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1887 Colonial Conference

Meeting of leaders of the British Empire and its colonies in London

Field	Value
summit_name	1887 Colonial Conference
image	First Colonial Conference.jpg
caption	Attending representatives.
country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom
dates	4 April–6 May 1887
cities	London
participants
heads_of_state_label	Heads of Government
chairperson	Sir Henry Thurston Holland
(Secretary of State for the Colonies)
precedes	[1894](1894-colonial-conference)
website
keypoints	Imperial co-operation, Naval defence, Pacific telegraph cable, Royal title

(Secretary of State for the Colonies) The 1887 Colonial Conference met in London in 1887 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It was organised at the behest of the Imperial Federation League in hopes of creating closer ties between the colonies, the Dominion of Canada and the United Kingdom. It was attended by more than 100 delegates, mostly unofficial observers, from both self-governing and dependent colonies. India, however, was not represented.

Among other things discussed, the colonies in Australia and New Zealand agreed to pay £126,000 per annum towards the Royal Navy to help pay for the United Kingdom's naval deployments in the Pacific. In exchange, the British government agreed not to reduce its Pacific Station without colonial consent.

A proposal to lay a telegraph cable between Vancouver and Australia was approved. A Resolution to extend the Queen's title to "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, and all Dependencies thereof, and Empress of India" was also adopted.

The conference was only a deliberative body and resolutions passed were not binding.

Participants

The conference was hosted by Queen Victoria, Empress of India, and her prime minister, Lord Salisbury, with Sir Henry Thurston Holland (Secretary of State for the Colonies) acting as chair and the premiers and other representatives of various colonies as delegates. The colonies and dominions invited to send delegates were Newfoundland Colony, Canada, Colony of New South Wales, Colony of Tasmania, Cape of Good Hope, South Australia, the Colony of New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and Natal Colony. Various other colonies were invited to send representatives to the opening ceremonies but not participate as delegates. William A. Baillie-Hamilton, the private secretary to the secretary of state for the Colonies, acted as secretary to the conference. The delegates were only able to agree on the most general programs towards closer cooperation.

In his opening address, Lord Salisbury cited the importance of mutual defense but also maintained his opposition to the creation of a federation, deeming it impractical. He explained that attempts at constitution-making is not feasible because such imperial federation could not conduct its affairs from one center. Some colonies also threatened to boycott debates about such measure.

Nation	Name	Portfolio
United Kingdom United Kingdom	Sir Henry Thurston Holland	Secretary of State for the Colonies (President)
Lord Salisbury	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Earl Cadogan	Lord Privy Seal
W. H. Smith	First Lord of the Treasury
Edward Stanhope	Secretary of State for War
Lord George Hamilton	First Lord of the Admiralty
The Viscount Cross	Secretary of State for India
The Lord Stanley of Preston	President of the Board of Trade
Henry Cecil Raikes	Postmaster-General
The Earl of Onslow	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
Sir James Fegusson	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
	Sir Alexander Campbell	former Canadian senator for Ontario
Sanford Fleming	engineer
Newfoundland Newfoundland Colony	Sir Robert Thorburn	Premier
Sir Ambrose Shea	Leader of the Opposition
New South Wales Colony of New South Wales	Sir Patrick Jennings	former premier
Sir Robert Wisdom	former Attorney-General
Sir Saul Samuel	Agent-General
Tasmania Colony of Tasmania	John Stokell Dodds	former Attorney-General
Adye Douglas	Agent-General
British Cape Colony Cape Colony	Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr	Member of the Cape House of Assembly
South Australia Colony of South Australia	Sir John Downer	Premier
Sir Arthur Blyth	Agent-General
New Zealand Colony of New Zealand	Sir Dillon Bell	Agent-General
Sir William Fitzherbert	Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council
Victoria Colony of Victoria	Alfred Deakin	Chief Secretary
Sir James Lorimer	Minister of Defence
Sir Graham Berry	Agent-General
James Service	former premier of Victoria
Queensland Colony of Queensland	Sir Samuel Griffith	Premier
Sir James Francis Garrick	Agent-General
Western Australia Colony of Western Australia	John Forrest	Surveyor General and Commissioner of Crown Lands
Septimus Burt	former Attorney-General
[[File:Flag of the Natal Colony 1875-1910.svg	25px]] Colony of Natal	John Robinson	Member of the Natal Legislative Council

References

Sources

Citations

Hansard 25 March 1887

References

(1991). ["Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism"]({{google books). Greenwood Press.
(1967). "The Colonial and Imperial Conferences, 1887-1911: A Study in Imperial Organization". [[Longman]]s for the [[Royal Commonwealth Society]].
(1929). ["The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 4"]({{google books). Cambridge University Press.
(May 7, 1887). "Gladstone's Motion Lost". New York Times.
(2014). "Constitutionalism, Legitimacy, and Power: Nineteenth-Century Experiences". Oxford University Press.
(1888). "Proceedings of the Colonial Conference at London, in 1887: In Relation to Imperial Postal and Telegraphic Communications Through Canada".
(1985). "Settler Self-government, 1840-1900: The Development of Representative and Responsible Government". Greenwood Publishing Group.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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