Colonial connections, 1815-45 : patronage, the information revolution and colonial government / Zoë Laidlaw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laidlaw, Zoë.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--Colonies--Administration--History--19th century.

Great Britain.

Colonies.

Administration.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 241 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2005.

Summary:

This ground-breaking book challenges standard interpretations of metropolitan strategies of rule in the early nineteenth century. After the Napoleonic Wars, the British government ruled a more diverse empire than ever before, and the Colonial Office responded by cultivating strong personal links with governors and coloial officials through which influence, patronage and information could flow. By the 1830s the conviction that personal connections were the best way of exerting influence within the imperial sphere went well beyond the metropolitan government, as lobbyists, settlers, colonial officials and missionaries also developed personal connections to advance their causes. However, successive crises in the 1830s exposed these complicated networks of connection to hostile metropolitan scrutiny.

This book challenges traditional notions of a bureaucratic revolution in government in the mid-1830s, identifying a more profound and gradual transition from a metropolitan reliance on gossip and personal information to the embrace of new statistical forms of knowledge. The analysis moves between London, New South Wales and the Cape Colony, encompassing both government insiders and those who struggled against colonial and imperial governments. As such, this book will offer an important new interpretation of the workings of British rule in the colonies.

Contents:

Part I Metropolitan concerns

2 Networking the empire 13

3 Asserting metropolitan control: the Colonial Office, 1815-36 39

Part II Colonial struggles

4 The isolation of governors 61

5 Traffic: the unofficial correspondence of colonial officials 94

6 Colonial lobbyists: tactics and networks 127

Part III Agendas for imperial reform

7 An information revolution 169

1 Senior Colonial Office staff, 1815-50 206

2 Colonial governors 207

3 Colonial officials 208.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-232) and index.

ISBN:

0719069181

OCLC:

61425444

Publisher Number:

9780719069185