In the age of Britain’s great dominance as a world power, many English people chose to live or travel abroad. Tom Hiney, Glyn Williams, and Katie Hickman each have written about the subject. Each author explains what connection these people had with imperialism, as well as their beliefs in it. The authors also give explanations of why persons from Britain chose to live among people who were so different from themselves at times, motivations for doing so, as well as problems and resolutions for them. The experiences of these people differed from one to the other, though in many ways their mindsets were similar. The authors show that in their own respective eras as well as a long term sense, the situations of English people abroad changed.

Tom Hiney accomplishes a worthy recount of the evangelical Christians who spread the gospel to the world in his book, On the Missionary Trail. In 1821, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the London Missionary Society chose Congregationalist minister Daniel Tyerman and philanthropist George Bennet to travel the globe visiting and reporting on distant missions. Along the way, fierce storms, savage pirates, and wild animals, as well as consultations with prominent kings and ordinary countrymen, were only a few of the high points of the journey.

The book begins with some background information of early missionaries sent by Pope Gregory, and their unsuccessful journey. Hiney soon begins his exploration of the history of the London Missionary Society, first considered “a laughable enterprise by the establishment and the press” (Hiney, p. 4). The Society was having difficulties supervising its missionaries around the world, which is why they sent Bennet and Tyerman to visit the missions. They were to help the missionaries acquaint themselves with the missions, and “if possible, carry into effect such plans as shall appear to be requisite for the furtherance of the gospel” (Hiney, p. 39).

They first went to the South Sea Islands, where they saw constant fighting and Christian beliefs dependent upon the notion of the particular chief. Then in New Zealand they were nearly killed by a native with bad memories of the last white intruders. China is where most of the excitement of the journey was. They attended a luxurious wedding of a daughter of a wealthy Chinese trader, which Hiney describes in great detail. There, they also witnessed a human sacrifice and suttee, and in Tahiti, they observed the first Christian royal ceremony. Their last stop was in Madagascar, where Tyerman died and Bennet escaped the plagued mission house during tribal war. He left the country and returned home in 1829.

Neither Tyerman nor Bennet believed that they were imperialists, though modern belief is that there is a thin line between providing people with Western ideas to resist the intentions and ideals of nineteenth century imperialism and preparing natives for submissive participation in their projects. West Indian planters and Boer settlers constantly resisted attempts to evangelize, in some cases burning down mission schools and terrorizing preachers. Hiney points out the early missionaries were only incidentally imperialist, as morality brought them into conflict with their authorities.

Because of the missionaries’ faith in improving the world, their motivation continued through what seemed to be constant abhorrence. Such problems as fierce weather, hostile native peoples, as well as fellow countrymen who feared the Christians getting in the way of their capitalist interests, only slowed down their progress. Hiney includes that, except for India, all the countries the missionaries visited in those early years now are successful Christian communities.

In the book Prize of All Oceans, Glyn Williams observes Commodore George Anson’s dramatic secret voyage of 1740. Williams gives a very exciting, chronologic narration of the four-year maritime anguish and monetary accomplishment. This book is filled with detailed information about every confrontation of Anson’s and is at times slow. However, the exhilaration of the journey keeps one’s attention until the end.

Williams begins the narrative in London in the summer of 1739. The city was anticipating war with Spain, and the author quickly recaps the anti-Spanish feelings as well as the “exaggerated reports of Spanish atrocities against British trading vessels” (Williams, p. 1). Anson was sent on an undisclosed mission to capture Spain’s legendary treasure galleon from South America. The majority of the book is of this voyage, from preliminary planning, to the many hardships and disasters, to finally the success of the mission, though the total cost was high. The men were highly motivated not only by loyalty to their country, but also the idea of the great reward of treasure. Only the flagship, Centurion, out of six completed the voyage, and 1,400 of the 1,900 men who left England never came back, due to shipwreck, starvation, and disease.

Williams does not go into much detail of the war with Spain or background information, yet one can assume the war is what made those who knew of the mission approve of the British action of imperialism. Williams does note that the expedition “was bent on war, not exploration,” and includes a detailed depiction not only to the raid on Paita and the galleon battle, but also of the Spanish attempt to stop Anson’s progress (Williams, p. 223). His advance was only slightly slowed by the Spanish; it was weather and disease that significantly beset his progress.

The voyage was not the only problem dealt with by Anson. Williams explains that when he returned, he had an unpleasant legal matter of allocating the treasure.

Anson and his officers were rewarded amply, but should have received more. The author ends the book with other judicial information and another journey proposed by Anson, but was not accepted by British ministers of state.

Katie Hickman’s book, Daughters of Britannia, is quite different than the former two books. It is an account of several centuries of British diplomacy and imperialism viewed through the lives of diplomatic wives, sisters, and daughters. This is an interesting social history of the female side of diplomatic life of travel and abroad. The author observes the experiences of individual women, such as Veronica Atkinson, Harriet Granville, and Isabel Burton to list a few. Atkinson’s family was caught up in the Romanian Revolution of 1989, and Granville found herself devoting most of her time to diplomatic ceremonies because her husband was sent to Paris. As with most of the women, they display the reality behind the glamour.

The book begins with the sister to the British consul to Kashgar, Ella Sykes, traveling to an assignment in Chinese Turkistan in 1915. The author gives some background information of how Sykes and her family came to be there and uses her as an example of how rough and unpleasant the lives of these women could be. However, Hickman also points out the joys and wonders of living among alien peoples. She traces the progress of diplomacy throughout the book from its beginning in the Renaissance to modern times. Along the way, she recounts the interesting and resolute lives of the women.

Hickman explains that these women have long been known for their madness.

The ambassadress to New Zealand, Lady Cumming Bruce, often would arrive at receptions wearing her bedroom slippers. While in Kashgar, Sykes climbed the 12,000 foot Terek Dawan pass wearing a “pith helmet swathed in a gauze veil and…a pair of blue, glass goggles,” (Hickman p. 2). Lady Elgin once dressed in men’s clothing to attend her husband’s meeting with the Sultan.

One can assume that much of this madness was reactions to the demands of diplomatic, imperialistic life. Traveling between postings in Persia, Elizabeth McNeil lost three children. Miss Tully lived through the bubonic plague of the eighteenth century by spending thirteen months quarantined inside the Tripoli consulate. Others encountered numerous problems with servants, raising children, and security.

Many women were able to adjust to the lifestyle, though others were destined to live distressed lives. Those who found a way to cope had to learn difficult and often secret codes of behavior. Victoria Sackville, for instance, learned to use the complex system of calling cards. Some embassy wives, who were suffering by being forced to entertain frequently, coped with sedatives, while others, such as Mary Sheil, simply learned to enjoy the luxury.

Each of these books has its own respective chronicles which differs from one another in various ways, yet quite similar in others. The missionaries differ from the sailors in that they are solely two Christians not intending to imperialize the world, whereas the mariners plan on warfare for capitalistic gain. The diplomats are quite dissimilar in that they merely strive to be glamorous, while poised by the realities of diplomatic life behind the scenes. The situations and mindsets of these people are mostly the same in regards to motivations and what has been accomplished. The missionaries achieved great success through their travels of spreading the gospel, though a modern viewpoint would be more inclined to see it as a negative feat. The sailors obviously accomplished their ultimate goal of the treasure; however, a modern perspective would also be judgmental on that success. Finally, most of the diplomatic women accomplished their particular goal as well.

All three of the books are very enjoyable and informative. While there are major differences in each of the accounts, there are similarities in achievements and imperialism. The authors do an excellent job of giving specific details such as those of Anton’s great battle of the galleon or the Chinese reluctance in the Canton River. The situations of the English changed, and the authors do a thorough job of presenting examples of them, as well as several specifics explaining the challenges that were faced in doing so.

Hiney, Tom. On the Missionary Trail. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000. Williams, Glyn. Prize of All Oceans. Viking Books, 2000.

Hickman, Katie. Daughters of Britannia. Perennial, 2002.