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Territory of Basutoland
British colony
← 1884–1966 →
Flag
Anthem God Save the Queen
Capital	Maseru
Language(s)	English
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Monarch
- 1884-1901	Victoria
- 1952-1966	Elizabeth II
Commissioner
- 1884-1894	Marshal James Clarke
- 1961-1965	Alexander Falconer Giles
History
- Established	1884
- Disestablished	4 October 1966

Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British Crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory. It was divided into seven administrative districts; Berea, Leribe, Maseru, Mohales Hock, Mafeteng, Qacha's Nek and Quthing.

Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the United Kingdom on October 4, 1966.

Population[link]

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (September 2011)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Considering the extensive area of uninhabitable mountain land it contained, the Territory supported a large population. The inhabitants increased from 128,206 in 1875, to 348,848 in 1904. Women outnumbered men by about 20,000, which was, however, about the number of adult men away from the country at any given period. The majority lived in the district between the Maluti mountains and the Caledon river. The great bulk of the people were Basuto, but there were some thousands of Barolong. The white inhabitants in 1904 numbered 895. The seat of government was Maseru, on the left bank of the Caledon, with a population of about 1000 including some 100 Europeans. There were numerous mission stations throughout Basutoland, to several of which Biblical names have been given, such as Shiloh, Hermon, Cana, Bethesda, and Berea.

Districts of Basutoland[link]

• Berea District
• Leribe District
• Maseru District
• Mohales Hock District
• Mafeteng District
• Qacha's Nek District
• Quthing District

List of British Resident Commissioners[link]

• Marshal James Clarke: 18 March 1884 - 18 September 1894
• Godfrey Yeatsman Lagden: 18 September 1894 - 1895
• Sir Herbert Cecil Sloley: 1895
• Godfrey Yeatsman Lagden: 1895 - 1901
• Sir Herbert Cecil Sloley: 1902 - 1913
• James MacGregor: 1913
• Sir Herbert Cecil Sloley: 1913 - 1916
• Robert Thorne Coryndon: 1916 - 1917
• Edward Charles Frederick Garraway: 1917 - Apr 1926
• John Christian Ramsay Sturrock: Apr 1926 - Mar 1935
• Sir Edmund Charles Smith Richards: Mar 1935 - Aug 1942
• Charles Nobel Arden-Clarke: Aug 1942 - Nov 1946
• Aubrey Denzil Forsyth-Thompson: Nov 1946 - 24 October 1951
• Edwin Porter Arrowsmith: 24 October 1951 - Sep 1956
• Alan Geoffrey Tunstal Chaplin: Sep 1956 - 1961
• Alexander Falconer Giles: 1961 - 30 April 1965

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Basutoland.

• The British Empire - Basutoland

George VI
Formal portrait, c. 1940–46
King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions (more...)
Reign	11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952
Coronation	12 May 1937
Predecessor	Edward VIII
Successor	Elizabeth II
Prime Ministers	See list
Emperor of India
Reign	11 December 1936 – 15 August 1947
Predecessor	Edward VIII
Spouse	Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Issue
Elizabeth II Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Full name
Albert Frederick Arthur George
House	House of Windsor
Father	George V
Mother	Mary of Teck
Born	14 December 1895 (1895-12-14) York Cottage, Sandringham House, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Died	6 February 1952 (1952-02-07) (aged 56) Sandringham House, Norfolk
Burial	15 February 1952 St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.

As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.

George's elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII on the death of their father in 1936. However, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry Mrs Simpson and remain king. Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor.

On the day of his accession, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed the monarch from its constitution. Further events during George's reign accelerated the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations. Three years after his accession, the Empire and Commonwealth, except the Irish Free State, was at war with Nazi Germany. In the next two years, war with Italy and Japan followed. Though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, his title of Emperor of India was abandoned in June 1948. Ireland was formally declared a republic in 1949, and India followed suit the following year. George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by health problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.

Birth and family[link]

George VI was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.^[1] His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck.^[2]

His birthday (14 December 1895) was the anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort.^[3] Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her".^[4] Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good".^[5] Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St. Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later.^a As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known formally as "His Highness Prince Albert of York" from birth. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie".^[6] His maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".^[7]

Albert, as he was known, was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather, father and elder brother, Edward.

Early life[link]

Four kings: Edward VII (far right), his son George, Prince of Wales, later George V (far left), and grandsons Edward, later Edward VIII (rear), and Albert, later George VI (foreground), c. 1908.

In 1898, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent that granted the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales the style Royal Highness, and at the age of two, Albert became "His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York".

He often suffered from ill health and was described as "easily frightened and somewhat prone to tears".^[8] His parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were generally removed from their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic families of that era. He had a stammer that lasted for many years, and was forced to write with his right hand although he was naturally left-handed. He suffered from chronic stomach problems as well as knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.^[9]

Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, and the Prince of Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. The Duke of York became next in line to the throne. Prince Edward moved up to second in line, and Prince Albert was third.

Military career and education[link]

From 1909, Albert attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne, as a naval cadet. In 1911, he came bottom of the class in the final examination, but despite this he progressed to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.^[10] When Edward VII died in 1910, Albert's father became King George V. Prince Edward was created Prince of Wales, and Albert was second in line to the throne.^[11]

Prince Albert (left) at an RAF dinner in 1919 with Sir Hugh Trenchard (centre) and Christopher Courtney (right)

Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada.^[12] He was rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913, and spent three months in the Mediterranean. His fellow officers gave him the nickname "Mr. Johnson".^[13] One year after his commission, he began service in World War I. He was mentioned in despatches for his action as a turret officer during the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), an indecisive engagement with the German navy that was the largest naval action of the war. He did not see further combat, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.^[14] In February 1918, he was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell.^[15] With the establishment of the Royal Air Force two months later and the transfer of Cranwell from Navy to Air Force control, he transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force.^[14] He was appointed Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys' Wing at Cranwell and he remained there until August 1918.^[15] He was the first member of the royal family to be certified as a fully qualified pilot.^[16] During the closing weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at its headquarters in Nancy, France.^[17] Following the disbanding of the Independent Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the continent for two months as a staff officer with the Royal Air Force until posted back to Britain.^[18]

In October 1919, Albert went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, economics and civics for a year.^[19] On 4 June 1920, he was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney.^[20] He began to take on more royal duties. He represented his father, and toured coal mines, factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the "Industrial Prince".^[21] His stammer, and his embarrassment over it, together with his tendency to shyness, caused him to appear much less impressive than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and enjoyed playing tennis.^[22] He developed an interest in working conditions, and was President of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.^[23]