- Description
- 1 online resource (viii, 202 pages) : illustrations, maps.
- Summary
- "'Fort Napier : Outpost of the British Colonial State in Natal, 1843-1914' is a social history of the British garrison at Fort Napier, from its establishment in 1843 to its departure for the Western Front at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The garrison remained at Fort Napier for seventy-one years, far longer than garrisons in other parts of the empire. Author Graham Dominy argues that because of the garrison's relative isolation and weakness, it remained 'temporary' in the eyes of influential British military personnel for decades, never manifesting as an effective instrument of imperial power. While the troops' presence ironically played a significant role in undermining the ethos and ideology of the imperial state, the cultural, political and economic methods of influence that the garrison used to compensate for their 'temporary' status have done much to shape modern South Africa"--
- "Small and isolated in the Colony of Natal, Fort Napier was long treated like a temporary outpost of the expanding British Empire. Yet British troops manned this South African garrison for over seventy years. Tasked with protecting colonists, the fort became even more significant as an influence on, and reference point for, settler society. Graham Dominy's Last Outpost on the Zulu Frontier reveals the unexamined but pivotal role of Fort Napier in the peacetime public dramas of the colony. Its triumphalist colonial-themed pageantry belied colonists's worries about their own vulnerability. As Dominy shows, the cultural, political, and economic methods used by the garrison compensated for this perceived weakness. Settler elites married their daughters to soldiers to create and preserve an English-speaking oligarchy. At the same time, garrison troops formed the backbone of a consumer market that allowed colonists to form banking and property interests that consolidated their control"--
- Series Statement
- The history of military occupation
- Uniform Title
- Last outpost on the Zulu frontiers (Online)
- Alternative Title
- Last outpost on the Zulu frontiers (Online)
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-265) and index.
- Access (note)
- Access restricted to authorized users.
- Contents
- Fort Napier : A Garrison among Garrisons -- From Whence They Came : An Overview of Queen Victoria's Army -- Establishing an Imperial Presence : Bayside Battles, Diplomacy, Women's Revolts, and the Reluctant March on Maritzburg -- Building a Fort : Plans, Impermanence, and Imperial Policies -- Pageantry, Pioneers, Panics, and Punitive Expeditions : The Pivotal Role of the Garrison in Creating a Colonial State, 1843-63 -- Ceremonies and Crises: The Garrison in the Established Colony, 1860s-1890s -- Soldiers in Garrison : Discipline, Indiscipline, and Mutiny -- The Inniskilling Fusiliers : Bandits, Brawlers, or Mutineers? -- The Garrison and the Wider Society : Placing the "Rough and the Respectable" in the Colonial Context -- "For the Colonel's Lady and Judy O'Grady Are Sisters under Their Skins" : Class and Gender Relationships in the Garrison -- Spending the Queen's Shilling : The Economic Influence of the Natal Garrison -- The Garrison and the State : Changing Relationships of Power -- Recessional : The Last of the Garrison, the Fate of the Fort, and Its Place in Folk Memories -- Appendix: List of Regiments in Garrison in Natal/Pietermaritzburg, 1842-1914 -- Note on sources.
- LCCN
- 2015035921
- OCLC
- ssj0001639987
- Author
Dominy, G. A. (Graham Andrew)
- Title
Last outpost on the Zulu frontiers [electronic resource] : Fort Napier and the British imperial garrison / Graham Dominy.
- Imprint
Urbana ; Chigaco : University of Illinois Press, [2016]
- Series
The history of military occupation
- Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-265) and index.
- Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
- Connect to: