Decolonisation - Malaya and the Gold Coast, 1940 - 1960 (AS/A2)
Aims of the workshop
The workshop aims to help students to investigate and understand how the Second World War and the fall of Singapore changed attitudes to imperial rule within British colonies, and within Britain itself, through the study of original contemporary documents held at the National Archives.
Documents
- Document 1: Reference CO 554/132/10
In February 1943 OGR Williams, Assistant Secretary, head of the West Africa Department wrote a memorandum on future policy in West Africa. Comments on this memorandum were added by Sir George Gater, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, AJ Dawe, Assistant under-secretary of state responsible for the West Africa Dept, and OFG Stanley, The Secretary of State.
- Document 2: Reference CO 875/14/9
The fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and the conduct of the war in North Africa led Colonial Office officials to review colonial policy. In March 1942 N.J.B. Sabine, a Public Relations Officer in the Colonial Office, wrote a memorandum criticising colonial policy in the light of the Malayan campaign.
Activity
There is a choice of documents for students to work with; document 1 is slightly shorter and easier to work with than document 2. You can use just one or both documents, and either give the students the whole document to work with, or divide them up into groups and give each group one or two paragraphs to research, as you think appropriate to the needs and interests of your group.
Your students are officers working in the Colonial Office. They have been asked to prepare a Summary Report for Secretary of State for the Colonies on one (or both) of these memorandums. They are asked to report under the following headings:
- Are the people under colonial rule completely satisfied or happy with that rule in 1942/1943?
- Is there evidence of different attitudes to colonialism and colonial policy emerging between official and public opinion in Britain at this time? What effects might these different attitudes have at home and in the colonies?
- What impact is the war having on colonial policy?
- What are the threats to stability and prosperity in the colonies?
- What is the impact of widening education on colonial peoples and their relations with the British rulers?
- Finally, what recommendations should the Secretary of State for the Colonies be making to the Government in 1942-43 regarding self-government for these colonies?
Download exercise materials
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The following exercises include teacher's notes and all documents:
Complete workshop pack (544KB)
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Or just download the individual documents:
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The materials are provided in Adobe PDF format so that they are easy to print out. Anyone with a visual impairment who is unable to use PDF documents should visit access.adobe.com for information about converting documents and versions of Adobe Reader with added accessibility features.
If you are unable to print out the preparation materials and need us to send you a paper print out, please email education@nationalarchives.gov.uk or call 020 8392 5365 and leave a message stating the title of the workshop you want the materials for, your name, your school's name, and the date of your workshop.
The workshop
The workshop will start with feedback and discussion of the research students have done on the preparation activity.
We then go on to develop students' research skills and knowledge of the subject through the following activities:
- "1942: The Writing on the Wall"
This activity uses two newspaper articles from 1942 to identify and analyse the issues Britain faced concerning her colonial administration.
- "Through British Eyes"
A study of a series of photographs of the Gold Coast and Malaya from the Central Office of Information, taken in 1940s and 1950s. Students examine them as evidence for British, local and nationalist attitudes to colonial administration, development and the move to self-government.
- "Oh! Let us be free and untouched..."
This activity completes the workshop by giving students the opportunity to work with original files from the Colonial Office, locating the voices of the colonial peoples - the nationalist, the subversive, the critical and the loyal - in order understand the variety of attitudes of local people to the continuing presence of the British.
Knowledge, skills and understanding
This workshop enables students to meet the subject criteria for history in the following ways;
- Developing their interest in and enthusiasm for studying history by raising their awareness of the opportunities available for researching original documents in archives
- Examining the nature of historical evidence and the methods used by historians in analysis and evaluation
- Assessing the significance of events, individuals, attitudes, ideas and beliefs in their historical context
- Getting hands on experience at using original historical sources of different kinds (newspapers, correspondence, official reports, posters, photographs, maps etc) appropriate to the workshop and subject
- Analysing, evaluating and interpreting original historical sources in their historical context through a series of structured research activities
- Communicating clear, concise and logical arguments substantiated by relevant evidence in discussion and debate with the Education Officer leading the workshop
Examination board specification
Useful links
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