The Devonshire Declaration: The Myth of Missionary Intervention

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Periodical article

Title:	The Devonshire Declaration: The Myth of Missionary Intervention
Author:	Maxon, Robert M.
Year:	1991
Periodical:	History in Africa
Volume:	18
Pages:	259-270
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Kenya Great Britain
Subjects:	missions colonialism History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172065
Abstract:	It has long been accepted that the Devonshire Declaration of 1923 represented a clever compromise by which the British government was able to extricate itself from a longstanding controversy surrounding Indian claims for equality with European settlers in Kenya through a statement that African interests were to be paramount in that colony. This article shows that the widely stated view that the doctrine of African paramountcy and other specific details included in the declaration were provided to the Colonial Office by British missionary and church officials, specifically J.H. Oldham, secretary of the International Missionary Council, and Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is a myth. What the Colonial Office got from the missionary leader was the vital support they needed to sell the policy to influential public opinion in both Britain and India. The myth of missionary intervention is shown to be the result of reliance on only one available source - Oldham's correspondence, neglecting the relevant Colonial Office documents. Notes, ref.