Solid as a Rock? Britain and

SERIES OF invaders – 4,000, was forced to flee and later settled in the likely to be considered of far greater importance Berbers, Moors and Spanish neighbouring mainland area of San Roque. than the civilian population. In the 18th and – readily appreciated the British occupation of Gibraltar was further 19th centuries, however, a settler population strategic and trading value cemented by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and did become established as the British developed of Gibraltar, located at the under Article X, was invested with “first a trading post alongside the garrison. By 1753, very entrance to the refusal” should Britain ever decide to abandon the civilian community was composed of 597 A Mediterranean. In 1704, an Anglo-Dutch force it. The treaty also avoided the partition of Genoese, 575 and 351 British inhabitants. seized this prominent rocky outcrop and Spain, preserved the in the The latter were mainly merchants who accompanying low-lying isthmus as part of Americas, granted Britain slave trading rights recognised the trading opportunities in Iberia, the War of the Spanish Succession. in the and allowed the British to North and also further eastwards into While the war had as its origins a dispute retain ownership of Minorca. the Mediterranean. over who would succeed the childless Charles Migrants from the countries and regions II to the Spanish Empire, the conflict quickly Fortress or ? bordering the Mediterranean helped to spread to include political and economic Gibraltar became a British naval fortress and increase numbers, and by the end of the 18th interests across continental Europe and as far was important symbolically as a representation century the civilian population numbered as the Americas. Victory in the straits of of an unwillingness to bend to threats by rival some 10,000 in addition to 7,000 British Gibraltar led to a 300-year association with imperial powers such as Spain and France. As soldiers. European and North African Jewry, Britain. The local Spanish community, some such the needs of the fortress-colony were alongside emigres from the predominantly

18 BBC History December 2004 The Relief of Gibraltar 30 April 1704, in an explicitly citing wider constitutional change. A 18th-century painting: the seizure of ‘the decade later, the then Governor of the Colony, Rock’ by an Anglo-Dutch force during the Sir Robert Gardiner, argued that the civilian War of the Spanish Succession led to a community’s welfare should be subsumed 300-year association with Britain once more under the needs of the British military. The Governor tried to ban the Rock’s merchants and landowners publicly, petitioning to the Secretary of State for the for an enquiry into administration in 1852. While this petition was stifled, Gardiner was recalled to Britain in 1855, such was the state of local unease.

Struggle for civil rights The difficulties for becomes readily apparent when one considers how long it took for the colony to develop a civil infrastructure let alone democratic representation. In the case of the former, the outbreak of disease provoked urgent innovation. As with metropolitan Britain, an outbreak of cholera in the mid-19th century In 2004, Gibraltar has led to the creation of a new Sanitary Commission, which was charged with been marking its improving public health. Civilian administration was finally tercentenary with special events charting its augmented above and beyond the realm of law and order. An 1889 ordinance helped to history and struggle for self-determination. sharpen rights to residency, by highlighting the importance of native-born individuals. It KLAUS DODDS reflects on how, as well as a was not until 1921 that the first elections were held for a City Council in Gibraltar and the celebration, it has also been a time to reflect election of such a body effectively replaced the Sanitary Commission. on the former fortress-colony’s changing According to the Gibraltarian historian and political figure Joseph Garcia, the civilian relationship with Britain population of 18,000 had been “rewarded” for its loyalty during the First World War. But Gibraltar’s civil administration still lagged far behind the military priorities of the imperial Catholic communities of , and first and a colony second in the post-1704 era. centre. It had taken over 200 years for the needs the Italian port city of , enriched the Nineteenth century conflicts, such as the Battle of the civilian population even to be recognised civilian community. As these demographic of Trafalgar (1805), cemented the view that in any meaningful manner. flows increased, the multi-cultural population Gibraltar’s primary function was to service the The outbreak of the Second World War put of Gibraltar was further cross-fertilised by the paid to those advances in civilian neighbouring Spanish community. The governance. In the face of feared proximity of churches, synagogues and The needs of the fortress- German bombing raids, 16,000 mosques is just one illustration of this civilians were evacuated: many were enduring cultural-religious hybridity. A census colony were … considered sent to Britain, while others went to of 1777 revealed there were 3,201 inhabitants of far greater importance the British colony of and including Genoese, British, Irish, Portuguese, the island of Madeira. For those French and Minorcans. Although the number than the civilian population sent to , experience of the of inhabitants on “the Rock” continued to Blitz helped to strengthen their expand, their political and legal standing needs of the Royal Navy as it became embroiled emotional connections to the mother country depended on individual governors and their in the Napoleonic Wars. (although many evacuees complained of poor commitment to civilian development. It was in the aftermath of Anglo-Franco housing and racism by host communities). As The long-term settlement of Gibraltar was, conflict and the despatch of Napoleon to the such it helped to cement a view of a separate however, never inevitable as successive Spanish distant British island colony of , Gibraltarian identity, which was not sieges placed the British forces under that Gibraltar was, as many historians believe, considerable pressure especially between officially declared a colony in 1830. However, Klaus Dodds is reader in political geography at 1779–83. Gibraltar was, in the words of the while the 1830 Charter of Justice may have Royal Holloway, University of London. The local historian and former Gibraltar archivist given Gibraltar a Supreme Court of Justice British Academy has recently funded his

