Empire Lost: Britain, the Dominions and the Second World War

by Andrew Stewart

  20 Kenneth O'Morgan, 'Imperialists at Bay: British Labour and Decolonization' in King and Kilson (eds), The Statecraft of British Imperialism, pp. 234-6.

  21 'Empire or Commonwealth', Time, 25 January 1943.

  22 'As England Feels ...', Time, 13 April 1942.

  23 Of the 895 correspondents polled just 29 per cent of them understood the distinction between 'Dominion' and 'Colony'; 'The British Empire', BBC Listener Research Department, 22 February 1943, FO371/34088.

  24 Frank Heinlein, British Government Policy and Decolonisation 1945-1963 (London, 2002), pp. 8, 64.

  25 Unknown newspaper clipping, 15 May 1940, Pearson Papers, MG26, N8.

  26 Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record, pp. 663-4.

  27 Halifax, Fullness of Days, p. 273; also in Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay, p. 16.

  28 Hancock, Argument of Empire, pp. 9-13.

  29 Clement Attlee, 'Wartime Cooperation in the British Commonwealth', United Empire (Vol. 34, No. 1; January-February 1943), pp. 7-12. The Royal Empire Society was founded in 1869 with 174 members; by the end of 1941 this had risen to 18,002. Its splendid buildings on Northumberland Avenue in central London suffered extensive damage in April and May 1941, virtually the entire library was destroyed by a huge bomb and water damage from the efforts of the fire brigade, a total of 232,353 volumes in all; 'The Royal Empire Society—Report of the Council', 17 June 1942; United Empire (Vol. 33, No. 4; July-August 1942).

  30 A. Duff Cooper, 'The Future Development of the British Empire' (12 January 1943), United Empire (Vol. 34, No. 2), p. 33.

  31 Richard Law, 'The British Commonwealth as a World Power' (19 January 1943), United Empire (Vol. 34, No. 2; March-April 1943), pp. 35-8.

  32 Lord Elton, 'Post-War Role of the Empire', Empire Review (No. 505, June 1943), pp. 13-16; ibid., Lord Hailey, 'The New Attack on "British Imperialism"', pp. 44-8; Sir Charles Petrie, 'At the Peace Table—And Afterwards', pp. 30-2.

  33 Sir Arthur Salter, the Independent MP for Oxford University, who was closely involved at this stage in shipping questions and had visited the United States as part of the Lend-Lease negotiations; Diary, 8 July 1942, Dalton Diary, p. 465.

  34 Richard Akwei to Sir Alan Burns, 18 January 1943, Swinton Papers (Churchill Archives), Swin II 5/5.

  35 Swinton to Cranborne, 17 October 1942, Swinton Papers, Swin II 5/5.

  36 'Alleged Indiscretion of US Cabinet Minister', 21 February 1944, FO371/38522; Cross to Attlee, 22 December 1942, DO35/1628.

  37 Greenway (DID) to DO Premiers, draft telegram 'Most Secret and Personal', 13 March 1943, FO371/36606.

  38 'The Campbell is Coming', Time, 27 January 1941.

  39 Campbell to Cadogan, 6 August 1942, FO371/39695; minute by Sir David Scott, 26 August 1942, FO371/39695.

  40 Cited in Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay, p. 198. The author's brother penned a much less critical piece which appeared as an editorial in the January 1944 edition of Fortune magazine and was warmly welcomed both by Lord Halifax in Washington and the FO back in London; John Davenport, 'The British Empire and the United States', Fortune, January 1944; Halifax to Eden, 3 January 1944, FO371/38522; ibid., minute by Mason, 14 January 1944.

  41 Amery to Cranborne, 27 October 1942, Amery Papers, AMEL2/1/34; ibid., Cranborne to Amery, 3 November 1942.

  42 It was not merely anti-imperialism that Wilkie suffered from; there was also more than a hint of defeatism on display during his tour. During a stopover in West Africa he had met the British Resident Minister, Lord Swinton, who recorded that he had been 'frightfully gloomy' about the Allied position in North Africa until he had seen the position in Egypt which 'entirely changed his outlook', Swinton to Cranborne, 11 September 1942, Swinton Papers, Swin II 5/5.

