¹ Tomlinson, B. R., ‘India and the British Empire 1880–1947’, Pts I and II, Indian Economic and Social History Journal, xii, iv (10–12. 1975), 337–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and XIII, iii (July–Sept. 1976), 331–49, provides an excellent outline of the changing role of the Indian Army in Imperial defence schemes.

² See figures given for 1919 to 1937 in W.O./33 1019–1514 (Public Records Office, Kew. Unless otherwise stated, all file references are to material in the P.R.O.).

³ Mason, Philip, A Matter of Honour (Penguin ed., Harmondsworth, , 1976), 319Google Scholar. Wolseley, who had considerable experience of colonial wars, was full of praise for the martial qualities of African troops; see Wolseley, Garnet, ‘The Negro as soldier’, Fortnightly Review, 12 1888.Google Scholar

⁴ Millet, Philippe, ‘The French army and the black force’, The National Review, 03 1911Google Scholar, gives as an example Hanotaux's attempts to secure Upper Ubanghi for France at the Brussels Conference of 1894.

⁵ C.O.96/322/25358, Hodgson, (conf.) to Chamberlain, 17 Oct. 1898Google Scholar; minute by Antrobus, to Under-secretary-of-state (US/S) at War Office, 31 Dec. 1898Google Scholar. See also C.O. 96/305/15750, Haliburton, at War Office to US/S at Colonial Office, 20 07 1897Google Scholar. Chamberlain minuted: ‘It must be borne in mind that our intention is to create a West African army under the Colonial Office – and not under the War Office’. On the origins of the WAFF see Ekeko, A. E., ‘British defence policy in Western Africa 1878–1914’ (Ph.D. thesis, Aberdeen University, 1976Google Scholar), and Ukpabi, S. C., ‘The West African Frontier Force. An instrument of imperial policy, 1897–1914’ (M.A. thesis, University of Birmingham, 1964).Google Scholar

⁶ W.O. 32/8303. Col. Altham, E. A. (secret) to C.-in-C., 25 Nov. 1901Google Scholar. The Government of Natal protested to London about the proposed use of coloured and Indian troops in Zululand: CAB (Cabinet) 41/25/32, Salisbury to the Queen, 16 Feb. 1899.

⁷ ‘Vinculum’, ‘Imperial recruiting grounds’, Macmillan's Magazine, Sept. 1906.Google Scholar

⁸ Silburn, P. A., The Colonies and Imperial Defence (London, 1909), 174–5Google Scholar; ‘A plea for an imperial army’, Empire Review, Nov. 1903Google Scholar. Stigand, C. H., Administration in Tropical Africa (London, 1914), 257Google Scholar, said that ‘All regular troops should most certainly be an Imperial and not a local concern’.

⁹ Mangin, C., La Force noire (Paris, 1910).Google Scholar

¹⁰ Millet, , ‘The French army’, 101.Google Scholar

¹¹ Hobson, J. A., Imperialism: a Study (London, 1902Google Scholar; 1938 ed.), 136–9. In Wells', H. G. futuristic novel When the Sleeper Wakes (London, 1899Google Scholar) the rulers of the world deploy Senegalese police as an ‘instrument’ to secure order in Europe and elsewhere. One writer denounced Mangin's scheme for a large ‘Franco-fetish army’ which would turn Africa into an ‘armed camp’ with Britain ‘driven to organize our 40,000,000 blacks’. Montesole, Max, ‘La Force noire: the danger to France of her black army’, The Nineteenth Century, 07 1911, 170–86.Google Scholar

¹² C.O. 879, Afr. Conf. Print no. 565/24, Lugard, , memo., 9 Oct. 1898.Google Scholar

¹³ C.O. 445/28/36174, Morland, to Crewe, , 3 Oct. 1908.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Ibid., minute, Crewe, 12 Oct. 1908.Google Scholar

¹⁵ C.O. 445/31/23531, Harcourt, to Thorburn, , 6 Jan. 1913.Google Scholar

¹⁶ House of Commons Debates, vol. 71, cols. 1624 (12 05 1915Google Scholar), 2314 and 2414 (19 May 1915).

