Cambridge Imperial & Post-Colonial Studies IMPERIAL HISTORY AND THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF EXCLUSION BRITAIN, 1880–1940 AMANDA BEHM Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series Series Editors Richard Drayton Department of History King’s College London London, UK Saul Dubow Magdalene College University of Cambridge Cambridge, UK Aim of the Series TheCambridgeImperialandPost-ColonialStudiesseriesisacollectionof studiesonempiresinworldhistoryandonthesocietiesandcultureswhich emergedfromcolonialism.Itincludesbothtransnational,comparativeand connective studies, and studies which address where particular regions or nations participate in global phenomena. While in the past the series focused on the British Empire and Commonwealth, in its current incarnation there is no imperial system, period of human history or part of the world which lies outside of its compass. While we particularly welcome the first monographs of young researchers, we also seek major studies by more senior scholars, and welcome collections of essays with a strong thematic focus. The series includes work on politics, economics, culture,literature,science,art,medicine,andwar.Ouraimistocollectthe most exciting new scholarship on world history with an imperial theme. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13937 Amanda Behm Imperial History and the Global Politics of Exclusion – Britain, 1880 1940 Amanda Behm Department ofHistory University ofYork York, UK CambridgeImperial and Post-ColonialStudiesSeries ISBN978-1-137-54602-9 ISBN978-1-137-54850-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54850-4 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017943470 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2018 Theauthor(s)has/haveassertedtheirright(s)tobeidentifiedastheauthor(s)ofthisworkin accordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. 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Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothe material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutionalaffiliations. Coverimage:Exporail,TheCanadianRailwayMuseum–CanadianPacificRailwayfonds Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisMacmillanPublishersLtd. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:TheCampus,4CrinanStreet,London,N19XW,United Kingdom A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have had great fortune incurring the many debts that went into writing this book. At Yale, Steve Pincus and Julia Adams asked big questions that always deserved bigger answers. Steve’s curiosity and generosity laid the groundwork for this project. Karuna Mantena and Jay Winter offered crucial readings and reflections. Paul Kennedy critiqued and encouraged with a powerfully discerning eye, and created a home at Yale for me and many others. Marcy Kaufman made every leap and landing possible. Meanwhile, it has been a privilege to work with the talent assembled around International Security Studies, propelled by Igor Biryukov, Kathleen Galo, and Liz Vastakis. For their sharp observations, I owe par- ticular thanks to ISS colloquium and International History Workshop participants Ted Bromund, Patrick Cohrs, Dan Headrick, Kate Epstein, John Gaddis, Kate Geoghegan, Ryan Irwin, Victor McFarland, Eva-Maria Muschik,Marc-WilliamPalen,JoeParrott,MaxScholz,JeniferVanVleck, and Max Walden. Adam Tooze provided critical openings to test argu- ments at Yale and Columbia. Aimee Genell and Radhika Natarajan con- tributed vision, wit, and a wonderfully conspiratorial spirit when it was most needed. And Christian Burset, Megan Cherry, Leslie Cooles, Justin duRivage, Jeremy Friedman, Elizabeth Herman, Richard Huzzey, Lucy Kaufman,MatthewLockwood,SarahMiller,KatherineMooney,Matthew Underwood, Jennifer Wellington, and Alice Wolfram were the heart of learning that began in and extended far beyond New Haven. Attheresearchstage,thisprojectbenefitedimmeasurablyfromfeedback atseminarsandconferencesconvenedbyRichardDrayton,JonLawrence, Marco Platania, Simon Skinner, Miles Taylor, and Ann Thomson in v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS London,Cambridge,Frankfurt, Oxford,andParis.Justoveradecadeago at Cambridge, Richard suggested tracking down the papers of Reginald Coupland for an M.Phil. on Britain and Indian independence, and he has selflessly offered feedback on and support for this very different but linked project. James Vernon commented thoughtfully on research framework and strategies. Susan Pedersen and members of the 2010 Mellon Seminar in British History at Columbia, and John Darwin, Philippa Levine, Roger Louis, Jason Parker, Pillarisetti Sudhir, and members of the 2011 DecolonizationSeminarattheNationalHistoryCenterinWashington,D. C, all gave abundantly of their time and wisdom. In London, Frank Trentmann took on a supervisory role and provided invaluable direction. In Oxford, Deryck