Empire Ways: Aspects of British Imperialism

301 Pages·01.452 MB·English

by  Bernard Porter

Bernard Porter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of
Newcastle. He has also taught at the universities of Cambridge, Hull, Yale,
Sydney,StockholmandCopenhagen.Hehaspublishedelevenbooks,manyof
them on imperial themes, including Critics of Empire (I.B.Tauris, 2008), The
Lion’s Share, The Absent-Minded Imperialists and British Imperial (I.B.Tauris,
2016). He also contributes regularly to the London Review of Books, the
Guardian, and other journals.
‘A really interesting and varied book with plenty of punch. Bernard Porter
writes in a most readable, scholarly and accessible fashion.’
– Denis Judd, author of Empire: The British Imperial Experience
from 1765 to the Present (I.B.Tauris, 2012)
EMPIRE WAYS
Aspects of British Imperialism
B P
ERNARD ORTER
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To the memory of my father
Cyril George Porter
1907–1962

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction 1
I Empire and Imperialism
1. Cutting the Empire Down to Size 7
2. Wealth or Commonwealth? The History of a Paradox 19
3. The Men on the Spot 28
4. Science in Africa 34
5. Cannabis and Empire 42
II Imperial Wars
6. The War of 1812 51
7. The Opium Wars 58
8. The Zulu Wars 66
9. Victoria’s Other Wars 71
10. The Falklands War 74
III Imperialists
11. George Bogle 85
12. Stamford Raffles 88
13. Lady Hester Stanhope 91
14. Rudyard Bloody Kipling 98
15. Lord Cromer 105
16. Stanley 112
17. More Explorers 120
18. Lawrence of Arabia 123
19. The Butcher of Amritsar 131
viii EMPIREWAYS
20. The Mercenary 134
IV The Empire at Home
21. Further Thoughts on Imperial Absent-Mindedness 145
22. Imperialism Contested 159
23. Elgar and Empire 170
24. Architecture and Empire: The Case of the ‘Battle of the Styles’ 181
V The End of Empire and After
25. Atrocity in Kenya 199
26. The Central African Federation 209
27. Decolonisation in Asia 220
28. Secret Services: The Last Penumbra of Empire 230
29. After-Images of Empire 239
Conclusion 247
Appendix: Where I Come From 261
Acknowledgements 265
Notes 269
Further Reading 277
Index 279
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GG Scott’s original and final designs for the new Government
Offices; from The Builder, 29 August 1857; and The Illustrated
London News, 29 September 1866. 182