aspiration and dissent are denied a peaceful outlet, they generate volcanic forces which erupt into brutal and protracted struggles. In such societies, time runs toward chaos. Racial discrimination, moreover, arouses emotions of anxiety and involvement on the part of all those, everywhere, who have known, or who fear, a similar experience. Combined with a uni versal tendency to correlate color with poverty, racial tensions infect the open wounds of a world divided between the many

Eighteenth-Century Settlement in the British Caribbean

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR between Great Britain and the Franco-Spanish Coalition was brought to an end by the Treaty of Paris (Io February 1763) in which the signatories agreed to an exchange of colonial territories. Accordingly, the Caribbean islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago lost the neutral status they had acquired by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Together with Guadeloupe and Martinique, St. Lucia reverted to French control, while Grenada (which had always been French), Tobago, St. Vincent and Dominica became undisputed British possessions to be known generally during the next fifty years as the British 'Ceded' Islands (Fig. i). It was clear that the British Government wished their newly acquired islands to be inhabited as soon as possible, preferably by loyal citizens who would be prepared to defend them in time of war. At the same time it was felt that colonists should not be allowed a free rein to exploit their new lands by transplanting haphazard and destructive agricultural techniques, commonly practised in St. Christopher, Barbados, Jamaica and New England. These included rapid deforestation and soil exhaustion, together with chaotic land boundaries. Furthermore, in the hope that some financial return might result from the sale of lands in the future, the Board of Trade was instructed to prepare detailed plans and proposals. Accordingly on 17 October 1763 'Their Lordships took into consideration the method of disposing of land in the islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago and ordered the draught of a representation to His Majesty thereupon to be prepared.'l During the latter part of 1763 and early 1764, this document passed through a number of committees of the Board of Trade, the Treasury and the Privy Council,2 undergoing at each stage a number of amendments, probably based on contemporary and prior administrative experience of colonial settlements in the North American colonies.3

Anglicanism, Catholicism and the Negro Slave

In recent years, American scholars have begun to search for the uniqueness of the American institution of Negro slavery, by contrasting it with the experience of the other colonizing nations of Europe in the New World. Even as far back as the 17th century, a sharp difference in slave institutions was noted between English, French and Spanish possessions, yet few historians until recently have attempted to analyze the causes and consequences of these distinctions.

REVIEWS

Journal Article REVIEWS Get access The Norman Monasteries and their English Possessions. By DONALD MATTHEW. Pp. x+200. (Oxford Historical Series.) Oxford University Press, 1962. 27s. 6d. SUSAN WOOD SUSAN WOOD Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume XV, Issue 1, April 1964, Pages 186–188, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/XV.1.186 Published: 01 April 1964

Regalian Right in Medieval England, by Margaret Howell; The Athlone Press; 42s. od. - The Norman Monasteries and Their English Possessions, by Donald Matthew; Oxford University Press; 27s. 6d.

Regalian Right in Medieval England, by Margaret Howell; The Athlone Press; 42s. od. - The Norman Monasteries and Their English Possessions, by Donald Matthew; Oxford University Press; 27s. 6d.

The Norman Monasteries and Their English Possessions. Donald J. A. Matthew

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsThe Norman Monasteries and Their English Possessions. Donald J. A. MatthewCoburn V. GravesCoburn V. Graves Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 38, Number 4Oct., 1963 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2851673 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1963 The Mediaeval Academy of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.