ABSTRACT
It was against a background of territorial expansion in the 1880s and 1890s that the propagandists of imperialism turned their attention to elementary education. Their aim was to give the nation's children a sense of patriotic mission and a level of physical fitness which would enable them to sustain Britain's position in the world, with all that that entailed. For, as one enthusiast, the 12th Earl of Meath, pointed out, the task was too great to be left to a small band of dedicated pioneers. Instead it had become the duty of all:
In former ages the burdens of Empire or of the State fell on the shoulders of a few; now the humblest child to be found on the benches of a primary school will in a few years be called on to influence the destinies not only of fifty-four millions of white, but of three hundred and fifty millions of coloured men and women, his fellow subjects, scattered throughout the five continents of the world. 1
