British Imperialism and its Legacies: Models of ships used in Empire Administration and Control
- Comments
-
Glasgow Museums has 31 ship models relating to the control and administration of the British Empire, within the wider ship model collection.
Maritime trade lay at the heart of the British Empire – but once lands had been claimed, conquered, annexed, mandated or ‘protected’, they were subject to civilian administration and military control. Successful exploitation of natural resources required efficient and well-maintained harbours, roads, railways and inland waterways. Providing the technology and management of these gave an additional level of control of colonised territories, and another route to making money from Empire. Little value was placed on the way indigenous cultures used their land, and existing administrative structures were dismantled and replaced.
As well as models of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century naval battleships and cruisers, which were frequently sent to patrol contested waters, Glasgow Museums has three models of troopships, such as Malabar, designed to carry British army troops to and from the Indian sub-continent. There are also models of nine vessels which were requisitioned as troop carriers during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and a model of Sutlej, an anti-aircraft sloop built for the Royal Indian Navy in 1941. There are 18 models of dredgers used to develop and maintain harbours from India and Bengal (Bangladesh) to South Africa and New Zealand, and models of two of the large steamers, like Nepaul, which were used on inland waterways in Burma (Myanmar). There is also a tender, Mercury, used for refuelling the Flying Boats used by Imperial Airways in the 1920s and 1930s.
Models of vessels used for diplomatic purposes also feature in the collection – the battlecruiser Hood was part of the Special Service Squadron on the Empire Cruise of 1923–24, which was planned to celebrate the Empire’s involvement in World War I. As the countries of Empire asserted their independence in the second half of the twentieth century, the royal yacht Britannia was designed to promote the positive aspects of the Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations.
- Broader term