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Cultural diplomacy and the British Council: 1934 — 1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Philip M. Taylor
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Extract

In November, 1934, the British Council for Relations with Other Countries was founded on the initiative of the Foreign Office. The decision to establish a body specifically designed to conduct cultural propaganda overseas on behalf of the British Government was, perhaps, the most constructive peacetime response to the growing realization that more positive measures were required to counter the detrimental effects of aggressive foreign propaganda upon British interests and prestige. The British Council, which continued to operate under the auspices of the Foreign Office, offered a new and alternative approach to the traditional conduct of foreign affairs: the practice of cultural diplomacy. It was believed that cultural propaganda — broadly interpreted as the dissemination of British ideals and beliefs in a general rather than specifically political form – would not only serve to enhance British influence and prestige abroad, but would also effectively further the wider ideals of international peace and understanding.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1978 , pp. 244 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1978

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References

page 244 note 1 This article is based upon a section of the author's forthcoming doctoral thesis: The Projection of Britain; British Overseas Publicity and Propaganda, 1914–1939, with particular reference to the work of the Mews Department of the Foreign Office, to be submitted to the University of Leeds. I am grateful to the officials of the London headquarters of the British Council and particularly Mr. John Webster, the Archivist, whose assistance in producing documents, now transferred to the Public Record Office, proved invaluable, and also to Mr. Irvine Watson, the Secretary, for permitting me to scrutinize some early papers currently in the possession of the Gouncil (marked BC). Professor David Dilks and Mr. Nicholas Pronay provided generous guidance in the preparation of the draft.

page 244 note 2 Moorhouse, G., The Diplomats: The Foreign Office Today (London, 1977), p. 342.Google Scholar

page 245 note 1 For further details see McMurray, R. and Lee, M., The Cultural Approach. Another Way in International Relations (Chapel Hill, 1947)Google Scholar, Chapter2. The Germans were also early participants in the field with the establishment of the Vereinfur das Deutschtum im Ausland to disseminate the ideals of Pan-Germanism through the Auslandsschulen.

page 245 note 2 It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss British propaganda during the First World War but for an excellent recent study see Sanders, M. L., ‘Wellington House and British Propaganda during the First World War’, Historical Journal, xviii (1975), pp. 119–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Squires, J. D., British Propaganda at Home and in the United States from 1914 to 1917 (Cambridge, Mass., 1935).Google Scholar

page 245 note 3 Steed, H. Wickham, Through Thirty Tears, 1892-1922 (2 Vols., London, 1924), II, pp. 247–50Google Scholar; Steed, The Fifth Arm (London, 1940), pp. 41–3.Google Scholar

page 245 note 4 Minute by P. A. Koppel, 10 February, 1922. FO 366/883.

page 245 note 5 FO 366/787, 32759.

page 246 note 1 T. G. Heath to W. Tyrrell, 2 June, 1919. FO 366/787, 82638.

page 246 note 2 In the only major wartime debate in the House of Commons on the subject of the Ministry of Information, the Government experienced widespread criticism and opposition to the use of official propaganda. Parliamentary Debates (Commons) 5th Series, Vol. 109, 5 August, 1918, cols. 947–1035.

page 246 note 3 Heath to Tyrrell, 31 May, 1919. FO 366/787, 82638.

page 246 note 4 Ibid.

page 246 note 5 Minute by S. Gaselee, 9 June, 1919. FO 366/787, 82638.

page 247 note 1 Cmd. 672, Accounts and Papers (Miscellaneous) No. 8, 1920.

page 247 note 2 Ibid.

page 247 note 3 Ibid.

page 247 note 4 Memorandum by Western Department on French Policy in regard to Propaganda in Foreign Countries, 1 December, 1920. FO 371/5465, W 814/814/17.

page 248 note 1 Ibid.

page 249 note 1 Tallents, S., The Proejction of England (London, 1932).Google Scholar

page 249 note 2 Ibid. p. II.

page 249 note 3 Third Annual Report of the Empire Marketing Board, 1928–29 (HMSO, 1929), EMB 19, p. 5.

page 250 note 1 Fifth Annual Report of the Empire Marketing Board, 1930–31 (HMSO, 1931), EMB41, p. 8.

page 250 note 2 For further details on the EMB and the role of Tallents see: Huxley, G., Both Hands: An Autobiography (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Amery, L. S., My Political Life (3 Vols., London, 1953–1955) II, pp. 347–52Google Scholar; Lee, J. M., ‘The Dissolution of the Empire Marketing Board: Reflections on a Diary’ , Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, i, (1972–73), pp. 49–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Planning, xi, No. 228, December, 1944.

page 250 note 3 BT 61/54/2, DOT E 14888.

page 250 note 4 Introductory Memorandum, FO 431/1.

page 251 note 1 A. Willert to Treasury, 16 December, 1930. T 161/796, S 9178.

page 251 note 2 For an example of the impact of the financial crisis upon the News Department's work in South America see T 161/796, S 7198.

page 251 note 3 L. A. de L. Meredith to Lord Derby, 27 August, 1935. BC.