  43 Attlee to Churchill, 16 June 1942, DO121/10B.

  44 Waterson to Smuts, 2 October 1942, Waterson Papers.

  45 Massey Diary, 29 July 1942, Massey Papers.

  46 Bissell, Imperial Canadian, p. 186; Diary, 2 July 1943, Massey Papers.

  47 Cited in David Day, John Curtin: A Life (Sydney, 2000), pp. 522-6.

  48 'Curtin Advocates Body to Govern Whole Empire', The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 16 August 1943; 'Empire Council Plan Supported', The Herald (Melbourne), 3 September 1943; 'British Interest in Empire Government Plan', Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 7 September 1943; 'A Council for Empire', The Times, 7 September 1943; 'Doubtful on Empire Parliament Plan', Daily Telegraph, 16 August 1943; 'Curtin's Scheme Not New', Daily Telegraph, 16 December 1943.

  49 Sir Earle Page, 'Australia and the War', United Empire (Vol. 33, No. 2; March-April 1942), pp. 36-8; Wing-Commander the Hon. T. W. White, 'Australia's Outlook', United Empire (Vol. 34, No. 4, July-August 1943), pp. 97-101; Sir Ernest Fisk, 'The Empire as an Australian Sees It', United Empire (Vol. 34, No. 6; November-December 1943), pp. 167-70.

  50 Emrys-Evans to Wakehurst, 4 June 1943, Emrys-Evans Papers.

  51 For example Lord Elton, 'Post-War Role of the Empire', Empire Review (No. 505; June 1943), pp. 13-16; Keith Newman, 'New Trends in Anglo-Australian Relations', The Fortnightly (October 1943), pp. 241-7; Samuel Storey MP, 'Australia Wants Closer Cooperation', Empire Review (March-May 1944), pp. 35-40; L. C. Key, 'Australia in Commonwealth and World Affairs, 1939-1944', International Affairs (Vol. 21, No. 1; January 1945), pp. 60-73.

  52 Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts, pp. 440-8.

  53 'Peace and Power', Time, 13 December 1943; Kenneth Ingham, Jan Christian Smuts: The Conscience of a South African (London, 1986), pp. 223-30.

  54 High Commission, Pretoria to DO, 18 March 1944, DO34/1204; Garner to Pugh, 20 January 1944, DO35/1205—there was also, not unexpectedly, considerable anger at the questioning of France's position; 'Reactions to FM Smuts Recent Speech', 15 December 1943, FO371/34411.

  55 Diary, Monday 24 January 1944; Halifax Papers; I am grateful to Professor Greg Kennedy for supplying this reference.

  56 Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record, pp. 636-41; Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: A Life of Lord Halifax (London, 1991), pp. 294/5; Diary, 8 February 1944, Mackenzie King Papers.

  57 Halifax to Cranborne, 30 January 1944, DO35/1485.

  58 Ibid., Cranborne to Halifax, 9 February 1944.

  59 'The Four-Power Plan', Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 8 November 1942, CAB66/30/46.

  60 Handwritten comment, 'Foreign Affairs', 17 July 1942, DO35/998/7/48.

  61 'The United Nations Plan', Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 28 January 1943, CAB66/33/44.

  62 'The Relation of the British Commonwealth to the Post-war International Political Organisation', Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 15 June 1943, CAB66/37/44.

  63 'Discussion on status and representation of the Members of the British Commonwealth in the International Sphere', Thursday 1 April 1943, DO35/1838.

  Notes to Chapter 10: The Private Anzac Club

  1 McIntyre, p. 49; Ian Wards, 'Peter Fraser—Warrior Prime Minister' in Margaret Clark (ed.), Peter Fraser: Master Politician (Palmerston North, 1998), pp. 155-6.