¹⁷ Cab 37/124/31 Viceroy to British Govt, 16 Dec. 1915Google Scholar, stated that withdrawal of Indian troops meant that India had ‘reached limit of risk’ and that troops for imperial service should be found ‘elsewhere than India’.

¹⁸ Cab 37/136/19, 18 Oct. 1915.

¹⁹ Cab 24/4/14, note to War Committee 20 Oct. 1915Google Scholar. See House of Commons Debates, vol. 82, cols. 2023–4 (23 05 1916Google Scholar), where Churchill, said that in 1915 he urged the Government to recruit from Africa; also vol. 84, cols 1372–3, 1379 (24 07 1916).Google Scholar

²⁰ C.O. 554/26/42952, Cubitt, War Office, to US/S at Colonial Office, 15 Sept. 1915.Google Scholar

²¹ C.O. 537/952 (secret), 8 Dec. 1916; minute by Flood, 9 Sept. 1916.Google Scholar

²² Willan, B. P., ‘The South African native labour contingent, 1916–18’, J. Afr. Hist., xix, 1 (1978), 61–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Black labour was also suggested for use in Britain – and strongly opposed by the trade unions.

²³ C.O. 554/31/32699, Interdepartmental conference, 18 07 1916.Google Scholar

²⁴ Johnston, Harry, ‘African fighters and labourers in France.’ The African World, 1918, xxiGoogle Scholar; see also Darnley-Stuart-Stephens, Major, ‘Our million black army’, English Review, xxiii (Oct. 1916).Google Scholar

²⁵ House of Commons Debates, vol. 84, cols. 1530–6 (25 Aug. 1916Google Scholar). Wedgwood also argued that black troops were cheaper than white.

²⁶ Imperial War Museum, London, PP/MCR/104: papers, Wedgwood JCW/4, 1916Google Scholar, Maurice, to Wedgwood, , 27 Sept. 1916.Google Scholar

²⁷ Wedgwood, Josiah, Memoirs of a Fighting Life (London, 1941), 134–5.Google Scholar

²⁸ ‘African manpower’, The Daily Chronicle, 7 Nov. 1916, p. 4Google Scholar. Articles by Wedgwood also appeared in the Daily News and Leader, the Pall Mall Gazette, the Yorkshire Herald, the Sunday Times, and Sunday Pictorial.

²⁹ C.O. 554/31/40535, minute by Strachey, on letter from War Office, 24 Aug. 1916.Google Scholar

³⁰ C.O. 445/42/27100, minute by Strachey on report by Haywood, to Adj. Gen. War Office, 2 05 1917Google Scholar. On recruitment in West Africa see Thomas, Roger G., ‘Military recruitment in the Gold Coast during the First World War’, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, xv, 57 (1975Google Scholar). On the supply of African troops and labour by 01 1917Google Scholar, see CAB 1/23/2 conf. memo. ‘On steps taken to increase the supply of (a) coloured troops (b) coloured labour’.

³¹ C.O. 445/45/21634, War Office to Colonial Office, 8 05 1918.Google Scholar

³² Ibid. By 1918 there were over 9,000 West African carriers in East Africa and over 1,700 men from Sierra Leone and the Niger Delta serving in the Inland Water Transport Service in Mesopotamia.

³³ C.O.445/45/46814, C.-in-C. France, (secret telegram) to War Office, 19 Sept. 1918Google Scholar; also CAB 27/8 W.P. 72, Hankey, (secret) to War Cabinet, 20 Aug. 1918.Google Scholar

³⁴ E. D. Morel's African Mail opposed the recruiting of black troops, but not labour. Morel took a similar line to Hobson, . After the war he opposed the use of black French troops in the occupation of the Rhineland; see his The Horror on the Rhine (Union of Democratic Control pamphlet, London, 1920Google Scholar); also Angell, Norman, ‘France and the black power’, The Contemporary Review (Feb. 1922).Google Scholar

