ABSTRACT
Freedom has always been a cherished idea within British politics and culture, and the vision of Britain as a nation devoted to, and a champion of, freedom has a long history. In the years of imperialism, the concept of civilisation was often yoked to that of freedom, as colonising Britons imagined themselves preparing colonial subjects for their eventual freedom. The sentiment that colonial peoples required careful nurturing and proper education such that they might one day enjoy the benefi ts of freedom was a commonplace of journalists, politicians, explorers and travellers, and a good portion of Britons overall (as shown in Chapter 7 ). The Central Offi ce of Information, created in 1946, issued books of photo cards on all aspects of British life and politics. The introduction to their 1948 publication, Colonial Empire: Introducing the Colonies , defi ned the colonies as ‘those units of the Commonwealth which still need guidance and help from colonial Britain’. 1 Central to that argument was that freedom was some distance off, a future dream towards which colonial peoples might aspire and towards which they were expected to work. It was an elaborate justifi cation not only of colonial rule but of colonial unfreedom, and its effect on all aspects of the existence of those who lived under colonial rule was huge. What, then, did it mean to live as a subject of the British Empire? Were the daily lives of Malays, Andamanese, Tamils, Zulus or Creoles directly affected by a distant if powerful country that claimed so much power over them? While the consequences and experience of people in different places, and of different ranks, were rarely the same, the effects of imperial rule were nonetheless potent, affecting every aspect of people’s lives, livelihoods and relationships. Where one might live, job opportunities, property ownership, marriage laws, religious practice,
education, entertainment: all these and more were affected by the presence and impact of colonialism.
