1907 Imperial Conference
The 1907 Imperial Conference was convened in London on 15 April 1907 as the 1907 Colonial Conference and concluded on 14 May 1907. During the sessions a resolution was passed renaming this and future meetings Imperial Conferences. The chairman of the conference was British prime minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
The conference decided to cease referring to self-governing British colonies as colonies and conferred upon them dominion status. Canada and Australia were referred to as dominions in the conferences statements while Newfoundland Colony and the Colony of New Zealand were granted dominion status by Royal Proclamation on 26 September. Natal and Cape Colony would unite with the two Boer colonies of Orange River Colony and Transvaal Colony, which had been given self-government in 1907, to form the Union of South Africa as a dominion in 1910.
The possibilities of Irish Home Rule and self-governance for India were also discussed. Imperial preference was raised but rejected by the British prime minister due to British support for free trade.
Participants
The conference was hosted by King-Emperor Edward VII, with his Prime Ministers and members of their respective cabinets:Nation | Name | Portfolio |
United Kingdom | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman | Prime Minister |
United Kingdom | Lord Elgin | Secretary of State for the Colonies |
United Kingdom | Sir Edward Grey | Foreign Secretary |
United Kingdom | Lord Tweedmouth | First Lord of the Admiralty |
United Kingdom | R. B. Haldane | Secretary of State for War |
United Kingdom | H. H. Asquith | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
United Kingdom | David Lloyd George | President of the Board of Trade |
United Kingdom | Sydney Buxton | Postmaster General of the United Kingdom |
United Kingdom | Lord Lorebrun | Lord Chancellor |
United Kingdom | John Burns | President of the Local Government Board |
United Kingdom | John Morley | Secretary of State for India |
United Kingdom | Lord Crewe | Lord President of the Council |
United Kingdom | Winston Churchill | Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies |
Australia | Alfred Deakin | Prime Minister |
Australia | Sir William Lyne | Minister for Trade and Customs |
Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Prime Minister | |
Sir Frederick William Borden | Minister of Militia and Defence | |
Louis-Philippe Brodeur | Minister of Marine and Fisheries | |
Cape Colony | Leander Starr Jameson | Prime Minister |
Cape Colony | Thomas Smartt | Commissioner of Works |
Natal | Frederick Robert Moor | Prime Minister |
Transvaal | Louis Botha | Premier |
Transvaal | Sir Richard Solomon | Agent-General |
Newfoundland Colony | Sir Robert Bond | Prime Minister |
Colony of New Zealand | Sir Joseph Ward | Prime Minister |