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Title: | Captain Henry Birch-Reynadrson, Official Secretary to the Governor-General of South Africa, 1927-1933: A British Official on an 'Independent' Dominion |
Author: | Lambert, John![]() |
Year: | 2002 |
Periodical: | South African Historical Journal |
Issue: | 46 |
Period: | May |
Pages: | 83-105 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | colonial administrators history 1920-1929 1930-1939 diaries (form) colonialism History and Exploration Politics and Government |
About person: | Henry Birch-Reynardson ( - 1972) |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02582470208671420 |
Abstract: | Considerable attention has been paid by historians to the development of the constitutional position of the Union of South Africa following the recognition in the 1926 Balfour Declaration of the autonomy of the British Dominions. No studies have been made, however, on the way in which these changes affected the position of the Governor-General and his relations with successive Union governments. Nor has attention been drawn to the anomaly of a situation where, despite the recognition of South Africa's autonomy, until 1937, the Governor-General's Official Secretary continued to be appointed from Britain and remained outside the control of the Union government. The historian can, however, catch a glimpse of the duties and way of thinking of at least one Secretary. Captain Henry Birch-Reynardson was Official Secretary in South Africa from 1927 to 1933 and during that time he kept political diaries in which he recorded his duties, thoughts and conversations. These diaries are an invaluable source not only on the position of the Governor-General but also of political comment for the period. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |