Agent of imperial change, James MacQueen and the British Empire, 1778-1870

Abstract

This thesis examines the long and varied career of James MacQueen (1778-1870), a passionate and seemingly indefatigable Scotsman who spent his life attempting to consolidate British imperial power in the old empire of the West Indies, and introduce it to what he hoped would be part of a new empire in Africa. Although always a dedicated imperialist, his work in four specific capacities is highlighted: as a pro-slavery polemicist during the last decade of the emancipation debate, 1823-33; as an agent for the Colonial Bank 1836-38; as founder and general superintendent of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, 1837-44; and as a geographer, 1820-70. In each of these endeavours MacQueen acted as an "agent"--an imperial go-between--attempting to bind Great Britain closer to two of its peripheries. Although his grand plans for expansion into Africa never found much support, he did help consolidate central power through the establishment of metropolitan-controlled and government-chartered companies in the Caribbean colonies, and by filling in the so-called "blank spots" of Africa. On the one hand, MacQueen brought the metropolis to the periphery, and on the other, he brought the periphery to the metropolis.

As one born during the American War of Independence and dying on the eve of the partition of Africa, MacQueen lived in a period that historians once deemed "anti-imperial." More recent scholars have revised this view, mainly by redefining imperialism, and this thesis continues along this line by delineating some of the subtler mechanics of Empire; specifically, those with which MacQueen was involved: labour, banking, communications, and geography.