Images of Imperialism in Great Britain

Although late-nineteenth-century imperialism had its critics, there is no doubt that in the major imperialist states it had broad support, not just from investors, missionary groups, and civil servants who had direct interests in Africa and Asia but also from the general populace. Imperialism had this appeal for several reasons. For many it confirmed their faith in progress and their belief in the superiority of white, Christian Europeans over the rest of the world’s peoples. For ardent nationalists it was an endeavor that tested and demonstrated the nation’s strength and vigor. For those who found their lives in industrial society drab and tedious, it provided vicarious adventure, excitement, and a sense of the exotic.

Late-nineteenth-century popular culture provides ample evidence of the public’s enthusiasm for imperialism. Especially in Great Britain, the premier imperialist power, novels, poetry, plays, children’s books, advertisements, music hall entertainment, and publications of missionary societies were filled with positive imperialist images, themes, and motifs. Youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts (founded in 1908) and the Girl Guides (founded in 1910) sought to inculcate the values of service to Britain’s imperial cause. This constant exposure of the public to material connected with the British Empire reinforced imperialism’s appeal and strengthened support for the government’s expansionist policies.

The documents I would like you to look at are actually all visual and provide several examples of how British popular culture propagated imperial values (you can view them all by clicking here). The first group of illustrations appeared in An ABC for Baby Patriots by Mrs. Earnest Ames. Designed to be read to young children, it was published in 1898 in London and went through several printings. The illustration that accompanies the letter N depicts a British naval officer showing off a flotilla of Royal Navy ships on maneuvers off Spithead in the English Channel. The foreigners are a German on the left and a Frenchman on the right.

The second illustration is taken from The Kipling Reader, a collection of stories written for young adults by Rudyard Kipling. It was published in 1908 and illustrated by J. Macfarlane. Kipling, one of the most popular British writers of the era (again this is the guy that wrote The Jungle Book), is best remembered for his strong support of imperialism and his glorification of the heroism of the British soldier in India and Burma. This particular illustration depicts Scott, a character in the story “William the Conqueror.” Set in India during a famine, the story centers on the romance between Scott and a young woman nicknamed “William” while they toil to save Indians from starvation. Scott has saved hundreds of babies by feeding them milk from a herd of goats he has managed to maintain. In this illustration, he approaches William, who sees “a young man, beautiful as Paris, a god in a halo of gold dust, walking slowly at the head of his flocks, while at his knee ran small naked Cupids.”

The third illustration is an advertisement for Lipton Teas, which appeared in 1897 in the popular weekly the Illustrated London News. The Lipton Company was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, by the son of a poor Irish shopkeeper, Thomas Lipton. He opened a small food shop in Glasgow in 1871 and by 1890 owned 300 food stores throughout Great Britain. In 1890 the multimillionaire decided to cash in on the British taste for tea. Growing tea on plantations he owned in India and Ceylon and marketing it in inexpensive small packets that guaranteed freshness, the Lipton Company soon became synonymous with tea drinking throughout Europe and the United States. Advertisements for its tea appeared regularly in the Illustrated London News during the 1890s and early 1900s.

The fourth and fifth illustrations are cartoons published in the popular English humor magazine Punch, founded in 1841. Although noted for its political radicalism in its early years, by the late nineteenth century Punch had adopted a more moderate political stance, one that reflected the perspectives of its largely middle-class readers. The first cartoon, “On the Swoop,” was published in 1894, a time when the European powers were consolidating their territorial claims in Africa. It shows an eagle, representing Germany, about to pounce on an African village. By then it was clear that the German acquisition of Tanganyika had ruined the British imperialists’ dream of establishing a string of contiguous British colonies in east Africa that stretched from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa. In the second cartoon, “Britannia and Her Suitors,” was published in 1901, a time when Great Britain was still studiously avoiding entanglements in the diplomatic alliances then taking shape among the continental powers. It shows Britannia dancing with a figure representing its colonies, while in the background the German emperor Wilhelm II, then allied only with weak Austria-Hungary, look on unhappily. Further in the background Tsar Nicholas II of Russia dances with a figure representing France, with whom Russia had been allied since 1894.

After you have studied the illustrations, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: What view of Africans and Asians are being communicated in each of the illustrations? What message is being communicated about the benefits colonial subjects are accruing from their status? What images are communicated about the British in their role as imperialists? What concrete examples of nationalism can you see in the various illustrations? How many of the justifications for imperialism presented in Jules Ferry's speech can you find represented in the illustrations? Using evidence in the illustrations alone, what conclusions can you draw about the reasons for imperialism’s popularity within the general British population? Your thoughts…