How much support was there for imperialism from 1880-1902?

     Many elements of Chamberlain’s vision of a great global empire with Britain at the centre were taken up though the media and popular entertainment. The media was a superb vehicle for imperialist propaganda because it could reach the masses at every age level. The Church provided a regular opportunity for imperialist propaganda to be distributed widely, particularly amongst the middle class. The financial incentives put in place to exploit imperialism as a popular theme to sell publications certainly made a massive contribution towards shaping popular attitudes on imperialism. Much of the newspaper industry by the late 19th Century was also in the hands of pro-imperialist owners; Lord Harmsworth, founder of the Daily Mail, was a classic example of this. Another motivating force behind imperialism was the urge to spread Christianity. Missionary societies developed and conducted fund-raising activities and lectures to keep the positive aspects of imperialism alive.

      After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 a development of anti-imperialism began. Some British people rejected any form of control based on imperialism as the believed it led to militarism and expensive overseas commitments. Some less extreme anti-imperialists were only willing to compromise with accepting an ‘informal’ empire. Many members of the newly emerging Socialist movement, led by Keir Hardie, also began to challenge imperialism. Hardie feared that support of popular imperialism amongst the working classes would distract them from the real issues of wages and working conditions.

     The high watermark of anti-imperialism that came with the second Boer War graphically illustrated the scale of opposition that had developed by 1902. Although it seemed the majority of the British public and parties had been pro-imperialist, the aftermath of the Boer War lead to a considerable drop. The overall impact of international criticism and the brutality of the war discredited imperialism within the Liberal Party. It was of some importance that during the Boer War it was white settlers of European origins who were the victims of British imperialism and not the usual coloured African natives. By 1902, there were only a handful of Liberal imperialists left; however, among them were many of the Party’s leading figures such as Grey and Asquith. Many within the general public also still backed imperialism, but the notion that there was universal support across all the social classes is misleading. Amongst the middle classes, imperialism was still intact, but the working class had other priorities that influenced their attitudes.