Imperialist Women and Conservative Activism in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain

While elite women's imperialist activism in early-twentieth-century Britain is now well recognised, little attention has been paid to how this female imperialism was integrated into broader right-wing politics. The adherence of many right-wing women to a conventionally ‘masculine’ model of empire is also under-researched. This article explores the connections between imperial and wider right-wing politics, the new forms of Conservative activism for women they generated, and the ‘masculinist’ gender model of this imperial Conservatism, through an investigation of the political life of Violet Milner (1872–1958). It emphasises the impact of the South African war in forming imperial ideologies which influenced attitudes to ‘domestic’ as well as imperial politics; highlights the degree to which elite women participated in the campaigns of the Edwardian radical right over tariff reform, national service and Ulster, and in the interwar ‘diehard’ campaigns over India; and traces the enduring influence of turn-of-the-century imperial attitudes into the post-war era as demonstrated by her revival of the ‘Milner religion’ and her editorship of the National Review

Conservatism · Economic history · Elite · Empire · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US

• Connecting Women's Histories

  Barbara Bush, John Purvis et al.•Women s History Review•2016

  Add to list