  2 Alan Watt, Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938-1965 (London, 1968), pp. 73-7; Robin Kay (ed.), The Australian New Zealand Agreement 1944 (Wellington, 1972), pp. xxviii-xxxii; Wm. Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay, pp. 409-21; Thorne, Allies of a Kind, pp. 480-6; Orders, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the Challenge of the United States, pp. 95-101; Roger J. Bell, Unequal Allies, Australian-American Relations and the Pacific War (Melbourne, 1977), pp. 146-56; Hasluck, Diplomatic Witness, pp. 112-24.

  3 Hankinson to Cranborne, 18 February 1944, CAB66/48/19.

  4 Peter Lyon, 'Great Britain and Australia' in H. G. Gelber (ed.), Problems of Australian Defence (Melbourne, 1970), pp. 70, 76.

  5 Hankinson to Stephenson, 26 May 1944, DO35/1118; he would later become British Ambassador in Dublin.

  6 Hasluck, Diplomatic Witness, p. 117.

  7 Minute by Cranborne, 11 December 1943, DO35/1118.

  8 Malcolm McKinnon, Independe
nce and Foreign Policy: New Zealand in the World since 1935 (Auckland, 1993), p. 44.

  9 Attlee to Churchill, 11 March 1943, DO121/10B.

  10 Batterbee to Cranborne, 22 February 1944, DO35/1119.

  11 Lt. T. A. Gibson, '"Bayonets About the Crown": The Record of the Australian Army in the Second World War', The Army Quarterly (Vol. 56; April and July 1948), pp. 167-70; Grey, The Military History of Australia, pp. 177-80; David Dilks, 'Britain, the Commonwealth and the Wider World 1939-1945', Paper Given at the 'International Conference on the Contribution of the Commonwealth to the War Effort, 1939-1945', Oxford, April 1998, pp. 12-13 (I am grateful to Dr Ashley Jackson for sharing this paper).

  12 Cross to Cranborne, 27 January 1944, DO35/1993.

  13 Speech by Curtin, 17 January 1944, WO106/3419; ibid., Speech by Fraser, 17 January 1944; 'Defence of the South-West Pacific Region', Press Statement by the Prime Minister of Australia, Canberra, 18 January 1944.

  14 'Charter for Down Under', Time, 31 January 1944.

  15 On a map prepared within the WO the Australian 'offer' to police territories until such time as the United Nations organization was established was laid out: Java, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides chain were all clearly marked, forming a security umbrella that stretched along the entire northern Australian littoral.

  16 Cross to DO (telegram), 18 January 1944, WO106/3419; Curtin had also assured the high commissioner, and told him that he should repeat the same to London, that the next stage to the talks would be to discuss the initial findings with the British government, most likely at the prime minister's conference, before discussing them with anybody else. The final post-conference announcement failed to include any reference to discussions with the British government.

  17 Cross to DO (telegram), 26 January 1944, WO106/3419.

  18 'Impressions of a New Zealand Official in his Return from the Australia-New Zealand Conference at Canberra, 31st January 1944', Note by F. E. Cuming-Bruce, 7 February 1944, DO35/1993; ibid., Batterbee to Machtig, 9 February 1944.

  19 Sir A. D. McIntosh Papers (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington), MS-Papers-6759-459, p. 486.

  20 Cross to Cranborne, 13 January 1944, DO121/11; Evatt visited London in mid-1942 and was so charmed by the prime minister that he subsequently 'would not hear a word against him'. His return to Canberra with the news that Churchill was 'a very great man' swept Australia and feeling towards Britain began to abate. Cross to Cranborne, 13 January 1944, DO121/11; Cross to DO (Telegram No. 74), 19 January 1944, WO106/3419; T. B. Millar, 'The Australia-Britain Relationship', The Round Table (Vol. 67; 1977), p. 195.

  Batterbee to DO (Telegram), 1 February 1944, WO106/3419; McIntosh to Bernedsen, 3 February 1944 in Ian McGibbon (ed.), Undiplomatic Dialogue, Letters between Carl Berendsen and Alister McIntosh 1943-1953 (Auckland, 1993).

