ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the political, social, economic, demographic and geopolitical shifts both the British metropolis and colonies confronted from the 1940s to the 1960s which compelled them to institute economic, cultural, political and social reforms to appease the nationalist demands of the indigenous elite in the colonies under study. It explores how the continued overcrowding of the colonial bureaucracies paved the way for the indigenous elite to assume control of their respective emerging nations. This chapter examines why the indigenous elite sought to maintain the aforementioned subscription libraries and colonial clubland post-independence. It examines colonial policy changes in the British metropolis and how these changes impacted upon the operations of the British Council from 1945 to 1962. This chapter explores the metropolitan mindset of colonial development by examining the passage of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1945 as a last-ditch effort to hold the British Empire together. It explores the postwar activities of the British Council and its efforts to maintain the cultural integrity of both clubland and subscription libraries on the eve of Jamaican, Nigerian and Malaysian independence. It concludes with an assessment of the continued survivability of these institutions in the former colonies under study.
