Alfred Milner , 1st Viscount Milner Alfred Milner , 1st Viscount Milner KG GCB GCMG PC ( 23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925 ) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played an influential leadership role in the formulation of foreign and domestic policy between the mid - 1890s and early 1920s . He was also the key British Empire figure in the events leading up to and following the Anglo - Boer War of 1899 – 1902 and , while serving as High Commissioner , is additionally noted for mentoring a gathering of young members of the South African Civil Service , informally known as Milner ' s Kindergarten who , in some cases , themselves became important figures in administering the British Empire . In the later part of his life , from December 1916 to November 1918 , he was one of the most important members of David Lloyd George ' s War Cabinet . Early life and education . Milner ' s German ancestry dates to his paternal grandmother , married to an Englishman who settled in the Grand Duchy of Hesse ( modern state of Hesse in west - central Germany ) . Their son , Charles Milner , who was educated in Hesse and England , established himself as a physician with a practice in London and later became Reader in English at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in the Kingdom of Württemberg ( modern state of Baden - Württemberg ) . His wife was a daughter of Major General John Ready , former Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island and later the Isle of Man . Their only son , Alfred Milner , was born in the Hessian town of Gießen and educated first at Tübingen , then at King ' s College School and , from 1872 to 1876 , as a scholar of Balliol College , Oxford , studying under the classicist theologian Benjamin Jowett . Having won the Hertford , Craven , Eldon and Derby scholarships , he graduated in 1877 with a first class in classics and was elected to a fellowship at New College , leaving , however , for London in 1879 . At Oxford he formed a close friendship with young economic historian Arnold Toynbee , writing a paper in support of his theories of social work and , in 1895 , twelve years after his death at the age of 30 , penning a tribute , " Arnold Toynbee : a Reminiscence " . Journalism , politics and service in Egypt . Although authorised to practise law after being called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 188 , he joined the staff of the " Pall Mall Gazette " under John Morley , becoming assistant editor to William Thomas Stead . In 1885 he abandoned journalism for a potential political career as the Liberal candidate for the Harrow division of Middlesex , but lost in the general election . Holding the post of private secretary to George Goschen , he rose in rank when , in 1887 , Goschen became Chancellor of the Exchequer and , two years later , used his influence to have Milner appointed under - secretary of finance in Egypt . He remained in Egypt for four years , his period of office coinciding with the first great reforms , after the danger of bankruptcy had been avoided . Returning to England in 1892 , he published " England and Egypt " which , at once , became the authoritative account of the work done since the British occupation . Later that year he received an appointment as chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue . In 1894 he was made CB and in 1895 KCB . In South Africa . Sir Alfred Milner remained at the Board of Inland Revenue until 1897 . He was regarded as one of the clearest - headed and most judicious officials in the British service , and his position as a man of moderate Liberal views , who had been so closely associated with Goschen at the Treasury , Cromer in Egypt and Hicks - Beach ( Lord St Aldwyn ) and Sir William Vernon Harcourt while at the Inland Revenue , marked him as one in whom all parties might have confidence . The moment for testing his capacity in the highest degree had now come . In April , Lord Rosmead resigned his posts of High Commissioner for Southern Africa and Governor of Cape Colony . The situation resulting from the Jameson raid was one of the greatest delicacy and difficulty , and Joseph Chamberlain , now colonial secretary , selected Milner as Lord Rosmead ' s successor . The choice was cordially approved by the leaders of the Liberal party and warmly recognized at a 28 March 1897 farewell dinner presided over by the future prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith . The appointment was avowedly made in order that an acceptable British statesman , in whom public confidence was reposed , might go to South Africa to consider all the circumstances and to formulate a policy which should combine the upholding of British interests with the attempt to deal justly with the Transvaal and Orange Free State governments . Sir Alfred Milner reached the Cape in May 1897 and after the difficulties with President Kruger over the Aliens ' Law had been patched up , he was free by August to make himself personally acquainted with the country and peoples before deciding on the lines of policy to be adopted . Between August 1897 and May 1898 he travelled through Cape Colony , the Bechuanaland Protectorate , Rhodesia and Basutoland . To better understand the point of view of the Cape Dutch and the burghers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State , Milner also during this period learned both Dutch and the South African " Taal " . He came to the conclusion that there could be no hope of peace and progress in South Africa while there remained the " permanent subjection of British to Dutch in one of the Republics " . Milner was referring to the situation in the Transvaal where , in the aftermath of the discovery of gold , thousands of