  'Australia-New Zealand Agreement of 21st January 1944', Memorandum by Cranborne, 2 February 1944, CAB66/46/20; 'Extract from the Conclusions of the 17th(44) Meeting of the War Cabinet', 9 February 1944, WO106/3419.

  DO to Australian and New Zealand governments, 12 February 1944, WO106/3419. Cross to DO (telegram), 18 February 1944, WO106/3419. Minute by Greenway, 12 February 1944, FO371/42677. Minute by Clarke, 2 February 1944, FO371/42681.

  Ibid., minute by Butler, 5 February 1944; minute By Butler, 16 May 1944, FO371/42678. Ibid., minute by Ashley Clarke, 16 May 1944. Minute by Greenway, 2 February 1944, FO371/42681.

  Minute by Boyd-Shannon, 1 March 1944, DO35/1215; ibid., Garner to Costar, 21 February 1944.

  Ibid., Holmes to Boyd-Shannon, 10 March 1944.

  High Commission, Ottawa to DO (telegram), 27 January 1944, WO106/3419. Ibid., Australian High Commission to DO (telegram), 25 January 1944, WO106/3419; Australian High Commission to DO (telegram), 8 February 1944; New Zealand High Commission to DO (telegram), 25 January 1944.

  Batterbee to DO (telegram), 9 February 1944, WO106/3419. Ibid., Batterbee to DO (telegram), 14 February 1944 (No. 66).

  'Australia-New Zealand Agreement of 21st January 1944', WP(44)107, 14 February 1944, CAB66/47/7.

  Batterbee to DO (telegram), 14 February 1944 (No. 62). Ibid., DO to Cross (telegram), 26 February 1944, WO106/3419. Watt, The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy, p. 77.

  Minute by Greenway, 2 March 1944, FO371/42677; there was also some thanks for the attitude adopted with regard to French aims which 'should put the President in a very prickly mood on this subject for some little time'.

  Ronald Campbell to Cadogan, 8 May 1944, DO35/1994; there was some suggestion that this

  'informant' was actually Sir Owen Dixon, the Australian Minister in Washington.

  Minute by Greenway, 18 February 1944, FO371/42681; ibid., Campbell to Butler, 6 March 1944.

  Minute by Ashley Clarke, 2 March 1944, FO371/42677.

  Ibid., minute by Newton, 4 April 1944.

  Ian McGibbon, 'The Australian-New Zealand Defence Relationship since 1901', Revue Internationale d'Histoire Militaire (No. 72, 1990), p. 139.

  William Johnstone, 'Australian and New Zealand Agree', Far Eastern Survey (Vol. 13, No. 4; 23 February 1944), pp. 31-5.

  David Jenkins, 'Implementing the Canberra Pact', Far Eastern Survey (Vol. 14, No. 1; 17 January 1945), pp. 8-9.

  Paul Emrys-Evans, 'Relations of the Dominions to the Colonial Empire', 13 January 1943, DO35/1896.

  Batterbee to DO (telegram), 7 November 1944, DO35/1900.

  'New Zealand-Australia Conference', Memorandum by Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs,

  10 November 1944, CAB66/57/41.

  Hankinson to Harvey, 28 March 1939, FO800/310.

  DO minute, 10 November 1944, DO35/1214.

  DO minute, 10 November 1944, DO35/1215.

  Batterbee to DO, 30 October 1944, DO35/1214.

  McIntosh to Berendsen, 29 November 1944 in McGibbon, Undiplomatic Dialogue. Minute by Cranborne, 29 October 1944, DO35/1215. Batterbee to Machtig, 8 November 1944, DO35/1214.

  58 Ibid., Batterbee to Machtig, 27 November 1944.

  59 Ibid., Batterbee to DO, 24 November 1944.

  60 Minute by Machtig, 5 December 1944, DO35/1215.

  61 Ibid., Batterbee to Machtig, 27 November 1944; minute by Cranborne, 3 December 1944.

  62 Ibid., Batterbee to Machtig, 6 November 1944.

  63 Evatt to Cranborne, 19 November 1944, DO35/1899; ibid., Cranborne to Evatt, 21 November 1944; Evatt to Cranborne, 25 November 1944; Cranborne to Evatt, 1 December 1944.

