Sir William Reid, F. R. S., 1791-1858: governor of Bermuda, Barbados and Malta

Abstract

In The Tools of Empire Daniel Headrick drew attention to the important theme of technology and empire (1). Rather than concentrating on the motives for imperial expansion, Headrick focused on the technologies that allowed Europeans to spread so extensively over the globe in the late 19th century. Technological developments— the tools o f empire— such as the steamer, quinine, the breechloader and the cable, enabled impressive territorial expansion. The link between the Industrial Revolution and the New Imperialism was clearly indicated by Headrick. Technology was power. Technological development made possible imperial development. Conversely, the network of empire allowed technology to expand. The opportunity for the diffusion of ideas and technologies through space and time was enhanced because of imperialism. The empire allowed for the flow of information from one setting to another. This point is illustrated by reference to the exchange and diffusion of botanical plants. W. H. G. Armytage suggested that botanic gardens were the seedbeds of science, and that Kew Gardens was envisaged as a ‘great plant exchange, advisory centre and spearhead of botanical exploration’ for the British Empire (2). More recently Lucille Brockway has explored this theme, viewing Kew as a coordinating agency for the exploitation of the botanical resources of the empire (3). But the diffusion of information involved more than plants and occurred across a wide spectrum of science and technology. There was certainly a complex interrelationship between imperial expansion and scientific developments. In recent articles Robert Stafford and James Secord have discussed the imperial theme in the development of 19th-century British geology (4). Just as there is a relation today between technological development and space exploration, in the 19th century there was a complicated interaction between technology and imperial expansion. Developments in one area impinged on the other.