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM NATIONAL Tommy Finlayson, unquestionably a fortress and independent civil judiciary, it fell short of research on Gibraltar ➣

December 2004 BBC History 19 intrinsically English. By 1942, a largely civilian- free Gibraltar was used as a base from which Operation Torch was launched by the British as part of their North African campaign against German forces. Spanish neutrality throughout the Second World War ensured that Gibraltar was never attacked from the north. This was a welcome relief to British military Dual identity: The Gibraltarian flag and planners given that had assisted General Franco during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. But it also carried with it a political price, as speculation was rife in Gibraltar that the British had even considered giving over the colony to Spain in the aftermath of conflict. The plight of the remaining residents and evacuees alike caused Loyal Gibraltar: Queen Elizabeth inspects North Fort in 1954 “British” bobbies guard the border with Spain much concern and consternation. In December 1942, the visit provided an opportunity for Gibraltar’s the colony. Britain and Gibraltar were forced Association for the Advancement of Civil residents to demonstrate their loyalty to onto the defensive and in September 1963, two Rights (AACR) in Gibraltar was created under Britain. Spanish newspapers, with the tacit of Gibraltar’s leading political figures, Joshua the leadership of . With the help support of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Hassan and , went to New York to of a young lawyer called , it condemned the visit and even speculated that defend the colony’s existence – Gibraltar was was designed to protect the interests of the Spanish radicals might plan disruptive action not an oppressed society and local residents Gibraltarians regardless of their wartime during the royal tour. For many in the colony, wanted to retain a connection with Britain: location. This civil rights-based organisation it was perhaps the first time that they had been “Nothing could be further from the truth than was inspired by an anti-colonial ideology. In to suggest that the people of elections for a City Council in July 1945, the ‘Nothing could be further Gibraltar are subjugated or AACR won all seven contested seats and for exploited by a foreign power”. the first time in the , elected from the truth than to suggest In 1967 a public referendum in members outnumbered those nominated. Gibraltar concluded that over 99 The ending of the Second World War, that the people of Gibraltar per cent wanted no formal therefore, ushered in a new democratic and association with Spain. Some even constitutional era for the people of Gibraltar. are subjugated or exploited b y demanded formal constitutional Developing a civil society in Gibraltar a foreign power’ integration with Britain in order to carried political risks, however. If Gibraltar ensure that Spain never had a developed a constitution and stronger local so conscious of the border with Spain, as British chance to make a claim in the future. This political element then it would help to authorities strictly controlled movement in never materialised but it did highlight a sense strengthen British attachments. For the the run-up to the Queen’s visit. of vulnerability amongst the Gibraltarians. As Spanish, these kinds of developments were “Loyal Gibraltar” was a major policy Roy Hattersley, the then minister of state at the considered very alarming. General Franco headache for British diplomats. In the 1960s a Foreign Office reflected in 1976, “It would be lambasted the 1950 Constitution for Gibraltar burst of activity in the United Nations ensured wise to avoid innovations which might make as “pseudo” and he continued to campaign for that Gibraltar’s colonial status was the development of a more favourable Spanish the recovery of the colony. internationalised. With some skilful lobbying attitude to Gibraltar less likely … the British from Spain, the position of Gibraltar was government considers that close integration is

Loyal Gibraltar raised in the C24 Decolonisation Committee, neither desirable nor a practicable option”. S O T O

Arguably, the key moment for post-war Anglo- which meant that newly decolonised states Ironically, by internationalising Gibraltar’s H P

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Spanish relations and the question of Gibraltar alongside other post-colonial countries could contested status, Spain provided an / X E

was the 1954 Royal Tour when Elizabeth I I’s review and question Britain’s relationship to opportunity for the Labour government of R

