Milner's Kindergarten

The Kindergarten started off with 12 men, most of whom were Oxford graduates and English civil servants, who made the trip to South Africa in 1901 to help Lord Milner rebuild the war torn economy.

Milner blamed this on the conservative, isolationist policies of Boer President Paul Kruger in the Transvaal and Orange Republics.

Paul Kruger left South Africa for good, leaving the leadership of the Boers in the hands of trustworthy subordinates Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

For their part, the British sought to replace Lord Rosmead, its high commissioner, who was complicit in the raid, and to soften his tough negotiating hand.

[5] After six months of searching, and with the approval of Prime Minister Salisbury, Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain chose Sir Alfred Milner.

The necessity to delegate responsibility into trustworthy hands prompted him to gather together a group of young men from Oxford University and the Colonial Office.

[citation needed] The following personnel arrived before the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902: The first person to be hired by Lord Milner was Peter Perry.

[14] A graduate of Oxford and an employee of the Colonial Office, he was sent to South Africa in 1900 to replace George Fiddes, Lord Milner's retiring personal secretary.

In 1903, he resigned and joined private industry to head up recruitment and working conditions of African labour on the Rand (greater Johannesburg).

[18] Duncan, an Oxford Civil Servant who worked at Inland Revenue, was invited by Lord Milner to South Africa in 1901 to become Treasurer of the Transvaal.

Hugh Wyndham, an Oxford graduate who travelled to South Africa for health reasons, secured a private secretariat position with Lord Milner.

[32] It is a fast aging and dwindling band now; but it has played a part in the Union of South Africa colonies, and it is responsible for the foundation and conduct of The Round Table.

In fact, Winston Churchill was appointed Under Secretary of State for the Colonies for the purpose of returning South Africa to the Boers.

Some, but not all of the reforms instituted by the Kindergarten were overturned, and both Louis Botha and Jan Smuts rose as leaders in the new South Africa.

However, the country remained loyal to the Crown, and both men played important roles for Great Britain during the First World War.

The 5% tax levied by the Boers on the gold industry was increased to 10%, and in return, the new South African State received £9.5 billion in grants to rebuild.

[39][40] Although the Kindergarten's desire for an American-style federal republic for the four South African colonies was defeated in favor of a unitary government (all power at the top) in 1909, the Kindergarten continued to apply federalist principals in the Round Table Journal, in the belief that a federalist form of government was better than that existing in Great Britain.

[41] With experience under their belt, with Lord Milner as their guide, and back in their home country, they renamed their group the Round Table.

Despite their affiliation with South Africa and colonialism, which was a polarizing matter in much of England, "the group scorned any connection with political parties".

With the generation of imperial leadership that Lord Milner identified with (Balfour, Chamberlain, Salisbury & Goschen) sidelined, he found himself on extended furlough.

Ultimately, one magazine was published, called The Round Table, a Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Empire, with most of the funding coming from South African mining magnate Abe Bailey, and the rest from the Rhodes Family Trust.