Milner's Kindergarten

Milner 's Kindergarten is the informal name given to an influential political group of Britons who worked in the period between the Second Boer War and the founding of the Union of South Africa in the public service of South Africa under High Commissioner Alfred Lord Milner.

Importance of grouping

The personalities of " Milner 's Kindergarten " were supporters of the Union of South Africa and ultimately of far-reaching reform, which should give the colonies a greater say in the British Commonwealth of Nations. After Milner's retirement, most of them were continued under his successor, William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne active. Many of them bore a socio-political significance of what the term remembered as "kindergarten" because of their experience gained in Milner.

Key figures in this circle were:

  • Sir Patrick Duncan - Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, 1937-1943
  • Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian - British Ambassador to the United States, 1939-1940
  • Robert Henry Brand, 1st Baron Brand - Managing Director of Lazard Brothers to 1944 [note 1]
  • Lionel Curtis - founder of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
  • Richard Feetham - initially, and later Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa
  • George Geoffrey Dawson - editor of The Times, 1912-1917
  • John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir - novelist and Governor General of Canada, 1935-1940
  • Sir Dougal Orme Malcolm
  • William Lionel Hichens
  • John Dove
  • Arthur Frederick Basil Williams
  • Lord Basil Blackwood
  • Hugh A. Wyndham
  • Sir George V. Fiddes
  • Sir John Hanbury -Williams
  • Main S. O. Walrond
  • William Flavelle Monypenny

All members of the group were also a member of the 1920 founded the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Many of these men were even after their service in South Africa, a group that became known as the Round Table Movement. The issued by this Association journal The Round Table Journal for the spread of the idea of ​​a ' Federated Union' ( Federated Union ) instead of the British Empire. Philip Kerr and Lionel Curtis was also in 1938 together leaders in creation of the Federal Union, which fought for the world federalism.

The spirit of Milner 's Kindergarten is clearly in the obituary of Patrick Duncan in the September issue of The Round Table Journal: [note 2]

" Duncan Became the doyen of the band of brothers, Milner 's young men, who were nicknamed ... kindergarden, then in the first flush of youthful enthusiasm. It is a fast aging and dwindling band- now; but It has played a part in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and conduct of The Round Table. For forty years and more, so far as the vicissitudes of life have allowed, It has kept together; and always, while looking up to Lord Milner and to his successor in South Africa, the late Lord Selborne, as its political chief, Patrick Duncan Has revered as the Captain of the band. "

England High Commissioner (Commonwealth) Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Lionel George Curtis Fabian Ware Chatham House Carroll Quigley
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