fortune seekers had flocked from all over Europe , but mostly Britain . This influx of foreigners , referred to as " Uitlanders " , threatened their republic , and Transvaal ' s President Kruger refused to give the " Uitlanders " the right to vote . The Afrikaner farmers , known as Boers , had established the Transvaal as their promised land , after their Great Trek out of Cape Colony , a trek whose purpose was to remove themselves as far as possible from British rule . They had already successfully defended the Transvaal ' s annexation by the British Empire during the first Anglo - Boer War , a conflict that had emboldened them and resulted in a peace treaty which , lacking a highly convincing pretext , made it very difficult for Britain to justify diplomatically another annexation of the Transvaal . Independent Transvaal thus stood in the way of Britain ' s ambition to control all of Africa from Cape to Cairo . Milner realised that , with the discovery of gold in the Transvaal , the balance of power in South Africa had shifted from Cape Town to Johannesburg . He feared that if the whole of South Africa was not quickly brought under British control , the newly - wealthy Transvaal , controlled by Afrikaners , could unite with Cape Afrikaners and jeopardise the entire British position in South Africa . Milner also realised — as was shown by the triumphant re - election of Paul Kruger to the presidency of the Transvaal in February 1898 — that the Pretoria government would never on its own initiative redress the grievances of the " Uitlanders " . This gave Milner the pretext to use the " Uitlander " question to his advantage . In a 3 March 1898 speech delivered at Graaff Reinet , an Afrikaner Bond stronghold in the British controlled Cape , he outlined his determination to secure freedom and equality for British subjects in the Transvaal , and he urged the Dutch colonists to induce the Pretoria government to assimilate its institutions , and the temper and spirit of its administration , to those of the free communities of South Africa . The effect of this pronouncement was great and it alarmed the Afrikaners who , at this time , viewed with apprehension the virtual resumption by Cecil Rhodes of leadership of Cape ' s Progressive ( British ) Party . Later in 1899 , Milner would meet Violet Cecil , the wife of Major Lord Edward Cecil . Edward Cecil was commissioned to South Africa after serving in the Grenadier Guards . Milner and Violet would begin a secret affair that would last until her departure in late 1900 back to England . She had a noticeable effect on his disposition , Milner himself wrote in his diary that he was feeling " very low indeed " . Edward Cecil learned of this affair and pushed for a commission to Egypt after Violet pushed to return to South Africa . Milner would later marry Violet Cecil . Anglophilia . Milner had an unfavorable view of Afrikaners and , as a matter of philosophy , saw the British as " a superior race " . Thus , with limited interest in peaceful resolution of the conflict , he came to the view that British control of the region could only be achieved through war . Famously , after meeting Milner for the first time , Jan Smuts predicted that he would be " more dangerous than Rhodes " and would become " a second Bartle Frere " . Milner Schools . In order to Anglicize the Transvaal area during the Anglo Boer war , Lord Milner set out to influence British Education in the area for the English speaking populations . He founded a series of schools known as the " Milner Schools " in South Africa . These schools consist of modern day Pretoria High School for Girls , Pretoria Boys High School , King Edward VII School ( Johannesburg ) , Potchefstroom High School for Boys , Hamilton Primary School , and St Mary ' s Diocesan School for Girls , Pretoria . Although not all Afrikander Bond leaders liked Kruger , they were ready to support him whether or not he granted reforms and , by the same result , contrived to make Milner ' s position untenable . His difficulties were increased when , at the general election in Cape Colony , the Bond obtained a majority . In October 1898 , acting strictly in a constitutional manner , Milner called upon William Philip Schreiner to form a ministry , though aware that such a ministry would be opposed to any direct intervention of Great Britain in the Transvaal . Convinced that the existing state of affairs , if continued , would end in the loss of South Africa by Britain , Milner came to England in November 1898 . He returned to Cape Colony in February 1899 , fully assured of Joseph Chamberlain ' s support , though the government still clung to the hope that the moderate section of the Cape and Orange Free State Dutch would induce Kruger to give the vote to the " Uitlanders " . He found the situation more critical than when he had left , ten weeks previously . Johannesburg was in a ferment , while William Francis Butler , who acted as high commissioner in Milner ' s absence , had allowed the inference that he did not support " Uitlander " grievances . On 4 May , Milner penned a memorable dispatch to the Colonial Office , in which he insisted that the remedy for the unrest in the Transvaal was to strike at the root of the evil — the political impotence of the injured . " It may seem a paradox , " he wrote , " but it is true that the only way for protecting our subjects is to help them to cease to be our subjects . " The policy of leaving things alone only led from bad to worse , and " the case for intervention is overwhelming . " Milner felt that only the enfranchisement of the " Uitlanders " in the Transvaal would give stability to the South African situation . He had not based his case against the Transvaal on the letter of the Conventions , and regarded the employment of the word " suzerainty " merely as an " etymological question , " but he realized keenly that the spectacle of thousands of British subjects in the Transvaal in the condition of " helots " ( as he expressed it ) was undermining the prestige of Great Britain throughout South Africa , and he called for " some striking proof " of the intention of the British government not to be ousted from its predominant position . This dispatch was telegraphed to London , and was intended for immediate publication ; but it was kept private for a time by the home government . Its tenor was known , however , to the leading politicians at the Cape , and at the insistence of Jan Hendik Hofmeyr a peace conference was held ( 31 May – 5 June ) at Bloemfontein between the high commissioner and Transvaal President Kruger . Milner made three demands , which he knew could not be accepted by Kruger : The enactment by the Transvaal of a franchise law which would at once give the " Uitlanders " the vote ; Use of English in the Transvaal parliament and ; That all laws of the parliament should be vetted and approved by the British parliament . Realizing the untenability of his position , Kruger left the meeting in tears . The Second Boer War . When the Second Boer War broke out in October 1899 , Milner rendered the military authorities " unfailing support and wise counsels " , being , in Lord Roberts ' s phrase " one whose courage never faltered " . In February 1901 , he was called upon to undertake the administration of the two Boer states , both now annexed to the British Empire , though the war was still in progress . He thereupon resigned the governorship of Cape Colony , while retaining the post of high commissioner . During this time at the helm a number of concentration camps were created where 27 , 000 Boer women and children and more than 14 , 000 black South Africans died . The work of reconstructing the civil administration in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony could only be carried on to a limited extent while operations continued in the field . Milner therefore returned to England to spend a " hard - begged holiday , " which was , however , mainly occupied in work at the Colonial Office . He reached London on 24 May 1901 , had an audience with Edward VII on the same day , received the GCB and was made a privy councillor , and was raised to the peerage as Baron Milner , " of St James ' s in the County of London and of Cape Town in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope " . Speaking next day at a luncheon given in his honour , answering critics who alleged that with more time and patience on the part of Great Britain , war might have been avoided , he asserted that what they were asked to " conciliate " was " panoplied hatred , insensate ambition , invincible ignorance . " In late July Milner received the Honorary Freedom of the City of London , and gave another speech in which he defended the government policy . The peace . Meanwhile the diplomacy of 1899 and the conduct of the war had caused a great change in the attitude of the Liberal party in England towards Lord Milner , whom a prominent Member of Parliament , Leonard Courtney , even characterized as " a lost mind " . A violent agitation for his recall , joined by the Liberal Party leader , Henry Campbell - Bannerman , was organized , however unsuccessfully and , in August , Milner returned to South Africa , plunging into the herculean task of remodelling the administration . In the negotiations for peace he was associated with Lord Kitchener , and the terms of surrender , signed in Pretoria on 31 May 1902 , were drafted by him . In recognition of his services he was , on 1 July , made Viscount Milner , of Saint James ' s in the County of London and of Cape Town in the Cape Colony . Around this time he became a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian Society campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb . On 21 June , immediately following the conclusion of signatory and ceremonial developments surrounding the end of hostilities , Milner published the Letters Patent establishing the system of crown colony government in the Transvaal and Orange River colonies , and changing his title of administrator to that of governor . The reconstructive work necessary after the ravages of the war was enormous . He provided a steady revenue by the levying of a 10 % tax on the annual net produce of the gold mines , and devoted special attention to the repatriation of the Boers , land settlement by British colonists , education , justice , the constabulary , and the development of railways . At Milner ' s suggestion the British government sent Henry Birchenough a businessman and old friend of Milners as special trade commissioner to South Africa with the task of preparing a Blue Book on trade prospects in the aftermath of the war . To aid him in his task , Milner recruited a team of gifted young lawyers and administrators , most of them Oxford graduates , who became known as " Milner ' s Kindergarten " . While this work of reconstruction was in progress , domestic politics in England were convulsed by the tariff reform movement and Joseph Chamberlain ' s resignation . Milner , who was then spending a brief holiday in Europe , was urged by Arthur James Balfour to take the vacant post of secretary of state for the colonies . He declined the offer on 1 October 1903 , considering it more important to complete his work in South Africa , where economic depression was becoming pronounced . As of December 1903 , he was back in Johannesburg , and had to consider the crisis in the gold - mining industry caused by the shortage of native labor . Reluctantly he agreed , with the assent of the home government , to the proposal of the mineowners to import Chinese coolies on a three - year contract with the first batch of Chinese reaching the Rand in June 1904 . In the latter part of 1904 and the early months of 1905 , Milner was engaged in the elaboration of a plan to provide the Transvaal with a system of representative government , a half - way house between crown colony administration and that of self - government . Letters patent providing for representative government were issued on 31 March 1905 . For some time he had been suffering health difficulties from the incessant strain of work , and determined a need to retire , leaving Pretoria on 2 April and sailing for Europe the following day . Speaking in Johannesburg on the eve of his departure , he recommended to all concerned the promotion of the material prosperity of the country and the treatment of Dutch and British on an absolute equality . Having referred to his share in the war , he added : " What I should prefer to be remembered by is a tremendous effort subsequent to the war not only to repair the ravages of that calamity but to re - start the colonies on a higher plane of civilization than they have ever previously attained . " He left South Africa while the economic crisis was still acute and at a time when the voice of the critic was audible everywhere but , in the words of the colonial secretary Alfred Lyttelton , he had in the eight eventful years of his administration laid deep and strong the foundation upon which a united South Africa would arise to become one of the great states of the empire . Upon returning home , his university bestowed upon him the honorary degree of DCL . Experience in South Africa had shown him that underlying the difficulties of the situation there was the wider problem of imperial unity . In his farewell speech at Johannesburg he concluded with a reference to the subject . ' When we who call ourselves Imperialists talk of the British Empire , we think of a group of states bound , not in an alliance or alliances that can be made and unmade but in a permanent organic union . Of such a union the dominions of the sovereign as they exist to - day are only the raw material . ' This thesis he further developed in a magazine article written in view of the colonial conference held in London in 1907 . He advocated the creation of a permanent deliberative imperial council , and favored preferential trade relations between the United Kingdom and the other members of the empire ; and in later years he took an active part in advocating the cause of tariff reform and Imperial Preference . In 1910 he became a founder of " The Round Table " – " A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Empire " , which helped to promote the cause of imperial federation . Censure motion . In March 1906 , a motion censuring Lord Milner for an infraction of the Chinese labour ordinance , in not forbidding light corporal punishment of coolies for minor offences in lieu of imprisonment , was moved by a Radical member of the House of Commons . On behalf of the Liberal government an amendment was moved , stating that ' This House , while recording its condemnation of the flogging of Chinese coolies in breach of the law , desires , in the interests of peace and conciliation in South Africa , to refrain from passing censure upon individuals ' . The amendment was carried by 355 votes to 135 . As a result of this left - handed censure , a counter - demonstration was organized , led by Sir Bartle Frere , and a public address , signed by over 370 , 000 persons , was presented to Lord Milner expressing high appreciation of the services rendered by him in Africa to the crown and empire . Businessman . Upon his return from South Africa , Viscount Milner occupied himself mainly with business interests in London , becoming chairman of the Rio Tinto Zinc mining company , though he remained active in the campaign for imperial free trade . In 1906 he became a director of the Joint Stock Bank , a precursor of the Midland Bank . In the period 1909 to 1911 he was a strong opponent of the budget of David Lloyd George and the subsequent attempt of the Liberal government to curb the powers of the House of Lords . World War I . Since Milner , who was a leading conservative , was the only Briton who had experience in civil direction of a war , Lloyd George turned to him in December 1916 when he formed his national government . He was made a member of the five - person War Cabinet . In January 1917 Milner led the British delegation ( with Henry Wilson as chief military representative and including a banker and two munitions experts ) on the mission to Russia . There were 50 delegates in total including French ( led by de Castelnau ) and Italians . The object of the mission , stressed at the second Chantilly Conference in December 1916 , was to keep the Russians holding down at least the forces now opposite them , to boost Russian morale and see what equipment they needed with a view to coordinating attacks . The official report in March said that even if the Tsar was toppled — which in fact happened a few weeks later — Russia would remain in the war and that they would solve their “ administrative chaos ” . Milner became Lloyd George ' s firefighter in many crises and one of the most powerful voices in the conduct of the war . He also gradually became disenchanted with the military leaders whose offensives generated large casualties for little apparent result , but who still enjoyed support from many politicians . He backed Lloyd George , who was even more disenchanted with the military , in his successful move to remove Edward Carson from the Admiralty . On at least one occasion , the conservative Milner came to the aid of people