³⁵ CAB 45/31, letter from Sir Duff, Hector to istorical Branch, 07 1937.Google Scholar

³⁶ Speech, Savoy Hotel, London, 22 05 1917Google Scholar. The text is in Smuts, J. C., Jan Christian Smuts by his son (London, 1952) 192–6Google Scholar. See also Smuts, , ‘Problems in South Africa’, J. Royal Soc. Arts, xvi, 64 (07 1917Google Scholar). In West Africa, 14 07 1917Google Scholar, the Gold Coast nationalist Kobina Sekyi ridiculed those who feared the military ‘black peril’.

³⁷ Cape Times, 2 05 1917Google Scholar; Fraser, Lovat in Daily Mail (London), 4 06 1917Google Scholar. See Smuts' speech to Royal Geographical Society as reported in The Times, 29 Jan. 1918.Google Scholar

³⁸ Editorial in first issue of Gold Coast Independent, 06 1918.Google Scholar

³⁹ Lagos Weekly Record, 6–9 12 1916, 4–5Google Scholar; see ibid., 16–30 Sept. 1916, and 5 May 1917. Also Gold Coast Leader, Jan. 1915, 30 Oct. 1915Google Scholar; Nigerian Pioneer, 19 Jan. 1917.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Keith Jeffrey, ‘Britain's military empire 1918–22: the search for troops’, seminar paper, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, 3 Nov. 1977Google Scholar; idem, ‘Wilson and the defence of the Empire 1918–22’, J. Imp. and Commonwealth Hist., v, iii (1977). See also Tomlinson, , ‘India and the British Empire’, especially part I, 359–62.Google Scholar

⁴¹ C.O. 445/48/27111, War Office to Amery, 5 05 1919Google Scholar, enclosing confidential document by Kirke, , ‘Defence of British possessions in East and West Africa’, 25 05 1919.Google Scholar

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ W.O. 32/5356, Churchill to CIGS, 11 Jan. 1920; Colonial Office to War Office, 4 Feb. 1920.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ C.O. 445/54/6206, Cubitt at War Office to US/S at Colonial Office, 4 Feb. 1920Google Scholar, enclosure: ‘Note on the possibility of employing African native troops overseas’.

⁴⁵ Ibid. Kirke appears to have been influenced considerably by the French use of black troops. He read and commented upon an article by Mangin, in Revue des Deux Mondes of 15 06 1920Google Scholar, and also two articles in the Army and Navy Gazette, 24 and 30 07 1920Google Scholar. He wrote: ‘We are far behind France in the question of exploiting our colonial military resources. Even a small effort in comparison with that of France would solve many of our difficulties in providing troops for overseas forces, and at far less cost’ (W.O. 32/5356, 28 Aug. 1920). After the war, France's black army was seen by the War Office as a potential threat. The French refusal to follow the British in restricting military recruitment in the mandated territories brought down the ire of the War Office: ‘It is, therefore, to Africa we must look in the first place for any considerable relief of that portion of the military burden imposed by the acceptance of the various Eastern mandates which India may not be able to bear’ (W.O. 32/5211, Gen. Staff memo. to Cabinet, , ‘External employment of troops raised in mandatory territories’, 22 Dec. 1920).Google Scholar

⁴⁶ W.O. 32/5356 Churchill, to Milner, , 23 04 1920Google Scholar. See also BodleianLibrary, papers, Milner, MS Eng. Hist., c. 699Google Scholar, Thornton, to Marsh, , 25 05 1920Google Scholar. Hawthorn, , the Inspector General, in a memo. 12 Aug. 1920Google Scholar, said that colonial governments opposed the use of African troops overseas, ‘naturally so’, and that the War Office proposal to recruit half a million men was ‘visionary’. Most blacks, he added, were sick of war.

⁴⁷ W.O. 32/5356, Churchill, to McDonogh, , 9 Jan. 1921.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ W.O. 32/5234, Jan. 1921; see also India Office Library, London, L/MIL/5/802.