page 251 note 4 Minute by R. A. Leeper, 18 June, 1934. FO 395/505, P 1887/9/150.

page 252 note 1 A Joint Committee of the Boards of Trade and Education, established to investigate the means by which foreign students could be induced to study commercial, technical and general subjects in the United Kingdom, produced an interim Report in 1934 which, in effect, committed those Departments to the success of educational and cultural publicity. Introductory Memorandum, FO 431/I.

page 252 note 2 Minute by Leeper, 18 June, 1934. FO 395/505, P 1887/9/150.

page 252 note 3 Tyrrell to A. Henderson, 16 March, 1931; Tyrrell to Simon, 10 December, 1931. FO 431/1.

page 252 note 4 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, BC1, 5 December, 1934. BC.

page 253 note 1 Leeper to Treasury, II January, 1935. BW 2/85, F 399, GB/8/2.

page 253 note 2 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, BC1, 5 December, 1934, BC.

page 253 note 3 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, BC2, 9 January, 1935. BC.

page 253 note 4 Ibid.

page 253 note 5 Ibid.

page 253 note 6 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, BC3, 29 January, 1935. BC.

page 254 note 1 Ibid.

page 254 note 2 See footnote 1, p. 274.

page 254 note 3 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. 1, 1934–6, BC4, 20 February, 1935. BC.

page 254 note 4 Leeper to G. Bridge, 11 March, 1935. BC.

page 255 note 1 Leeper to Vansittart,i4 March, 1935. BC.

page 255 note 2 Ibid.

page 255 note 3 Leeper to Bridge, 31 March, 1935. BC.

page 255 note 4 Leeper to Bridge, 18 July, 1935. BC.

page 256 note 1 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. 1, 1934–6, E.10, 22 October, 1935. BC.

page 256 note 2 Draft Memorandum and Articles of Association, 1934–5. BW 2/121, F 5708, GB/14/1.

page 256 note 3 Meeting at St. James's Palace, 2 July, 1935. BW2/61,F 243, GB/4/43. This was not entirely accurate. In the United States, the State Department did not initiate a programme of overseas cultural activity until 1938. FO 395/575, P 2438/80/150. However, private endowments, particularly from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, were meanwhile potent forces for the spread of American culture overseas.

page 256 note 4 News Department Memorandum, 8 February, 1935. FO 395/527, P 411/267/150.

page 258 note 1 These specialist committees had as members recognized experts in their particular fields. For example, Arthur Bliss and Vaughan Williams sat on the Music Committee; John Masefield, the Poet Laureate, joined the Fine Arts Committee; and Stanley Unwin became Chairman of the Books and Periodicals Committee.

page 258 note 2 Macdonald, N. P., Hitler over Latin America (London, 1940).Google Scholar

page 258 note 3 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, EC7, 11 July, 1935. BC.

page 258 note 4 Meeting at St. James's Palace, 2 July, 1935.loc. cit.

page 259 note 1 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, BC8 10 October, 1935. BC.

page 259 note 2 Ibid.

page 259 note 3 Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. II, 1936–7, FA9, 23 June, 1936. BC.

page 259 note 4 Briggs, Asa, The Golden Age of Wireless (London, 1965), pp. 401–405.Google Scholar

page 259 note 5 Lord Riverdale to Lord Derby, 19 February, 1936. Enclosed in Executive, Finance and Agenda Committees, Minutes, Vol. I, 1934–6, E13. BC.

page 260 note 1 Ibid. See also E.18, 14 July, 1936.

page 260 note 2 Tyrrell to Sir Edmund Peacock, 30 January, 1935. BW 2/55, F 7866, GB/4/1.

page 260 note 3 Draft speech by Lord Tyrrell to the Rotary Clubs, undated. BW 2/113, F 12506, GB/12/7.

page 260 note 4 Leeper, R. W., ‘ British Culture Abroad ’;, Contemporary Review, 148 (1935), p. 202.Google Scholar

page 260 note 5 Percy, Eustace, Some Memories (London, 1958), p. 160.Google Scholar

page 261 note 1 Pamphlet, , The Work of the Council, January, 1937.Google Scholar BW 2/112, F 5163 GB/12/6.

page 261 note 2 Parliamentary Debates (Commons) 5th Series, Vol. 331, 16 February, 1938, col. 1948.

page 261 note 3 Murray to Percy, 22 July, 1937. BC.

page 262 note 1 Adam, Colin Forbes, Life of Lord Lloyd (London, 1948), p. 283.Google Scholar

page 262 note 2 Ibid. pp. 284–5.

page 262 note 3 British Council Quarterly Reports, Third Quarter 1938. BC.

page 263 note 1 GAB 16/127, MIC Series, Sub-Committee to Prepare Plans for the Establishment of a Ministry of Information in Time of War, 1935/39.

page 264 note 1 For an attempted appraisal of the Council's work prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, see, Clements, F., ‘The British Council in Europe’, Quarterly Review, 273 (1939) PP. 133–45.Google Scholar