Little Englander

"Little Englander" is an epithet applied in criticisms of British nationalists, English nationalists, or English people who are regarded as xenophobic and/or overly nationalistic and are often accused of being "ignorant" and "boorish". It is sometimes applied to opponents of globalism, multilateralism and internationalism, such as those who are against membership in the European Union. Originally it applied to a wing of the Liberal Party opposed to expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century, who wanted "England" to extend no farther than the borders of the United Kingdom. In the late 18th and 19th Centuries the term was used for those Englishmen who looked upon the colonies of the British Empire as economically burdensome and wished the granting of self-government as quickly as possible,[1]

History

The "Little England" movement originated among manufacturers in Manchester and found support among journalists such as Goldwin Smith. The movement objected to the protectionist stance of Canada exemplified by the tariff increase of 1859. The manufacturers resented paying taxes to defend a colony that took few British goods when Canada ( the post 1867 provinces of Ontario and Quebec) could be absorbed by the United States, which was an independent country and Britain's best customer outside Europe. Canada had some importance as a supplier of wheat and timber to Britain, but its climate meant that it could never supply Manchester's mills with cotton.

There was also a social element to the movement. The Manchester School resented the Empire for providing sinecures for the sons of the aristocracy when the same money could be used for tax breaks to industrialists at home.[2]

The Little England stance was adopted by a wing of the Liberal Party typified by William Gladstone (1809–1898), who opposed many of Britain's military adventures in the late 19th century. It is particularly associated with opposition to the Second Boer War (1899–1902). For example, Arthur Ponsonby wrote of the Liberal leader Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's opposition to the Boer War: "The impression one got of him from the Press in those days was… that he was an unpatriotic Little Englander".[3]

In the wake of the June 23, 2016 EU referendum, where the voters of England voted to withdraw from the EU, British PM David Cameron coined the term "Little England" as what Great Britain would be reduced to, due to London, Scotland and Northern Ireland being mainly pro-EU, and Scotland threatening another referendum for Scottish independence, as well as calls for a United Ireland and London independence.

In literature

The term "little England" predates its political usage; the expression "this little England" was used in the Gunpowder Day sermon of the English Puritan preacher Thomas Hooker (5 November 1626).[4] It is also used in Shakespeare's play Henry VIII (1601), when the Old Lady tells Anne Boleyn: "In faith, for little England / You'd venture an emballing: / I myself would for Carnarvonshire."

See also

References

  1. ↑ p. 676 Ashman, Patricia Little Englanders in Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, Volume 2 edited by James Stuart Olson and Robert Shadle Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996
  2. ↑ Smith, Andrew (2008). British Businessmen and Canadian Confederation: Constitution Making in an Era of Anglo-Globalization. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. pp. 24–27. ISBN 9780773575004.
  3. ↑ F. W. Hirst, In The Golden Days (London: Frederick Muller, 1947), p. 253.
  4. ↑ p.62 of The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology, edited by Alan Heimert and Andrew Delbanco. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985. 438 pages.
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