{{Short description|Meeting of leaders of the British Empire and its colonies in London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox summit meeting | summit_name = 1887 Colonial Conference | other_titles = | image = First Colonial Conference.jpg | alt = | caption = Attending representatives. | country = {{flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} United Kingdom | dates = {{nowrap|4 April&ndash;6 May 1887}} | venues = | cities = London | participants = <!-- X (of members) --> | heads_of_state_label = {{nowrap|Heads of Government}} | heads_of_state = | chairperson = Sir Henry Thurston Holland<br />(Secretary of State for the Colonies) | precedes = 1894 | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | keypoints = Imperial co-operation, Naval defence, Pacific telegraph cable, Royal title }} The '''1887 Colonial Conference''' met in London in 1887 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It was organised at the behest of the Imperial Federation League in hopes of creating closer ties between the colonies, the Dominion of Canada and the United Kingdom. It was attended by more than 100 delegates, mostly unofficial observers, from both self-governing and dependent colonies. India, however, was not represented.<ref name=imp>{{cite book |editor-last=Olson |editor-first=James S. |title=Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism |year=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=135–136 |url={{google books|uyqepNdgUWkC|page=137|plainurl=yes}} |isbn=0-3132-6257-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kendle |first1=J.E. |author-link1=John Kendle |year=1967 |title=The Colonial and Imperial Conferences, 1887-1911: A Study in Imperial Organization |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/74/3/999/91500 |series=Imperial Studies |volume=XXVIII |publication-place=London |publisher=Longmans for the Royal Commonwealth Society |asin=B0000CO3QA |doi=10.1086/ahr/74.3.999 }}</ref>

Among other things discussed, the colonies in Australia and New Zealand agreed to pay £126,000 per annum towards the Royal Navy to help pay for the United Kingdom's naval deployments in the Pacific. In exchange, the British government agreed not to reduce its Pacific Station without colonial consent.<ref name=cup>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 4 |year=1929 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=409 |url={{google books|Mu48AAAAIAAJ|page=411|plainurl=yes}} }}</ref>

A proposal to lay a telegraph cable between Vancouver and Australia was approved. A Resolution to extend the Queen's title to "Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, and all Dependencies thereof, and Empress of India" was also adopted.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gladstone's Motion Lost |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/05/07/100910297.pdf |work=New York Times |date=May 7, 1887 |at=second last paragraph}}</ref>

The conference was only a deliberative body and resolutions passed were not binding.<ref name=imp/> While this was the case and the conference itself was not established by law, it was seen as a formal step in the process of consultation concerning imperial policy and legislation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Constitutionalism, Legitimacy, and Power: Nineteenth-Century Experiences|last1=Grotke|first1=Kelly L.|last2=Prutsch|first2=Markus J.|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198723059|location=Oxford}}</ref>

==Participants== The conference was hosted by Queen Victoria, Empress of India, and her prime minister, Lord Salisbury, with Sir Henry Thurston Holland (Secretary of State for the Colonies) acting as chair and the premiers and other representatives of various colonies as delegates. The colonies and dominions invited to send delegates were Newfoundland Colony, Canada, Colony of New South Wales, Colony of Tasmania, Cape of Good Hope, South Australia, the Colony of New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and Natal Colony. Various other colonies were invited to send representatives to the opening ceremonies but not participate as delegates. William A. Baillie-Hamilton, the private secretary to the secretary of state for the Colonies, acted as secretary to the conference.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDpOAAAAYAAJ&q=thorburn&pg=PA5 | title=Proceedings of the Colonial Conference at London, in 1887: In Relation to Imperial Postal and Telegraphic Communications Through Canada| year=1888}}</ref> The delegates were only able to agree on the most general programs towards closer cooperation.<ref name="imp" />

In his opening address, Lord Salisbury cited the importance of mutual defense but also maintained his opposition to the creation of a federation, deeming it impractical.<ref name="imp" /> He explained that attempts at constitution-making is not feasible because such imperial federation could not conduct its affairs from one center. Some colonies also threatened to boycott debates about such measure.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Settler Self-government, 1840-1900: The Development of Representative and Responsible Government|last1=Madden|first1=A. F.|last2=Fieldhouse|first2=David Kenneth|date=1985|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=031327326X|location=Westport, CT|pages=31}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Nation ! Name ! Portfolio |- | rowspan=11|{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | Sir Henry Thurston Holland | Secretary of State for the Colonies (President) |- | Lord Salisbury | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |- | The Earl Cadogan | Lord Privy Seal |- |W. H. Smith |First Lord of the Treasury |- |Edward Stanhope |Secretary of State for War |- |Lord George Hamilton |First Lord of the Admiralty |- |The Viscount Cross |Secretary of State for India |- |The Lord Stanley of Preston |President of the Board of Trade |- |Henry Cecil Raikes |Postmaster-General |- |The Earl of Onslow |Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies |- |Sir James Fegusson |Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs |- |rowspan=2|{{Country|Canada|1868}} | Sir Alexander Campbell | former Canadian senator for Ontario |- | Sanford Fleming |engineer |- |rowspan=2|{{flagicon|Newfoundland}} Newfoundland Colony | Sir Robert Thorburn | Premier |- | Sir Ambrose Shea | Leader of the Opposition |- |rowspan=3|{{flagicon|New South Wales}} Colony of New South Wales | Sir Patrick Jennings | former premier |- |Sir Robert Wisdom |former Attorney-General |- |Sir Saul Samuel |Agent-General |- |rowspan=2|{{flagicon|Tasmania}} Colony of Tasmania | John Stokell Dodds |former Attorney-General |- |Adye Douglas |Agent-General |- |{{flagicon|British Cape Colony}} Cape Colony | Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr | Member of the Cape House of Assembly |- | rowspan=2|{{flagicon|South Australia}} Colony of South Australia | Sir John Downer | Premier |- |Sir Arthur Blyth |Agent-General |- | rowspan=2| {{flagicon|New Zealand}} Colony of New Zealand | Sir Dillon Bell | Agent-General |- |Sir William Fitzherbert |Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council |- | rowspan=4| {{flagicon|Victoria}} Colony of Victoria | Alfred Deakin | Chief Secretary |- |Sir James Lorimer |Minister of Defence |- |Sir Graham Berry |Agent-General |- |James Service |former premier of Victoria |- | rowspan=2| {{flagicon|Queensland}} Colony of Queensland | Sir Samuel Griffith | Premier |- |Sir James Francis Garrick |Agent-General |- | rowspan=2|{{flagicon|Western Australia}} Colony of Western Australia | John Forrest | Surveyor General and Commissioner of Crown Lands |- |Septimus Burt |former Attorney-General |- |25px Colony of Natal | John Robinson |Member of the Natal Legislative Council |}

==References== ===Sources=== * {{cite book |title=Proceedings of the Colonial Conference 1887 |date=July 1887 |series=Command papers |volume=C.5091 |publisher=Harrison & Sons for HMSO |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcol00colo_1/page/n6/mode/2up |access-date=13 March 2020}}

===Citations=== {{reflist}}

*[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1887/mar/25/the-colonial-conference-the-royal Hansard 25 March 1887 ]

==See also== * Imperial Conference * All Red Line - the eventual network of telegraph cables connecting the British Empire.

{{Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonial Conference 1887}} Category:Imperial Conference Category:1887 in international relations Category:1887 in the United Kingdom Category:1887 conferences Category:1887 in London Category:1887 in the British Empire Category:Organised events in London Category:April 1887 Category:May 1887 Category:Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria Category:Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury