Seminar: Newfoundland, North America and the British Empire, 1900-1914

James K. Hiller (Emeritus; Memorial University of Newfoundland) - Newfoundland is often overlooked in studies of international and imperial relations in the early 20th century, or treated as a marginal player. During the premiership of Sir Robert Bond (1900-1909), however, the colony raised some important issues of principle concerning the treaty rights of French and United States fishermen in Newfoundland waters, and the relationship between a colony with responsible government and the British authorities. These disputes, especially that with the United States, necessarily involved Canada as well.

This seminar presentation surveys these issues from a Newfoundland perspective and examines the tense relationship that developed between the Bond government and the Colonial Office in London. It was a clash between colonial nationalism on the one hand and imperial priorities and policies on the other. Both disputes were eventually resolved by negotiation (France) and arbitration (United States), and helped define the colony’s future and its relationship with its neighbours and with Britain.

James Hiller was educated in England, gaining a BA in History at Oxford and a PhD at Cambridge as well as an MA at Memorial University in St John’s, Newfoundland. He then joined the History Department at Memorial University where he remained until his retirement. He is now a Professor Emeritus at Memorial. Though he taught in various areas, his research focused on the history of both Labrador and Newfoundland. The author and editor of a large number of books and articles, he has looked especially at the Moravian Mission in Labrador and other aspects of that territory’s history, as well as aspects of the history of Newfoundland in during the period that it possessed responsible government (1855-1934). He has also studied the move towards confederation with Canada in the late 1940s. His current work examines the premiership of Sir Robert Bond, 1900-1909, when the then quasi-independent Colony of Newfoundland was at its most assertive.