20 BBC History December 2004 Harold Wilson to strengthen Britain’s to his cost that small overseas territories such overseas territory. As historian Joseph Garcia relationship with the colony. After the as Gibraltar and the Falklands are very effective has shown, Gibraltar has attained a highly emphatic referendum result, a new constitution at mobilising opposition to proposals that developed (if unquestionably differentiated) was agreed for the colony and the preamble upset the delicate political balance. Public political voice and it has also discovered and made it clear that Britain would never try to advertisements in British newspapers, paid for narrated its own local history, language and impose a solution on the Gibraltarians. The by the , were swift to geographical associations. Connections with right to self-determine their political future condemn the Labour government for Britain remain signifi cant and inclusion in the was effectively cemented in public and legal disloyalty and for forgetting the long South West constituency for the 2004 discourse, much to the irritation of Franco relationship with Britain and its armed forces. European elections is just one interesting who demanded that Gibraltar was territorially By November 2002, a public referendum had example. The tercentenary celebrations in integral to Spain. In a fi t of diplomatic pique, been held in Gibraltar and as with the 1967 Gibraltar have not only stimulated refl ection Spain ordered the closure of the frontier in event, about 99 per cent of the population on a long and occasionally fraught association 1969 and for the next 16 years Gibraltar relied publicly rejected any proposal for joint with Britain but also proved a celebration of on an air-link with Britain for formal access to sovereignty with Spain. Labour’s policy was in Gibraltar’s distinct history. It is clearly neither the wider world. tatters. Interestingly, local groups used earlier a fortress nor a colony. imperial iconographic expressions of the Rock Stalemate with Spain to symbolise their determination to resist this The long-term consequence of such a closure joint sovereignty proposal. J O U R N E Y S was to harden attitudes towards Franco and As the people of Gibraltar celebrate their BOOKS Spain more generally. For the political left, tercentennial association with Britain, the Gibraltar: History of a Fortress by Ernle Bradford Franco was a convenient hate-fi gure and for mood has not been uncritical. The association (Hart-Davis, 1971) ; The Royal Navy at Gibraltar the right, “loyal colonies” such as the has been cherished and condemned at different since 1900 by Tito Benady (Maritime Books, 2004); Falklands and Gibraltar needed to be moments. While it may have looked like a loyal The Fortress Came First by Thomas James protected from the under-currents of colony in the 1940s and 1950s, the 1960s Finlayson (Ashford, Buchan and Enright, 1991 ) decolonisation. A stalemate resulted and it onwards have witnessed an important change WEBSITES was not until the Thatcher government that a in the political and cultural profi le of this www.gibraltar2004.gov.gi and www.gibraltar.gov.uk new political process began in Lisbon (1980) and Brussels (1984), signalling some BRITAIN AND GIBRALTAR: A TIMELINE movement from all sides. The lifting of border restrictions in 1985 was highly signifi cant as was the broader 1940 Mass evacuation of Gibraltar’s civilian transformation of Spain from fascist state population in Second World War to a democratic one with European and NATO membership credentials in the mid- 1942 The AACR is created and Joshua Hassan 1980s. Ironically, such a transformation did emerges as Gibraltar’s most signifi cant not necessarily assuage the fears of the political fi gure for the post-war period Gibraltar residents. Could Spain ever be trusted? Would Britain now be in a better 1954 Huge public display of loyalty during position to do a deal with a democratic Queen Elizabeth II’s royal tour of Gibraltar 713 Spain? A new generation of political leaders ty of Utrecht, 11 April 1 Peace at last: The Trea such as and in 1963 The UN Committee of Decolonisation Gibraltar demanded that British governments 1704 Anglo-Dutch force captures Gibraltar discusses the future of Gibraltar be pressurised into making no political from the Spanish in the War of the Spanish concessions to Spain. As the British military Succession 1967 The people of Gibraltar vote base in Gibraltar was scaled down in the 1980s overwhelmingly to reject any transfer of (while 60 per cent of the previous local 1713 Treaty of Utrecht formally cedes sovereignty in favour of Spain economy was derived from the military, it is Gibraltar to Britain now less than 10 per cent), there was perhaps 1969 Gibraltar secures a new constitution, good reason to be concerned about Britain’s 1779–83 “The Great Siege”: Spain fails to which cements the right of Gibraltarians to long-term commitment to the colony (now an weaken the resolve of the British to hold onto determine their own political future. Spain overseas territory). the fortress and civilian community closes the frontier for 16 years The 1980s and 1990s were a political and cultural watershed for Gibraltar. The idea of a 1830 Gibraltar granted a Charter of Justice, 1984 Brussels Agreement signals restoration loyal Gibraltar just waiting to see what its which enables a Supreme Court and of British-Spanish relations and a commitment Y R A

R imperial master decided with regard to internal independent civil judiciary to be created to consider the future of Gibraltar B I L policies and external relations was well and T R A truly relegated to the past. With considerable 1889 Ordinance issued which creates a right 1985 Spain lifts its blockade of the border with N A M

E fi nancial wealth through fi nancial services and to residency for native-born Gibraltarians Gibraltar G D I

R tourism, Gibraltar was well placed to demand B / S a stake in any negotiations with Spain. 1921 Gibraltar granted City Council status in 2002 A public referendum held in Gibraltar O T O

H When Foreign Secretary Jack Straw recognition for its contribution to the British rejects the possibility of a joint sovereignty P

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/ presented to Parliament a proposal for joint war efforts between 1914–18 deal between Spain and Britain X E

R sovereignty with Spain in July 2002, he learnt

December 2004 BBC History 21 22 BBC History September 2004