Search results
Research on soldier settlement has to be set within the wider history of emigration and immigration. This book examines two parallel but complementary themes: the settlement of British soldiers in the overseas or 'white' dominions, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, between 1915 and 1930. One must place soldier settlement within the larger context of imperial migration prior to 1914 in order to elicit the changes in attitude and policy which occurred after the armistice. The book discusses the changes to Anglo-dominion relations that were consequent upon the incorporation of British ex-service personnel into several overseas soldier settlement programmes, and unravels the responses of the dominion governments to such programmes. For instance, Canadians and Australians complained about the number of ex-imperials who arrived physically unfit and unable to undertake employment of any kind. The First World War made the British government to commit itself to a free passage scheme for its ex-service personnel between 1914 and 1922. The efforts of men such as L. S. Amery who attempted to establish a landed imperial yeomanry overseas is described. Anglicisation was revived in South Africa after the second Anglo-Boer War, and politicisation of the country's soldier settlement was an integral part of the larger debate on British immigration to South Africa. The Australian experience of resettling ex-servicemen on the land after World War I came at a great social and financial cost, and New Zealand's disappointing results demonstrated the nation's vulnerability to outside economic factors.
within the larger context of imperial migration prior to 1914 in order to elicit the changes in attitude and policy which occurred after the armistice. Such an examination calls forth other questions which also must be addressed. We need, for example, to understand changes to Anglo-dominion relations that were consequent upon the incorporation of British ex-service personnel into a host of overseas
C. J. Duder has ably demonstrated, between 650 and 700 soldier settlers, mostly ex-officers who became an integral part of the Kenyan colonial elite, invested in large-scale farming operations. But like their brother officers in the dominions, many abandoned or sold their properties preferring to speculate rather than settle. 2 Britain’s free passage scheme for ex-service personnel provides another
and other interest groups at home and in the Empire, and aimed to form close contacts with dominion governments, not least by the appointment of its own British Migration Representative in Australia and in the dispatch of several missions of inquiry around the Empire. 16 Its first major responsibility was the launch in 1919 of the Imperial government’s plan for settling ex-service personnel and their
World War the initiative shifted to Commonwealth governments, particularly in the Antipodes, which dictated the recruitment agendas and supplied most of the funding. The resurrection of free passages to ex-service personnel brought a trickle of Scots to Australia and New Zealand for a decade, 4 but better known and more popular was the reinstatement of civilian schemes, which
would oversee the renewed exodus. In April 1919 that committee – by then renamed the Oversea Settlement Committee (OSC) – was given a remit to devise and co-ordinate free passages and assisted emigration schemes for ex-service personnel and their dependents during a limited period, initially a year, beginning on 1 January 1920. In fact the scheme, introduced largely to appease veterans restive at unemployment and poor housing, lasted until March 1923 and assisted a total of 86,027 emigrants from 269,696 applicants. Free third
639 troops, with some 5,000 ‘wounded in action’. But a media perception emerged that somehow all military personnel were likely to be damaged by their different experiences. Recent research does not confirm the popular view (Wessely 2013 : 205–8). It is emphatically not the case that a high proportion of homeless are ex-service personnel – the real proportion seems to be around 5% to 6% (mainly young and ex-Army) (Royal British Legion 2009 ). Nor is it the case that they are overly represented in the prison
doing, or what reorganisations and economies did not take place because of the relentless drumbeat of operations. At its peak, the 2006–14 Afghanistan operation absorbed the efforts of almost 50% of Britain’s available ground forces. Or again, care for veterans, historically low in Britain, might demand far more – around 66,000 ex-service personnel might need long-term health support (Diehle and Greenberg 2016 ). Most eye-catching, however, is the fact that the second Iraq and the second Afghanistan operations
Settlement Act, enabled Scottish and Irish migrants from the north to avail 34 themselves of subsidised fares. Ex-service personnel, meanwhile, could travel to Australasia free of charge. Indeed, between 1923 and 1929 one third of 35 British emigrants to Canada and two-thirds to Australia received assistance. One of the most popular schemes operated between 1947 and 1975, allowing British migrants to travel to Australasia for £10. Regulations stipulated that migrants had to be single, under 35 years of age, and accept employ36 ment in certain occupations for two years
committees, each with a secretary. The committees covered services, education, organization, citizenship and Empire study. Each level of the Order also chose a standard bearer for official ceremonies. Before the Second World War the services committee was split into child and family welfare, war and postwar services, and ex-services’ personnel. In the post-Second World War years the services committee dealing with war