⁴⁹ W.O. 32/5356, Grant to Secretary of State at War Office, 9 06 1921.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ From 1919 onwards the Air Ministry repeatedly suggested that the RAF be substituted for the military in large areas of Africa. It was argued that this would be both more efficient and economic; see AIR 9/15 and AIR 9/18.

⁵¹ Smith, Denis Mack, Mussolini's Roman Empire (London, 1976), 85 and 139Google Scholar; Angell, Norman, The Defence of the Empire (London, 1937), 41–4 and 233–4.Google Scholar

⁵² See W.O. 32/4141 (1935–6).

⁵³ W.O. 32/4140 (secret memo.), ODC paper no. 1415, Dec. 1937.

⁵⁴ C.O. 820/32/34220, secret memo, to S/S at Colonial Office, 11 06 1938.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Parl. Papers, VII: Second Report from Select Committee on Estimates: Defence Estimates 1948–9.

⁵⁶ Crocker, Chester A., ‘Military dependence: the colonial legacy in Africa’. J. Modern African Studies, xii, ii (1974), 265–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In September 1939 the total African colonial forces equalled 19,500; by May 1945 they numbered over 400,000.

⁵⁷ CAB 65/1/53 (39)3, War Cabinet meeting, 19 Oct. 1939; CAB 67/4 W.P.(G)(40)15, secret memo. by MacDonald, on ‘Utilization of the manpower resources of the Colonial Empire’, 22 Jan. 1940Google Scholar; and War Cabinet meetings of 15 Jan., 25 Jan. and 15 04 1940.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ W.O. 193/16, War Office secret telegram to C-in-C Middle East, 9 03 1940Google Scholar. Also CAB 67/4 W.P.(G)(40) 15, memo. on ‘Utilization of manpower…’ 22 Jan. 1940; and CAB 66/7 W.P.(40)129, memo, by S/S at War Office, 13 04 1940Google Scholar. MacDonald only agreed to this ‘new departure in British policy’ after much hesitation. In the early years of the war the ACF were an untried quality outside Africa and the Colonial Office was nervous about exposing African troops to possible defeat; interview with Sabben-Clare, E. E., 28 05 1978Google Scholar. See also the paper produced for the Cabinet in 1945 by Sabben-Clare: ‘The colonial military forces in World War II’, CAB 106/307.

⁵⁹ Lloyd, Lord, who succeeded MacDonald at the Colonial Office in 05 1940Google Scholar, was a firm advocate of using African troops for imperial service. ‘His vigorous driving power and the commanding position which he held in Cabinet were responsible for bringing about a much more active policy by the CO in regard to the use of colonial troops and the part played by the colonies in the global war…the influence of Lord Lloyd was a paramount factor…’ Communication from Sir Poynton, Hilton, 4 Dec. 1978.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ W.O. 193/63, Calder, to Sugden, , 26 06 1941Google Scholar. The General Staff held a similar view. In a secret ‘Appreciation of Africa’, 17 Feb. 1941Google Scholar, it was stated ‘that African colonial troops are not suitable for employment outside Africa, and indeed in many cases outside the central belt of Africa, and this will probably impose a serious limitation on their value as fighting troops’: copy in AIR 8/498.

⁶¹ W.O. 32/3380, secret, Dec. 1941.

⁶² W.O. 106/4499, Wavell, (most secret cipher telegram) to War Office, 9 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

⁶³ India Office, L/WS/1/1328, secret, 360th meeting, 30 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ W.O. 193/91, Gent, to Simpson, (most secret), 17 Dec. 1942Google Scholar. See further Louis, Wm. Roger, Empire at Bay (Oxford, 1976), ch. 7.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ For the first time East and West African forces fought overseas as complete formations within the Commonwealth forces. By May 1945 they numbered as follows: in Asia, 46,050 East Africans, 73,290 West Africans; Middle East, 30,000 EA, 16,472 WA; Africa, 150,344 EA, 56,100 WA; W.O. 32/11751, Laing to Chalmers.

