Milner, Alfred Milner, Viscount, 1854-1925

Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From December 1916 to November 1918, he was one of the most important members of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's War cabinet. Milner was born in the Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1854 and was educated in Germany and England before attending Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first class in classics. Though he was called to the bar in 1881, Milner instead became a journalist before entering politics as a Liberal before quickly leaving the party in 1886 over his opposition to Irish Home Rule. He joined the staff of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Goschen and was posted to Egypt as under-secretary of finance. He briefly chaired the Board of Inland Revenue until April 1897, when he was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa by Joseph Chamberlain following the disastrous Jameson Raid. As Governor and High Commissioner, Milner was a leading advocate for British subjects of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and his policy precipitated the Second Boer War. During the war, Milner received praise and criticism for his civilian administration in South Africa, including the establishment of concentration camps to intern the Boers. Following the British victory and annexation of the Boer republics, Milner was named their first British governor. Upon his return to England in 1905, he faced censure for the use of corporal punishment against Chinese labourers. He remained a firm advocate for British imperialism for the remainder of his life. Through his influence on young civil servants and imperialists, including Lionel Curtis and Leo Amery, Milner's influence on the British Empire extended through the Second World War. During the First World War, Milner served as a key advisor and cabinet member to Prime Minister David Lloyd George. During the March 1918 collapse of the Western Front, Milner coordinated the consolidation of Allied forces under the commander of Ferdinand Foch, whom he personally selected as Supreme Allied Commander. Foch won the Battle of Amiens, repelling the German advance and turning the tide of the war. Milner was appointed Secretary of State for War for the duration of the conflict, which resulted in an Allied victory and armistice in November 1918. At the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, Milner was a leading delegate and a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles. He served as Secretary of State for the Colonies for the remainder of his public career.