High Commissioner of South Africa in 1897. See pages 338-339.
10. Rhodes's reason for eliminating him (given in the January 1901 codicil to his will)
was"on account of the extraordinary eccentricity of Mr. Stead, though having always a
great respect for him, but feeling the objects of my Will would be embarrassed by his
views." Milner's reasons (given in the "Stead Memorial" number of The Review of
Reviews, May 1912) were his "lack of balance," which was "his Achilles heel.' See also
the letter of 12 April 1902 from Edmund Garrett to Stead, quoted below, from F. Whyte,
The Life of W. T. Stead (2 vols., Boston, 1925), 211.
11. The quotation is from the sketch of Lord Esher in the Dictionary of National
Biography. The other quotations from Brett are from The Journals and Letters of
Reginald, Viscount Esher (4 vols., London, 1934-1938).
12. E. T. Cook, Edmund Garrett (London, 1909), 158. The excision in this letter
marked by three points (. . .) was made by Cook. Cook was a protege of Milner's, found
in New College, invited to contribute to the Pall Mall Gazette in 1881, and added to the
staff as an editor in August 1883, when Milner was acting as editor-in-chief, during the
absence of Morley and Stead. See F. Whyte, The Life of W. T. Stead (2 vols., Boston,
1925), I, 94. Cook remained close to Milner for many years. On 4 October 1899 Lord
Esher wrote to his son a letter in which he said: "Cook is the Editor of the Daily News
and is in close touch with Milner and his friends"— Journals and Letters of Reginald,
Viscount Esher (4 vols., London, 1938), I, 240.
13. F. Whyte, Life of W. T. Stead (2 vols., Boston, 1925), 211. The quotation in the
next paragraph is from the same place.
14. As an example of this and an example of the way in which the secret society
functioned in the early period, see the following passage from the Journals and Letters of
Reginald, Viscount Esher (4 vols., London, 1938), under the date 21 November 1892: "I
went to London on Friday and called on Rhodes. He had asked me to do so.... Rhodes
asked for the Government carriage of his telegraph poles and 200 Sikhs at Blantyre. Then
he will make the telegraph. He would like a gunboat on Tanganyika. I stayed there to
lunch. Then saw Rosebery. He was in good spirits." From Sir Harry Johnston's
autobiography, it is clear that the 200 Sikhs were for him.
15. S. G. Millen, Rhodes (London, 1934), 341-342.
16. In the House of Commons, Maguire was a supporter of Parnell, acting on orders
from Rhodes, who had given £10,000 to Parnell's cause in 1888. Rhodes's own
explanation of why he supported Parnell is a typical Milner Group statement. He said that
he gave the money "since in Mr. Parnell's cause.... I believe he's the key to the Federal
System, on the basis of perfect Home Rule in every part of the Empire." This quotation is
from S. G. Millin, Rhodes (London, 1934), 112, and is based on W. T. Stead, The Last
Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes (London, 1902).
17. The first quotation is from Edmund Garrett, "Milner and Rhodes," in The Empire
and the Century (London, 1905), 478. According to The Times obituary of Milner, 14
May 1925, Rhodes repeated these sentiments in different words on his deathbed, 26
March 1902. The statement to Stead will be found in W. T. Stead, The Last Will and
Testament of Cecil John Rhodes (London, 1902), 108.
18. See Cecil Headlam, ed., The Milner Papers, 1897-1905 (2 vols., London, 1931-
1933),11,412-413; the unpublished material is at New College, Oxford, in Milner Papers,
XXXVIII, ii, 200.
Chapter 4
1. The obituary of Patrick Duncan in The Round Table (September 1943), XXXIII,
303-305, reads in part: "Duncan became the doyen of the band of brothers, Milner's
young men, who were nicknamed . . . The Kindergarten,' then in the first flush of
youthful enthusiasm. It is a fast ageing and dwindling band now; but it has played a part
in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and
conduct of The Round Table. For forty years and more, so far as the vicissitudes of life
have allowed, it has kept together; and always, while looking up to Lord Milner and to
his successor in South Africa, the late Lord Selborne, as its political Chief, has revered
Patrick Duncan as the Captain of the band." According to R. H. Brand, ed., The Letters of
John Dove (London, 1938), Duncan was coming to England to the meetings of the Group
as late was 1932.
2. The above list of eighteen names does not contain all the members of the
Kindergarten. A complete list would include: (1) Harry Wilson (Sir Harry after 1908),
who was a "Seeley lecturer" with Parkin in the 1890s; was chief private secretary to
Joseph Chamberlain in 1895-1897; was legal adviser to the Colonial Office and to Milner
in 1897-1901; was Secretary and Colonial Secretary to the Orange River Colony in 1901-
1907; was a member of the Intercolonial Council and of the Railway Committee in 1903-
1907. (2) E. B. Sargant, who organized the school system of South Africa for Milner in
1900-1904 and was Director of Education for both the Transvaal and the Orange River
Colony in 1902-1904; he wrote a chapter for The Empire and the Century in 1905. (3)
Gerard Craig Sellar, who died in 1929, and on whom no information is available. There
was a Craig-Sellar Fellowship in his honor at Balliol in 1946. (4) Oscar Ferris Watkins, a
Bible Clerk at All Souls at the end of the nineteenth century, received a M.A. from this
college in 1910; he was in the South African Constabulary in 1902-1904, was in the
Transvaal Civil Service in 1904-1907; was in the East African Protectorate Service and
the E.A. Civil Service from 1908, being a District Commissioner in 1914, Acting Chief
Native Commissioner in 1920-1927, a member of the Legislative Council in 1920-1922,
Deputy Chief Native Commissioner of Kenya in 1921-1927; he was Director of Military
Labour under Smuts in German East Africa in 1914-1918. (5) Percy Girouard (later Sir
Percy) was chairman of the Egyptian Railway Board in 1898-1899; was Director of
Railways in the Boer War in 1899-1902; was Commissioner of Railways and Head of the
Central South African Railways in 1902-1904; was High Commissioner of Northern
Nigeria in 1907-1908 and Governor in 1908-1909; was Governor of the East African
Protectorate in 1909-1912; was director of Armstrong, Whitworth and Company in 1912-
1915; and was Director General of Munitions Supply in 1914-1915. He was fired by
Lloyd George for inefficiency in 1915.
3. Douglas Malcolm's sister in 1907 married Neill Malcolm (since 1919 Major
General Sir Neill Malcolm), who was a regular army officer from 1889 to his retirement
in 1924. He was on the British Military Mission to Berlin in 1919-1921; Commanding
General in Malaya, 1921-1924; a founder of the RIIA, of which he was chairman from
1926 (succeeding Lord Meston) to 1935 (succeeded by Lord Astor). He was High