The Empire Act was an important act of British Parliament which was signed into law on December 24, 1938, after a long series of conferences between British, Colonial, and Dominion leaders. The Empire Act brought about Imperial Federation, uniting the United Kingdom and its colonies, and creating the modern state, the British Empire. The Empire Act is thus considered one of the most important documents in recent history.
Imperial Federation had been first proposed in the late 19th century, and the Imperial Federation League was founded in London in 1884. In 1938, with the "Unholy Alliance" of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union becoming official, increased hostility from the Empire of Japan and the Union of American People's Republics, and growing nationalism in the British colonies, newly elected Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to take any means necessary to ensure the survival of the British Empire, including Imperial Federation.
Imperial Conference 1938[]
The Imperial Conference of 1938, held in Hamilton, Bermuda, was the largest Imperial Conference in history, with delegations from almost every British colony, as well as from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
List of delegates[]
Australia[]
- Joseph Lyons
Canada[]
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
New Zealand[]
- Michael Joseph Savage
South Africa[]
- J. B. M. Hertzog
- Jan Smuts
United Kingdom[]
- King George VI
- Winston Churchill
- Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
- Anthony Eden
Burma[]
- Ba Maw
- Aung San
India[]
- Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- Vallabhbhai Patel
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII
Jamaica[]
- Norman Manley
Malaya[]
- Shenton Thomas
- Christopher Dominic Ahearne
- Hisamuddin of Selangor
- Ibrahim of Johore
- Abdul Hamid Halim of Kedah
- Ismail of Kelantan
- Alwi of Perlis
- Onn Jaafar
Nyasaland[]
- Harold Baxter Kittermaster
- Levi Zililo Mumba
- James Frederick Sangala
Qatar[]
- Abdullah bin Jassim al Thani
Somaliland[]
- Arthur Salisbury Lawrance
- Mohamoud Ali Shire
Southern Rhodesia[]
- Godfrey Huggins