  64 Batterbee to Machtig, 8 November 1944, DO35/1215.

  65 McIntosh to Berendsen, 10 November 1944 cited in McGibbon (ed.), Undiplomatic Dialogue.

  66 Ibid., McIntosh to Berendsen, 21 December 1944.

  67 Ibid., McIntosh to Berendsen, 29 November 1943.

  68 DavidDay, Reluctant Nation, pp. 181-6; Watt, The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy, p. 103.

  69 Professor Vincent Harlow, 'Can the British Commonwealth Keep Together After the War?', Evening Standard, 27 January 1944; ibid., 'Speak with One Voice', 28 January 1944; 'States in Unison', Commonwealth and Empire Review (September-November 1944), p. 82.

  Notes to Chapter 11: A Family Council

  1 'Meeting of Dominion Prime Ministers', Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 4 June 1941, CAB66/16.

  2 'Brief History of Attempts to Arrange a Meeting During the War—Meeting of Dominion Prime Ministers, May 1944', n.d., DO35/1480.

  3 Minute by Churchill, 8 April 1943, DO35/1470.

  4 Ibid., Churchill to Attlee, 11 April 1943.

  5 Cranborne to Churchill, 5 November 1943, DO121/10A.

  6 Attlee to Churchill, 27 April 1944, DO121/10B; Cranborne to Churchill, 15 October 1943, DO121/10A; ibid., Cranborne to Churchill, 1 November 1943.

  7 Ibid., Cranborne to Churchill, January 1944.

  8 'Meeting with Dominion Prime Ministers', Memorandum by Cranborne, 7 January 1944, DO35/1473.

  9 Ibid., 'Extract from the conclusions of a meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing
Street, on Thursday 20 January 1944'.

  10 Minute by Greenway, 7 February 1944, FO371/42677.

  11 Minute by Boyd-Shannon, 9 December 1943, DO35/1473; ibid., minute by Machitg, 5 January 1944; Machtig to Cranborne, 20 January 1944.

  12 The Whitehall body was to consist of five Ministers supported by three secretaries. The chair would be taken by Cranborne with Bevin, Amery, Colonel Stanley and the FO Minister of State, Richard Law.

  13 'Minutes of a meeting held on the DO on 15 February 1944', DPM(44) 1st Meeting, DO35/1488.

  14 Minute by Newton, 14 February 1944, FO371/42681; ibid., minute by Greenway, 12 February 1944; minute by Newton, 17 March 1944.

  15 'Cooperation in the British Commonwealth', Memorandum by Cranborne, 7 April 1944, FO371/42682.

  16 'Minutes of meeting held on 12 April 1944', DO35/1488.

  17 Minute by Newton, 13 April 1944, FO371/42682; ibid., minute by Greenway, 11 April 1944.

  18 Minute by Machtig, 12 February 1944, DO35/1474; ibid., Bevin to Cranborne, 1 February 1944; Amery to Cranborne, 25 January 1944.

  19 Cranborne to Chiefs of Staff, 3 March 1944, DO35/1473.

  20 'The Coordination of Defence Policy within the British Commonwealth in Relation to a World System of Security', Memorandum by the Chiefs of Staff Committee, 31 March 1944, DO35/1744; Lt. Colonel G. S. Cole (MO1) to Colonel W. Ray, 27 March 1944, CAB121/156; the first draft had

  been undertaken by Brigadier Jacob and was submitted at the beginning of March 1944; 'Note by Brigadier Jacob', 8 March 1944, CAB80/81.

  21 'Secretary's Note for the Chairman', 11 April 1944, DO35/1474; ibid., 'Secretary's Note for Chairman', 20 April 1944.

  22 Minute by Butler, 12 February 1944, FO371/42677; ibid., minute by Jebb, 14 February 1944; Jacob to Greenway, 10 March 1944; minute by Brigadier Jacob, 1 April 1944.

  23 Ibid., Smuts to Churchill (Telegram), 20 March 1944; minute by Greenway, 21 March 1944.