Joseph Chamberlain
1836 – 1914 British Colonial Secretary, statesman
Colonial Secretary who championed an aggressive 'new imperialism', tied to the Jameson Raid and the drive to the Second Boer War.
- Religion
- Unitarian
- Affiliations
- Liberal Unionist
Joseph Chamberlain was a Birmingham businessman and radical who became the leading voice of aggressive imperial expansion as Colonial Secretary from 1895. He pushed a vision of a united, self-conscious empire developed as a source of British strength. He was closely linked to the failed Jameson Raid against the Boer republics and to the diplomacy that led to the Second Boer War, with its concentration camps. Later he split British politics with his campaign for imperial tariff preference.
Connections
- associate of Cecil Rhodes — Backed his southern African ambitions and was linked to the Jameson Raid.
- associate of Lord Kitchener — The commander who fought the Boer War his policy helped bring on.
- associate of Lord Salisbury — His Colonial Secretary and driver of imperial policy.
- associate of Lord Salisbury — Served as Colonial Secretary in his cabinet.
In the timeline
- 1895 Joseph Chamberlain and the New Imperialism the champion of new imperialism
- 1895 Jameson Raid the Colonial Secretary implicated in the raid
- 1896 Rhodes ready to confess over the raid (Feb 1896) mentioned
- 1897 Chamberlain and Milner drive toward war mentioned
- 1899 – 1902 Second Boer War the Colonial Secretary