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The Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women and the Problems of Empire Settlement, 1917–1936

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Brian L. Blakeley
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Extract

The “deluge” of World War I not only produced change within British society, but it intensified governmental and societal interest in the empire. This trend occurred for several reasons. Britain's wartime co-operation with her dominions led many Britons to assume that this new imperial unity could, and should, be cultivated in the post-war period. The imperial pessimism generated in some circles by the tragedy of the Boer War faded from the public's memory. Equally important, however, by 1917 the government was conscious of the serious economic and social problems Britain would confront once victory had been attained. One of several imperial solutions studied extensively during the war was state supported emigration. The government, which since 1914 had played an increasingly prominent role in solving society's problems, believed that emigration would serve a variety of useful purposes. It would alleviate the distress of thousands of British women, it would accelerate the economic and social development of the dominions, and it would strengthen the British Empire, giving it the power and self-assurance necessary to carry out its diplomatic and military roles in the post-war world. During the course of these deliberations during and immediately after World War I, the importance of women to any comprehensive strengthening of the empire was fully accepted by the government for the first time in British history.

The growth of interest in government sponsored imperial migration, including that of women, did not occur, however, in a vacuum. The 1920s and 1930s were, as it is increasingly recognized, “a great age of British Imperialism,” during which the “mass pheonomena of Empire—the Empire Shopping Weeks, the Empire Exhibitions and Empire Day celebrations” became a prominent part of the British social scene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , Fall 1988 , pp. 421 - 444
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1988

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References

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32 Joint Council, minutes of 4 April 1919, Fawcett Library 3; and Cecil to MacNaghten, 11 April 1919; and Cecil to Amery, 11 April 1919, CO 721/4.

33 Departmental Committee on Emigration, minutes of 3 April 1919; MacNaghten to Cecil, 17 April 1919; and C. M. Wadge to MacNaghten, 2 May 1919, CO 721/4.

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39 Londonderry to MacNaghten, 1 March 1919; CO to Treasury, 5 March 1919; and Treasury to CO, 10 March 1919, CO 721/6.

40 L. E. Simms to Plant, 18 October 1919, CO 721/6.

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42 “Report to the President of the OSC of the Delegates Appointed to Enquire as to openings in Canada for Women from the United Kingdom, April–September, 1919,” P. P., 1919, XXI, Cmd. 403, pp. 4–26; “Report to the President of the OSC of the Delegates Appointed to Enquire as to openings in Australia for Women from the United Kingdom, June 1920,” P. P., 1920, XXII, Cmd. 745, pp. 3–24; and “Report to the President of the OSC of the Delegates Appointed to Enquire as to openings in New Zealand for Women from the United Kingdom, September 1920,” P. P., 1920, XXII, Cmd. 933, pp. 4–27.

43 The Times, 28 May 1919, 17b.

44 MacNaghten, memo of 2 May 1919, CO 721/4.

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75 Cmd. 2107, pp. 11–12. The Imperial Conference of 1926 also saw the “ideal” migration as family migration. Cmd. 2768, p. 44.

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77 GFS, minutes of the Emigration Department, 5 March 1920, Reference 45. See also Pott to MacNaghten, 9 April 1920, CO 721/22. The YWCA also withdrew its support.

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79 OSCtoCO, 12 November 1921, CO 721/32. In 1927 the SOSBW again almost lost its subsidy for similar reasons. DO 57/71, File 0413.

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104 Pott's minute of 25 March 1929; Pott's memo of 24 January 1934; and Grosvenor to Plant, 12 April 1934, DO 57/112.

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106 Minutes on Pott's memo of 25 July 1929, DO 57/113.

107 Pott's memo of 25 June 1929, DO 57/113.

108 SOSBW, Executive Committee minutes, 14 October 1931, Fawcett Library 6.

109 “Imperial Conference, 1930. Summary of Proceedings. November 1930,” P. P., 1930–31, XIV, Cmd. 3717, pp. 61–62; and “Imperial Conference, 1937. Summary of Proceedings,” P. P., 1936–37, XII, Cmd. 5482, pp. 1–71.

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115 “Minutes of an Informal Conference with Representatives of Voluntary Societies,” 6 May 1927, DO 57/59; and SOSBW, council minutes, 21 March 1928, Fawcett Library 5; and 14 October 1931, Fawcett Library 7.

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122 SOSBW, Executive Committee minutes, 21 June 1961, Fawcett Library 13.

123 SOSBW, council minutes, 21 October 1936, Fawcett Library 7.