Schreuder and Don Markwell broke from their busy schedules to discuss institutional legacies and imperial aftermaths. Audience members and co-panelists at meetings of the North American Conference on British Studies and the Britain and the World and Exeter Imperial and Global History groups sharpened my thinking on various points.IowespecialthankstoTedKoditschekforbravingonememorably chilly NACBS in Minneapolis. Icouldnotwishformoreinspiring colleaguesthanthoseIhavemetin my first year at the University of York. They’ve made it possible to think throughandbeyondthisbook’sfindings,innosmallwayviadepartmental financing for conference travel. This project has also drawn on munificent support from the Institute of Historical Research, International Security Studies and the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the MacMillan Center at Yale, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The skill and enthusiasm of research librarians and archivists at the British Library, Bodleian Library, Rhodes House Library, King’s College London Archives, and Cambridge University Library made extended phases of discovery possible and pro- ductive. I am particularly indebted to Colin Harris at the Bodleian’s Modern Manuscripts reading room, Lucy McCann at Rhodes House, Rachel Rowe at Cambridge’s UL and South Asian Studies Centre, and Martin Maw at the Oxford University Press archives; and to the Rhodes TrustandKing’sCollegeLondonfortheirpermissiontoconsultandquote institutional records. At Palgrave, Jen McCall, Jade Moulds, Molly Beck, and Oliver Dyer shepherded this project to completion with humor and precision. Two anonymous reviewers provided excellent and galvanizing criticism. Any good,intheend,tracesbacktomentorsatDartmouth:LeslieButler,Carl ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii Estabrook, and Doug Haynes. Leslie made my first foray into original scholarship wildly rewarding. I may never know how she did it, but I looked back very gratefully when working with my own undergraduate thesis students, Rachel Rothberg at Yale and the 2015 British history cohortatUCBerkeley—fromwhom,inturn,Ilearnedatremendousdeal. Through their hospitality and sense of adventure, Amanda Ameer, Julie Mumford, Asher Miller, Jeff Shaw, Irenee Daly, Donal Lafferty, Penny Green, Bill Spence, Grace Spence-Green, Kent and Françoise duRivage, Jason Minns, Nathan Kurz, and Zain Lakhani made the long process of writingthisbookmuchbrighter.Finally,Ithankmymom,Freda,mydad, Lou, and my sisters, Anna and Andrea, for their love and support, and Justin, who makes history worth living. C ONTENTS 1 Introduction: British Imperial History and Its Antecedents 1 2 Breaking Up the British Empire 27 3 Historical Racism Between Page and Practice, 1880–1900 61 4 Institutionalizing a New ‘Imperial’ in Turn-of-the-Century Britain 99 5 Empire in Opposition: The Stakes of History and the Rise of Anticolonial Nationalism 133 6 Mobilizing Pasts During and After the Great War 163 7 The Third British Empire 185 8 Conclusion 221 Works Cited 243 Index 277 ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction: British Imperial History and Its Antecedents In or around 1912, the British Empire overtook history. Rising demands forrepresentationandrightsinthe‘subjectempire’clashedwithDominion assertionsofprimacyinmattersofimmigrationanddefense.Anti-Asianand anti-black discrimination in settler societies belied talk of unity and the equalityofsubjects.TheEmpirecouldnothold.OrsofearedLionelCurtis andSidneyLow astheywatched theBritishstate’shaltingresponsetothe ferment,andaseachcontemplatedawholesalereworkingofhistoricaland strategicstudiestoavertdeepercrisis.InhisfeverishresearchfortheOxford RoundTable’sfirstpolicymanifesto,therecentlyreturnedMilneriteCurtis thoughthehadstumbledacrosstherootsofcontemporarystrugglesin‘the mainessentialoutlinesofworldhistory’:theEast-Westimpasseintowhich theEmpirehadfatefullystumbled,withAnglo-Saxondomalonepositioned to mediate between ‘primitive society’ and the ‘top rung of civilization’. ‘England has thus undertaken a vast two-fold mission’, Curtis exhorted colleagues,‘inwhichthetaskofregulatingtheinevitableeffectofEuropean onAsiaticcivilisationisnotthesmallestpart’.1Thewell-connectedLondon journalist and author Low, meanwhile, pleaded that same year before the British Academy for the introduction of a holistic ‘Imperial Studies’ at empire’snervecenterthatwouldfinallyaddressthebreadthanddiversityof British realms. Neither scholars nor the public, Low argued, could afford any longer to ‘omit from [their] consideration of the dynamics of Empire the processes by which Englishmen have become responsible for the government ofa quarter ora fifth ofthe population ofthis planet’.2 ©The Author(s)2018 1 A. Behm,Imperial History andtheGlobal Politics ofExclusion, CambridgeImperial and Post-ColonialStudiesSeries, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54850-4_1