Overview

Britain's overseas civil services - the Colonial Administrative Service, the Indian Civil Service and the Sudan Political Service no longer exist as a major and sought-after career for Britain's graduates. In this study the history of each service is presented within the framework of the need to administer an expanding empire. Attention is paid to the methods of recruitment and training and to the socio-educational background of the overseas administrators as well as to the nature of their work. The prestigious incumbents of Government House are examined. The impact of decolonisation on overseas officials and the kinds of ""second careers"" which they took up are documented. This narrative history is enlivened by recourse to Service lore and anecdotes.

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9780333732977

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'...a comprehensive, nuanced understanding of the grass-roots rulers of empire.' - Albion '...Kirk-Greene's study is tremendously strong on detail, and is particularly valuable for that.' - Gordon Johnson, The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Meticulous and impressive.' - West Africa

Author Information

ANTHONY KIRK-GREENE is currently Adjunct Professor at the Stanford University Centre, Oxford. He served in the Indian Army in the Second World War and then went up to Cambridge University. He joined the Colonial Administrative Service in 1950, working as a District Officer from 1950-60 and then as Senior Lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In 1967 he was elected Senior Research Fellow at St Anthony's College, Oxford, and in 1980 became the first holder of the University's Lectureship in the Modern History of Africa. He was President of the African Studies Association of the UK, 1988-90. He has taught widely in American and Canadian Universities. On retirement in 1992 he was elected to the Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. He is an Associate Editor of the New Dictionary of National Biography. He is writing an anniversary history of the Colonial Service.

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