was federated used by the Milner Group. He wrote the biography of Joseph Chamberlain
in the
was written by Reginald Coupland. He remained a Fellow of All Souls and a member of
the Milner Group until his death in 1927, although he yielded his academic post to
Reginald Coupland in 1920. Coupland, who was a member of the Milner Group from his
undergraduate days at New College (1903-1907), and who became one of the inner circle
of the Milner Group as early as 1914, will be discussed later. He has been, since 1917,
one of the most important persons in Britain in the formation of British imperial policy.
The Beit Railway Trust and the Beit chairs at Oxford have been controlled by the
Milner Group from the beginning, through the board of trustees of the former and
through the board of electors of the latter. Both of these have interlocking membership
with the Rhodes Trust and the College of All Souls. For example, the board of electors of
the Beit chair in 1910 consisted of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, the Regius Professor
of Modern History, the Chichele Professor of Modern History, the Secretary of State for
Colonies, Viscount Milner, H. A. L. Fisher, and Leopold Amery. By controlling All
Souls and the two professorships (both ex-officio fellowships of All Souls), the Milner
Group could control five out of seven electors to the Beit professorship. In recent years
the board of electors has consistently had a majority of members of All Souls and/or the
Milner Group. In 1940, for example, the board had, besides three ax-officio members,
two members of All Souls, a Rhodes Trustee, and H. A. L. Fisher.
The Beit Lectureship in Colonial History was similarly controlled. In 1910 its board of
electors had seven members, four ax-officio (The Vice-Chancellor, the Regius Professor
of History, the Chichele Professor of History, the Beit Professor) and three others (A. L.
Smith, H, A. L. Fisher, and Leopold Amery). In 1930 the board consisted of the Vice-
Chancellor, the Beit Professor, H. A. L. Fisher, F. M. Powicke, and three fellows of All
Souls. As a result, the lectureship has generally been held by persons close to the Milner
Group, as can be seen from the following list of incumbents:
W. L. Grant, 1906-1910
J. Munro, 1910-1912
L. Curtis, 1912-1913
R. Coupland, 1913-1918
E. M. Wrong, 1919-1924
K. N. Bell, 1924-1927
W. P. Morrell, 1927-1930
V. T. Harlow, 1930-1935
K. C. Wheare, 1935-1940
Without attempting to identify all of these completely, it should be pointed out that
four were Fellows of All Souls, while, of the others, one was the son-in-law of George
Parkin, another was the son-in-law of A. L. Smith, and a third was librarian of Rhodes
House and later acting editor of
During this period after 1905, the Milner Group was steadily strengthening its
relationships with New College, All Souls, and to some extent with Balliol. Through
Fisher and Milner there came into the Group two tutors and a scholar of New College.
These were Alfred Zimmern, Robert S. Rait (1874-1936), and Reginald Coupland.
Alfred Zimmern (Sir Alfred since 1936) was an undergraduate at New College with
Kerr, Grigg, Brand, Curtis, Malcolm, and Waldorf Astor (later Lord Astor) in 1898-1902.
As lecturer, fellow, and tutor there in the period 1903-1909, he taught a number of future
members of the Milner Group, of whom the chief was Reginald Coupland. His teaching
and his book
the inner circle of the Milner Group, as can be seen, for example, in the writings of
Lionel Curtis. In the period up to 1921 he was close to this inner core and in fact can be
considered as a member of it. After 1921 he disagreed with the policy of the inner core
toward the League of Nations and Germany, since the core wanted to weaken the
one and strengthen the other, an opinion exactly opposite to that of Zimmern. He
remained, however, a member of the Group and was, indeed, its most able member and
one of its most courageous members. Since his activities will be mentioned frequently in
the course of this study, we need do no more than point out his various positions here. He
was a staff inspector of the Board of Education in 1912-1915; the chief assistant to Lord
Robert Cecil in the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office in 1918-1919;
Wilson Professor of International Politics at University College of Wales, Abersytwyth,
in 1919-1921; Professor of Political Science at Cornell in 1922-1923; deputy director and
chief administrator of the League of Nations Institute of Intellectual Cooperation in 1926-
1930; Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford in 1930-1944;