The rise and fall of Empire Day : an exploration of a global imperial festival

This thesis explores Empire Day, a popular festival of imperialism that was celebrated throughout the British world during the first half of the twentieth century and which had particular prominence between 1905-1931. It is a comparative study that uses case studies of South Africa. India and the metropole to draw conclusions about the functions and utility of Empire Day itself as well as considering what the annual commemoration reveals about the extent of popular imperialism within the British Empire. The celebration was conceived initially as a means of encouraging imperial sentiment in the minds of schoolchildren, but in some locations it caught the spirit of the time and spawned enthusiastic festivities amongst the population at large. It is evidence pertaining to this element of the Day that helps to settle the live historical debate around the question of how far imperialism constituted a popular ideology in the early twentieth century. The trans-national scope of this study uncovers aspects of Empire Day that provide an insight into the ways in which imperialists sought to sustain British identity in the colonial context. It also shows how Empire Day served several other functions such as, inter alit,, helping to validate and sustain hierarchical relations; assimilating non-British immigrants in the 'white' settler colonies; providing an active political domain for disenfranchised women; buttressing the social position of subaltern officials and dignitaries in India; creating a forum for claiming or defending political rights and the advancement of party-political agendas. The study also describes and explains dissenting responses and opposition to Empire Day in the various locations, which helps us chart aspects of the advance of nationalist movements and the decline of imperialism as a popular ideology in the British Empire.