Earl Bathurst arguably exerted greater influence on the establishment and consolidation of the British Empire than any other single individual. In writing this highly authoritative work, Professor Thompson had access to the previously untapped Bathurst Family archives.This biography also throws fresh light on other leading figures of the period notably The Duke of Wellington and The Prince Regent.

"Britain's seaborne tradition is used to throw light on the British themselves, the people with whom they came into contact and the British perception of empire. The oceans and their shores, rather than the mysterious interiors of continents, certainly dominated the English perception of the transoceanic world in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, climaxing in the fascination with the Pacific in the age of Captain Cook, and continuing into the nineteenth century, with Franklin in the Arctic and Ross in the Antarctic. The oceans offered much more than fascination. In England, from the late sixteenth century, maritime conflict and imperial strength were seen as important to national morale and reputation and without it there would have been no empire, or at least not in the form it actually took."--BOOK JACKET.

This study aims at revising past and current emphasis on central and official British imperial establishments in the metropolis. The focus, rather, incorporates both central and peripheral manning techniques in London and in overseas territories. By using archival and published sources for the military, technical, medical and other professional cadres, plus the manpower enslaved, indentured or employed in executive categories, the study is intended to broaden our understanding of the base and middle strata of the imperial "pyramid". This book is an essential revaluation of British imperial methods that has a place in university and public libraries alongside works on Africa, Southeast Asia, India, Ceylon, the Pacific, and British North America.

An examination of how, during the period 1700-1850, Anglican Christian understanding of the British Empire powerfully shaped the identities both of the people living in British colonies in North America, Bengal, Australia, and New Zealand - including colonists, indigenous peoples, and Negro slaves - and of the English in Britain.

Covers the history of the British Empire from 1600 to the present day, and its transition from ruler of half the world to its current status of isolated, economically fragile island.