ABSTRACT
Individuals who were anxious to participate in the furtherance of imperialist, nationalist or militarist ambitions found that there were many avenues open to them. For some a seat in the Lords or Commons beckoned; for others there were organizations set up with specific briefs such as the National Rifle Association (established 1860), the Primrose League (1884), the Navy League (1895), the Victoria League (1901), the League of the Empire (1901), and the National Service League (1902). Paul Kennedy has shown how such pressure groups as these tended to be 'much more consolidationist, protective and conservative' than earlier 'progressive' organizations had been. 1 Female involvement tended to be in a supportive role to essentially male-dominated organizations. A body such as the Society of Arts was encouraged to extend its brief, as we have seen in Chapter 3. Within the public and private sectors of education and in some grammar schools there was scope to develop military training through army classes and corps. Boys' uniformed and semi-uniformed organizations were staffed by men who wished to promulgate military practices among the young, predominantly working-class members of society. Many individuals expressed their support for imperialism through essays and articles in the national or local press or through more substantial publications. Needless to say, this literature was almost entirely male.