⁶⁶ C.O. 820/48/34504, Gen. Cunningham, (private and personal) to Moyne, Lord, 16 07 1941Google Scholar: ‘I have been considering for some time whether the East and West African troops would stand up to the German armies. Rather regretfully I have come to the conclusion that it would be unwise to use them.’

⁶⁷ Cab 21/1689, Poynton, , memo. (secret), early 1943Google Scholar; and paper, draft, 04 1944.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ C.O. 820/55/34504, memo. 23 Jan. 1945, ‘Future of African colonial forces’.

⁶⁹ W.O. 106/2917, Secret Area Command Conference, West African H.Q., Accra, 30 04 – 1 05 1945Google Scholar. See also Liddell Hart Military Archives, King's College, London, Ismay papers IV/Bur/8: Burrows, to Ismay, (top secret and personal), 13 04 1945.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Interview with Sabben-Clare, E. E., 28 05 1978.Google Scholar

⁷¹ C.O. 537/1894, War Office secret memo. to Jacob Committee, 28 Jan. 1946Google Scholar; C.O. 537/1237, secret note for S/S, Jan. 1946. In 1945 Africa provided over 80 per cent of all colonial forces. These were steadily run down from a total of 329,000 in 1946–7 to 87,800 in 1947–8, and 69,200 in 1950.

⁷² C.O. 537/1888, CO secret memo. to Colonial Defence (Post Hostilities) Committee, 9 March 1946.

⁷³ The Jacob Committee's role was taken over in 1946 by the re-formed Overseas Defence Committee. See Defence White Paper 1949 (Cmd. 7631), which said that the West African colonies were unable to look after their own internal security, let alone make a substantial contribution to Commonwealth defence. C.O. 537/1889, Jacob Committee meeting 22 March 1946.

⁷⁴ House of Commons Debates, 4 March 1946; 5 Aug. 1947; 9 March 1948; 10 March 1949; 16 March 1950; 16 March 1951. For Conservative views see Alport, C. J. M., Hope in Africa (London, 1952)Google Scholar, ch. II; Gammans, L. D., Facing the facts (London, 1945)Google Scholar, and idem, ‘The colonies and defence’, The Commonwealth and Empire Review (July, 1947). See also Darby, Philip, British Defence Policy East of Suez 1947–1968 (Oxford, 1973)Google Scholar, ch. I; Bennett, Valerie P., ‘The evolution of civil-military relations in Ghana 1945–62’, (Ph.D. thesis, Boston University, 1971), ch. 2Google Scholar; Gupta, P. S., Imperialism and the British Labour Movement (Cambridge, 1975), 286–7.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ George Wigg wrote a number of leading articles in West Africa arguing for an African contribution to Imperial defence; see issues for 16 and 23 Oct. 1948, 11 Feb. 1950, 25 March 1950, 15 Sept. 1951. I am grateful to Lord George Wigg for discussing with me the post-war interest in an African army.

⁷⁶ Cf. the following articles by Clarke: ‘Economy of manpower in the services’, Royal United Services Institute J. (Aug. 1947); ‘The military and economic importance of West Africa’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1948); ‘Defence and communications in West Africa’ West African Review, (May 1949); ‘African manpower and Commonwealth defence’, New English Review (1949); ‘Army in Africa’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1951). See also Higgins, F., ‘Our African colonial forces’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1946)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kent, J. A., ‘Commonwealth manpower - a plea for a colonial army’, Army Quarterly, lxi (Oct. 1950)Google Scholar. Montgomery, as CIGS, briefly toured Africa in late 1947 and on his return addressed a rather unimpressed Creech Jones on the need for a ‘grand design’, a ‘master plan’ for African development essential for Western security; Montgomery, Lord, Memoirs (London, 1958), 462–4.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ House of Commons Debates, vol. 497, Army Estimates debate, cols. 1034 and 1157 (10 March 1951).

⁷⁸ Report of West African Forces Conference, Lagos 20–24 April 1953 (London, 1953).