from the other end of the political spectrum . He was an old family friend of Margaret Hobhouse , the mother of imprisoned peace activist Stephen Henry Hobhouse — in fact , he was Stephen ' s proxy godfather . In 1917 , when Margaret was working to get her son and other British conscientious objectors freed from prison , Milner discreetly helped , intervening with high government officials . As a result , in December 1917 more than 300 CO ' s were released from prison on medical grounds . Lloyd George spent much of 1917 proposing plans to send British troops and guns to Italy to assist in an Italian offensive ( this did not happen in the end until reinforcements had to be sent after the Italian disaster at Caporetto in November ) . The War Cabinet did not insist on a halt to the Third Battle of Ypres offensive in 1917 when the initial targets were not reached and indeed spent little time discussing the matter — around this time the CIGS General Robertson sent Haig ( CinC of British forces in France ) a biting description of the members of the War Cabinet , whom he said were all frightened of Lloyd George — he described Milner as " a tired and dyspeptic old man " . By the end of the year Milner had become certain that a decisive victory on the Western Front was unlikely , writing to Curzon ( 17 October ) opposing the policy of “ Hammer , Hammer , Hammer on the Western Front ” , and had become a convinced " Easterner " , wanting more effort on other fronts . Milner was also a chief author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 , although it was issued in the name of Arthur Balfour . He was a highly outspoken critic of the Austro - Hungarian war in Serbia arguing that " there is more widespread desolation being caused there ( than ) we have been familiar with in the case of Belgium " . He was an earnest advocate of inter - allied cooperation , attending an Allied conference in St . Petersburg in February 1917 and , as representative of the British War Cabinet , was on a March 1918 visit to France when the Germans launched their great offensive , and was instrumental in getting General Ferdinand Foch appointed as Allied Generalissimo on 26 March . On 19 April he was appointed Secretary of State for War in place of the Earl of Derby , who had been a staunch ally of Field - Marshal Haig , and presided over the army council for the remainder of the war . Following the khaki election of December 1918 , he was appointed Colonial Secretary and , in that capacity , attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference where , on behalf of United Kingdom , he became one of the signatories of the Treaty of Versailles , including the " Orts - Milner Agreement " allowing to Belgium the administration of Ruanda and Urundi territories to award the Belgo - African army ( " Force publique " ) for his war effort which highly contributed to push the German troops out the future Tanganyika Territory ( the victorious Tabora and Mahenge battles ) . Post World War I : England and Egypt . After the War , Lord Milner assisted the Royal Agricultural Society in procuring Fordson tractor s for the plowing and planting of grasslands , and communicated directly with Henry Ford by telegraph , per Henry Ford ' s book , ' My Life and Work ' , regarding Chapter 14 . His last great public service was , after serious rioting broke out , a mission to Egypt from December 1919 to March 1920 to make recommendations on British - Egyptian relations , specifically how to reconcile the British protectorate established in 1915 with Sa ' d Zaghlul ' s calls for self - government . The report of the Milner Commission formed the basis of a settlement which lasted for a number of years . Last years . Right until the end of his life , Lord Milner would call himself a " British race patriot " with grand dreams of a global Imperial parliament , headquartered in London , seating delegates of British descent from Canada , Australia , New Zealand and South Africa . He retired in February 1921 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter ( KG ) in the same month . Later that year he married Lady Violet Georgina Gascoyne - Cecil , widow of Lord Edward Cecil and remained active in the work of the Rhodes Trust , while accepting , at the behest of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin , the chairmanship of a committee to examine a new imperial preference tariff . His work , however , proved abortive when , following an election , Ramsay MacDonald assumed the office of Prime Minister in January 1924 . Seven weeks past his 71st birthday , Alfred Milner died at Sturry Court , near Canterbury of sleeping sickness , soon after returning from South Africa . His viscountcy , lacking heirs , died with him . Credo . Found among Milner ' s papers was his " Credo " , which was published to great acclaim . I am a Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan . . . I am a British ( indeed primarily an English ) Nationalist . If I am also an Imperialist , it is because the destiny of the English race , owing to its insular position and long supremacy at sea , has been to strike roots in different parts of the world . I am an Imperialist and not a Little Englander because I am a British Race Patriot . . . The British State must follow the race , must comprehend it , wherever it settles in appreciable numbers as an independent community . If the swarms constantly being thrown off by the parent hive are lost to the State , the State is irreparably weakened . We cannot afford to part with so much of our best blood . We have already parted with much of it , to form the millions of another separate but fortunately friendly State . We cannot suffer a repetition of the process . References . Notes Bibliography