ABSTRACT
The English 'national song' and the search for an English national musical identity in song must be seen in the context of British imperialism. If imperialism were to be defined solely as the formal annexation of territory, there would be an argument for regarding 1815-70 as an anti-imperialist era. Gallagher and Robinson coined the phrase 'imperialism of free trade' and suggested that there was an 'informal empire' of places not formally ruled by Britain, yet dominated by Britain in some way. The growing interest in the thoughts and words of the ordinary fighting man, as mediated by middle-class poets and composers, may be related to the search for English identity during the age of 'new imperialism'. The last gasp of British imperialism as a 'popular' cause came with a song clothed in all the garments of English national identity.
