Nigeria and the Death of Liberal England Palm Nuts and Prime Ministers, 1914-1916

Britain and the World Nigeria and the Death of Liberal England Palm Nuts and Prime Ministers, 1914-1916 PETER J. YEARWOOD Britain and the World Series Editors Martin Farr School of Historical Studies Newcastle University Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Michelle D. Brock Department of History Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA, USA Eric G. E. Zuelow Department of History University of New England Biddeford, ME, USA Britain and the World is a series of books on ‘British world’ history. The editors invite book proposals from historians of all ranks on the ways in which Britain has interacted with other societies since the seventeenth century. The series is sponsored by the Britain and the World society. Britain and the World is made up of people from around the world who share a common interest in Britain, its history, and its impact on the wider world. The society serves to link the various intellectual commu- nities around the world that study Britain and its international infuence from the seventeenth century to the present. It explores the impact of Britain on the world through this book series, an annual conference, and the Britain and the World journal with Edinburgh University Press. Martin Farr ([email protected]) is the Chair of the British Scholar Society and General Editor for the Britain and the World book series. Michelle D. Brock ([email protected]) is Series Editor for titles focusing on the pre-1800 period and Eric G. E. Zuelow (ezuelow@une. edu) is Series Editor for titles covering the post-1800 period. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14795 Peter J. Yearwood Nigeria and the Death of Liberal England Palm Nuts and Prime Ministers, 1914-1916 Peter J. Yearwood Division of History, Gender & Philosophy University of Papua New Guinea Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Britain and the World ISBN 978-3-319-90565-5 ISBN 978-3-319-90566-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90566-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018939738 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover illustration: © Scott Camazine/Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Exploitation of the tropics by the people of the temperate zone has been going on for centuries. In the early days it was treasure that was sought—“ivory, apes, and peacocks”—but now it has come to be the prosaic necessities of life—oils and fats, rubber, and the like. Nothing will be gained by attempting to stem the tide of this movement. All that can be done is to direct it in a just and humane spirit. Katherine Snodgrass, Copra and Coconut Oil (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1928), p. 81. … bad data sustain simple theories of a complex world, good data inhibit easy generalization. Antony Hopkins “Big Business in African Studies”, Journal of African History vol. 28 (1987), p. 130. A quiet Parliamentary week is in prospect. The Times, “Political Notes” 6 November 1916. I can’t help thinking that a good deal of claptrap jingoism has been talked on the subject of the Nigerian sales. Sir Frederick Lugard to Lady Lugard 15 Nov. 1916, Lugard Papers, MSS LUGARD s.93, Bodleian Library, Oxford University. PREFACE This is, above all, a serendipitous book. An early article of mine on Lloyd George’s wartime government and the League of Nations attracted the attention of Cameron Hazlehurst. Noticing that I was based in Nigeria, he wrote—this was still the age of “snail mail”—asking whether I could add to his knowledge of the debate of 8 November 1916. I replied that I could not, but I was now myself aware that here was an unstudied topic that I might look at, and add a footnote to history. I assumed that the material would be in the Nigerian archives, and that I might search it out the next time my University was shut down. Arriving in England some months later for a leave which I expected to be mainly social, I decided to check in what was then still the Public Record Offce in case there was an odd document which might not be available in Nigeria. I quickly discovered the very rich fles which are the basis of this book, dropped my social plans, and got down to work. On my way back to Nigeria, I sent a brief summary to Professor Hazlehurst, explaining that I did not know when or if I might use the material and offering it to him or his students, provided I received credit for it. He replied proposing a joint article. A historian at the start of his career is not going to pass up the chance of collaboration with a distinguished established scholar. Practical diff- culties for two men working together from Nigeria and Australia in what was only beginning to be the age of the internet ensured that a dec- ade passed before our article came out. Meanwhile, I had realized that the material on the purely Nigerian side, with the Schedule of German Property, Burrowes’s list of the stations of the European frms, and the vii viii PREFACE entries in The Red Book of West Africa, provided the basis for an unu- sually comprehensive and detailed account of the development of the export/import economy during and just after the First World War. I felt that this might be a useful supplementary article. In fact, it came out frst, and, rather to my surprise, attracted attention from some of the leading British historians of the international economy. Returning to England, I gave priority to writing a book on a very different subject, the League of Nations in British policy, which took me far longer than I had expected. Nevertheless, I knew that my next book would be on the linkages between trade and politics in Nigeria and Great Britain in the Great War, especially as I discovered that non-academic friends who soon lost interest in how I intended to reshape the historiography of the League of Nations, would follow at length as I explained the rival- ries between palm nuts and coconuts and between soap and margarine, a type of history far different from what had so much bored them at school. More and more I realized that, rather than adding footnotes to well-established historiographies this second book would open new felds and advance new interpretations. I did not expect historians of British politics to have mastered the intricacies of the palm nut, but I felt that those writing on the economics of West Africa should have had that knowledge, and that the British political historians might well be reproached for having in two generations added so little to Beaverbrook’s account from 1932. While the book centres on the relationship between Nigeria and Great Britain a century ago, it is also a product of my own more recent involvement with Nigeria. While the areas which I came to know—the Jos Plateau (through working with my colleagues), the Yoruba hinterland (through supervising students), and Borno (through my own research)— are not those which fgure prominently here, the book would not have been written, or would not be what it is, without that experience. As I researched and began to write, Nigeria began to acquire an unfavourable image abroad. The age of the internet was also that of scams by Nigerian “419ers”—the reference is to the anti-fraud article in the criminal code— who achieved international notoriety. Nigeria has and had such people. It also had and has those like Peter Thomas, persons of drive, integrity, and deep pride of race. I beneftted greatly from working with such people for almost two decades. I hope that this book may repay them by presenting an accurate picture of their country at an important time in its history. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Peter J. Yearwood CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 1914, Nigeria and the World Economy 11 3 The Impact of War 53 4 Lugard, the Colonial Offce and the Politics of Crushing 97 5 The Colonial Offce, the Ministry of Munitions, and the Shippers 131 6 “An Agitation Has Been Got up”; the Sale of the German Properties 165 7 “Jingo Pot and Tariff Kettle”; the Nigeria Debate and the Sales 193 8 Conclusion: Epilogues and Consequences 229 ix x CONTENTS Appendix 265 Bibliography 275 Index 285 ABBREVIATIONS AHR American Historical Review AWAM Association of West African Merchants Ag Gov.

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