How Did British Empire and Popular Culture Develop in the Years 1890-1914?

a)      Who was Lord Northcliffe?

●       Alfred Harmsworth = Lord Northcliffe. Worked his way up from freelance journalist to becoming a press magnate, gaining peerage as Lord Northcliffe. Helped create ‘tabloid journalism with populist newspapers like the Daily Mail in 1896. Aimed at lower-middle class market and sold at low retail price.

●       Selling over a million copies a day during Boer War, filling pages with stories of war and damning Boers and Kruger whilst praising British.

●       In 20th century early, the Mail turned against Germans who were portrayed as posing military threat to Empire.

Give three more examples of how popular culture and imperialism intermingled:

a)      Literature → works of Rudyard Kipling, Samuel Baker and G.A. Henty. Rudyard wrote poems about the ‘white man’s burden’ in glory of Empire. Baker and Henty wrote books like The Dash for Khartoum and With Clive in India amongst others, proving to be Victorian bestsellers. Novels based on love were more popular like those of Mary Gaunt, who focused on committed colonialists. Generally, British India proved a popular choice with stories of Anglo-Indian love.

b)      Music → nationalist and imperialist themes found in music halls, concert halls and churches. Played at coronations, jubilees (1897 one for example), pageants and exhibitions. ‘Imperial’ ballads, patriotic hymns, military marches. Often works of ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ operas used to convey patriotic and imperialist message in funny way. Imperial composer Edward Elgar also popular for writing an ‘Imperial March’ for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Wrote many other pieces, including the ‘Coronation Ode’ for Edward VII on his accession.

c)      Children’s literature and entertainment → books like Boys of the Empire by E.J. Brett’s and comics like Boy’s Own Paper and Girl’s Own Paper by the Religious Tract Society. Howard Handley Spicer published Boys of the Empire and Boys of Our Empire magazine and set up Boys’ Empire League with 7000 members in 1900. Boy and Girl Scout’s movements by Robert Baden-Powell drummed up imperialist sentiments in young people also. History and Geography books used in schools glorified Empire and events like Empire Day were popular for pageantry.