The Commonwealth of Nations - A selective chronology

1887: The first Colonial Conference is held. Colonial Conferences are informal and deliberative-only forums for periodic consultation over the non-constitutional issues of defence and trade.

1901: The Australian colonies become a federation (The Commonwealth of Australia) and are granted the status of Dominion. They had achieved responsible government in 1856.

1902: A resolution is passed at the Colonial Conference that conferences will be held on a four-yearly basis.

1907: New Zealand is granted the status of Dominion. It had achieved responsible government in 1852. Newfoundland, which had achieved self-government in 1855, also becomes a Dominion. However, it reverts to direct British rule in 1934 and integrates the federation of Canada in 1949.

Colonial Conferences become Imperial Conferences. The Dominions hold ten Imperial Conferences between 1907 and 1937, in 1907, 1911, 1917, 1918, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1932 and 1937.

1910: The Union of South Africa is formed out of four self-governing colonies (the Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State) and is granted Dominion status.

By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, British colonies of white settlement have all been granted Dominion status, which means that they remain under the jurisdiction of the British Crown. However, this concept is quite a flexible one, as there is no codified constitutional framework that defines precisely what a Dominion is. Owing to its strong link with the British Crown, a Dominion is neither a separate kingdom nor an independent Republic, which is by definition impossible. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George declares in 1921, in a speech on Ireland’s accession to Dominion status, that “in practice it means complete control over their own internal affairs without any interference from any other part of the Empire”((Mioche, Antoine, Les Grandes dates de l’histoire britannique, 2ème éd., Paris, Hachette Supérieur, 2010, p. 200.)).

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa hold this status until 1953, when they become Commonwealth realms and members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Newfoundland is a Dominion from 1907 to 1934. The Irish Free State is a Dominion from 1922 to 1949. Other former British colonies such as India, Pakistan and Ceylon are granted Dominion status after the Second World War (see below, "A Crumbling Empire").

The Dominions have full control over all domestic matters. They have powers to amend their Constitution directly or indirectly and to make laws with little or no interference from either the British government or the British Parliament. They can establish their own tariffs, regulate immigration and control their own defence forces.

On the other hand, foreign affairs, defence and international trade remain the prerogative of the British government. Nevertheless, the Dominions have their say over negotiation and inclusion in commercial treaties and, although they ultimately rely on Great Britain on defence issues, they can decide over the degree and nature of their military contributions.

This unprecedented autonomy is all the more threatening to the cohesion of the British Empire as Britain has to deal with strong aspirations to self-government in South Africa, Ireland and India at the turn of the 20th century. A closer integration of the British Empire emerges for a time as the only solution to keep the British Empire together. However, this idea is definitely abandoned after 1911: the plan for an Imperial Parliament, composed of two chambers whose representatives are drawn from the white populations of the Dominions, and the plan for a quasi-federal reform of the United Kingdom, which was supported by New Zealand Premier Joseph Ward, are both dismissed by Britain and the other Dominions.

August 4th, 1914: Britain declares war to Germany on behalf of the British Empire.

April 25th 1915 – January 9th, 1916: Australian and New Zealand troops, known as ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. (See The 1915 Gallipoli Campaign: the significance of a disastrous military campaign in the forging of two nations)

1917 and 1918: Imperial War Conferences. The term “Commonwealth” is used officially for the first time.

At the 1917 Imperial War Conference, Jan Smut, South Africa's Defence Minister states: “I think that, although in practice there is great freedom, yet in actual theory the status of Dominions is of a subject character. Whatever we may say, and whatever we may think, we are subject Provinces of Great Britain”((Ibid., p. 194.)).

A resolution recognises the necessity of rearranging the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire once the war is over. This readjustment should be “based upon a full recognition of the Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth” and should give the Dominions and India “a right to an adequate voice in foreign policy and in foreign relations”.

June 1919: Each Dominion is a separate signatory of the peace Treaty of Versailles. The Dominions join the newly formed League of Nations as independent states equal to Britain. 

The First World War is undoubtedly a defining moment in the evolution of the Commonwealth as the Dominions’ involvement and their sacrifice question the status and the contribution of each Dominion in foreign/ imperial policy-making. The Dominions, where imperial issues have become a matter of domestic politics, especially when dealing with rising colonial nationalism, demand more cohesion as well as a say in the definition and management of imperial policy-making.

1922: Ireland is partitioned and the Irish Free State is granted Dominion status, thus remaining a component of the Empire until it becomes the Republic of Ireland in 1949.

1923: The existence of the Dominions’ separate foreign policies is acknowledged by the Imperial Conference.

1926: The Imperial Conference adopts the report of the Inter-Imperial Relation Committee or Balfour Report. The report brings forward a dramatically new imperial order by stating that “[e]quality of status, so far as Britain and the Dominions are concerned, is thus the root principle governing our Inter-Imperial Relations”. The overall objective of the Balfour Report is to maintain the colonial connections by granting the Dominions as much autonomy as it is compatible with the unity of the Empire.

Picture 2: King George V with his Prime Ministers at the 1926 Imperial Conférence

1949 marks the beginning of the modern Commonwealth. In order to accommodate India’s wish to remain in the association in spite of being a Republic, leaders agree in the the London Declaration of April, 26th, 1949 that membership does not have to be based on allegiance to the British Crown. The British monarch is nevertheless accepted as the symbol of the free association of the independent member nations and as such is the head of the Commonwealth. India is the first country to enter into such an arrangement, and is later joined by most of the other Commonwealth nations. In the London Declaration, leaders agree that Commonwealth members are “free and equal members of the Commonwealth of Nations, freely co-operating in the pursuit of peace, liberty and progress”. The London Declaration of 1949 ends the “British Commonwealth of Nations” and gives birth to the “Commonwealth of Nations”.

1953: After Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2nd, the Dominions become Commonwealth realms. Today, a Commonwealth realm is one of the 16 sovereign states (including the United Kingdom) that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations and acknowledge Queen Elizabeth II as the reigning constitutional monarch. They have in common the same royal line of succession, meaning that they are in a voluntary connection with the British monarchy.

Picture 4:  The Queen waves from the palace balcony after her coronation

The phrases Commonwealth realm and Head of the Commonwealth become established, deriving from the words that declared the monarch as “of this Realm, and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth”. Previously, the term realm in its singular form was understood to refer to the entire British Empire, rather than a “separate kingdom” under a shared crown. From then on, the Queen belongs equally to all her realms and to the Commonwealth as a whole.

The principle of complete separation and equality is followed in all future declarations of independence. The London Declaration makes it possible for the Asian and African states of the former Empire that wished to become Republics to remain within the Commonwealth upon attaining independence. Some countries choose to become realms for some time before eventually becoming Republics within the Commonwealth, whether they do so by referendum or not.

The monarch holds the highest position in each Commonwealth realm and may perform such functions as issuing executive orders, commanding the military forces, and creating and administering laws. However, each country now operates under the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy and the concept of responsible government, meaning that the monarch exercises her powers based solely on the advice of her Crown ministers, who are usually drawn from, and thus responsible to, the elected chamber of the relevant Parliament.

1961: The Union of South Africa becomes a Republic and withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations after member states lobby against its apartheid policies. It rejoins the Commonwealth in 1994, following the end of apartheid.

1971: The Commonwealth Heads of Government issue the Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles at their first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore.

The Commonwealth of Nations is nowadays a free association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states, which are currently home to 2.2 billion citizens, 60% of whom are under 30. It includes the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and South Africa and former British dependencies (although not all of them) which have chosen to maintain ties of friendship and practical cooperation and which acknowledge the British monarch as symbolic head of their association.