Sanders of the River, Still the Best Job for a British Boy’; Recruitment to the Colonial Administrative Service at the End of Empire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8959090 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chris Jeppesen (University College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 469-508 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x15000114 |
| OpenAlex | W2282653727 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 12 |
In February 1951, the Sunday Express printed a piece extolling the virtues of a Colonial Service career, under the headline: ‘Sanders of the River, Still the Best Job for a British Boy’. This article explores the ideological and practical reasons why Sanders of the River, a character apparently so at odds with the post-Second World War Colonial Service message, continued to hold enough cultural resonance that it was considered appropriate to utilize him as a recruitment tool in 1951. Edgar Wallace's literary creation occupied a defining place in metropolitan understandings of the Colonial Service's work. Yet, by 1951, the ideological aims of the colonial project were changing. Sanders's paternalism had been dismissed in favour of a rhetoric that emphasized partnership and progress. The post-1945 district officer was expected to be a modern administrator, ready to work alongside educated Africans to prepare Britain's colonies for self-government. Exploring both Colonial Office recruitment strategies and recruits’ career motivations, this article situates the often ignored issue of Colonial Service recruitment at the end of empire within a wider cultural context to illuminate why, even as many turned away from careers in empire after 1945, a significant number of young Britons continued to apply
Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Economy · Empire · Ideology · Management · Paternalism · Political science · Politics · Service (business · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Australian History and Society · History · Law · South African History and Culture
Colonial officers and gentlemen
Affluence and Social Change in the Making of Technocratic Middle-Class Identities
A Technocratic Imperial State? The Colonial Office and Scientific Research, 1940-1960
Keeping change within bounds
The transfer of power and colonial civil servants in Ghana
Morale in the colonial service in Nigeria during the Second World War
The Nigerian self-government crisis of 1953 and the colonial office
Africa and the Labour government, 1945–1951
The Thin White Line
The Education of an Elite Imperial Administration
British Colonial Policy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2024 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |