Retreat from Empire: Sir Robert Armitage in Africa and Cyprus

ISBN-13: 9781860642234 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 432 str.

UK) Colin Baker (University of Glamorgan

Opis

Glittering success and near tragedy were the nodal points of Sir Robert Armitage's career during the turbulent final years of empire. Few colonial administrators reached the top so well prepared, yet after only nineteen months as Governor of Cyprus he was peremptorily replaced by a military governor, and only narrowly escaped being replaced prematurely as Governor of Nyasaland. The author draws on his unique access to Armitage's diaries, letters and private papers, and on numerous interviews and correspondence with Armitage's colleagues and friends; on the newly-opened Macmillan papers, and on his extensive use of public records. He traces Armitage's outstandingly successful career in Kenya and on to his fateful governorships in Cyprus and Nyasaland. His revisionary conclusions is that Armitage, despite his troubles, should also be remembered for his firm yet sensitive administration which laid the foundations for a swift and peaceful move to independence for Malawi.