1815-1914

Leopold Amery was a journalist and a British Conservative Party politician with a particular interest in the British Empire. He was born in Gorakpur, India in 1873 and was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. He became a correspondent for the Times and during the time he worked for The Times (1899-1909) was sent to South Africa to report on the Second Boer War. He criticised General Buller in numerous articles on the failure of the British army to break through the Boer lines at Colenso, the heavy defeats in December, 1899, and the subsequent failure to defeat the Boers. His articles helped to bring about the sacking of General Buller and his replacement with General Roberts. Amery was the main contributor as editor and contributor for The Times History of the South African War.

Amery was subsequently asked to become editor  of the Observer and the Times but he turned down both offers to become a politician. He stood as a candidate in the 1908 election for Wolverhampton East but narrowly lost but in 1911 he was more successful, being elected as the MP for Birmingham South as a Liberal Unionist. He continued to represent this constituency until the 1945 election.

Amery served as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans for two years before joining Lloyd George’s Cabinet Secretariat in 1916. He helped draft the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and after the war was First lord of the Admiralty in Bonar law’s government. He became Colonial Secretary in 1924, retaining the post until 1929. He  supported Imperial Preference, helped to establish the Empire Marketing Board and was responsible for organising the Imperial Conference of 1926. During World War two he was Secretary of State for India and Burma and sought independence for the sub-continent within the Commonwealth. He was a great believer in imperial expansion but he did not believe in any more centralisation from London. He believed the future of the world lay in a form of ‘welfare imperialism’ and wanted a new political, economic and spiritual form of empire.

Leopold Amery

Introduction What's On?

Why Study the Empire? Outline History of the British Empire North Laine Walk1 Development of North Laine part 2 Key Features of the 19th  century British  Empire

Outline History part 2

key features page2

Historians' views of the British  Empire What was the legacy of the British Empire? What was the British Raj? Why did Britain go to war with Germany in August 1914? What was New Imperialism? Should the British government pay compensation for those who were victims of Imperialism? Should the Rhodes' Statue at Oriel College, Oxford be taken down? What was the role of Sport in the British Empire? What was the nature of the British Empire? How was the British Empire run? How  important was trade in the 19th century British Empire? What was the ideology of the 19th century British Empire? What was the Motivation for the 19th century British Empire? How important was Migration to the British  Empire? Great Game

Why did Britain go to war against Germany, part 2

Why did Britain go to war with Germany in August 1914?

Yorktown 1781 The 1788 Fleet The Indian Rebellion The Ashanti War The Opening of the Suez Canal The Discovery of Gold on the Witwatersrand The Jameson Raid Abolition of Slavery Canada Treaty of Waitangi Free Trade Transvaal 1877-1881 The Amritsar Massacre

How important was violence to the 19th century British Empire? What were the main causes of the Indian Rebellion? What were the main causes and events of the Boer War? The Jamaican Rebellion The Opium Wars The Matabele Maori resistance  Boer War section Aborigine resistance in Australia Burmese Wars The Red River Campaign The Asante War of 1873-4

Violence and the Empire part 2

Matabele part 2

earlyhistory Creation of the Boer Republics 1867-1895 The Road to War Countdown to War in October 1899 Opening Moves Black Week Sieges Spion Kop The Tide Turns March to Pretoria The Guerrilla Campaign Kitchener's War Peace

General Garnet Wolseley Cecil Rhodes Emily Hobhouse Flora Shaw  Kipling's Imperialism Hugh Clifford Lord Salisbury William Des Voeux The Legacy of Cecil Rhodes Sammy Marks Frederick Lugard Frank Swettenham Arthur Conolly Alexander Burnes Olaf Caroe Aga Khan III James Aggrey William Angliss Leopold Amery Baden-Powell Bahadur Shah Zafar Mary Kingsley Bartle Frere Cetewayo Sir Charles Napier Robert Napier

Wolseley cont

Emily Hobhouse part 2

Kipling's Imperialism part 2

Salisbury's Imperial Policy part 2

Introduction and Wars 1843-1859 Wars 1860-1881 Wars 1881-1902 A Chronology of the British Empire Territories A-I Territories J-T People A-L People M-Z Further Reading Historical Fiction Territories of the British Empire in chronological order

Talk on Heroines of the Boer War Talk on Kipling's Imperialism Talk on Victoria's Empire Talk on 'The Boer War' How important was Empire in bringing about World War One Talk on Cecil Rhodes Talk on Wolseley James Hannington Empire and Sport US Imperialism Kipling's Years in Rottingdean