Empire and Sport

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1815-1914

Sport and Empire

This talk is how sport and games were used by the Empire to provide a number of needs that became essential to the maintenance and extension of the Empire. In the early days of the c19th sport and games were used to provide leisure and martial training for those stationed in the colonies but with the reforms of the public schools in the mid c19th sport came to play an essential role in empire.

Britain gave the world and its empire sport although eventually its colonies used sport to assert their independence. The passion of a nation and its empire for sport was produced by the Public Schools from the mid c19th as a result of the reforms in public education given impetus by Dr Arnold at Rugby. That passion and the rules of sport were then taken around the world by old boys who formed clubs wherever they went to maintain their passion and to provide a little built of Britain wherever they were.

Sport was the glue that maintained empire. It kept communities together and provided opportunities for leisure and entertainment. It was also a means of transmitting imperial values. By the mid c19th virtually every colonial community had its cricket club which often was the focal point for a community’s social activities – activities that came to include all classes of the white and native communities so that a feeling of joint enterprise could be transmitted. As schools for the sons of native leaders were established eg Rajkumar College in India cricket and other sports were used to transmit British values.

Although cricket was initially introduced into the colonies to provide leisure for sailors, soldiers and settlers, it was not long before it was being played by natives for their own leisure and entertainment. As public schools began to turn out English Christian gentlemen, the British government came to see these schools as providing the training character needed by Britain’s colonial servants working in far flung parts of the empire. By the last quarter of the century when Britain justified imperial expansion by claiming Britain had a mission to civilise the undeveloped parts of the world –it was the values transmitted by cricket that helped to tie the colonies and its peoples to Britain.

Tours to the colonies by cricket teams were used to maintain a loyalty to Britain

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

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