Quotes
"It is safe to assert that the Fellow of All Souls is a man marked out for a position of authority in public life, and there is no surprise if he reaches the summit of power, but only disappointment if he falls short of the opportunities that are set out before him." A.L Johnson Biography Of Viscount Halifax Page 54
"We also discussed together various projects for propaganda, the formation of libraries, the creation of lectureships, the dispatch of emissaries on missions of propagandism throughout the Empire, and the steps to be taken to pave the way for the foundation and the acquisition of a newspaper which was to be devoted to the service of the cause." The Last Will and Testament Of Cecil Rhodes Page 104
"That is the curse which will be fatal to our ideas insubordination. Do not you think it is very disobedient of you ? How can our Society be worked if each one sets himself up as the sole judge of what ought to be done? Just look at the position here. We three are in South Africa, all of us your boys I myself, Milner and Garrett, all of whom learned their politics from you. We are on the spot, and we are unanimous in declaring this war to be necessary. You have never been in South Africa, and yet instead of deferring to the judgment of your own boys, you fling yourself into a violent opposition to the war." The Last Will and Testament Of Cecil Rhodes Page 109
"He is full of a far more gorgeous idea in connection with the paper than even I have had. I cannot tell you his scheme, because it is too secret. But it involves millions. . . . He expects to own, before he dies, four or five millions, all of which he will leave to carry out the scheme of which the paper Is an integral part. . . . His ideas are federation, expansion, and consolidation of the Empire." The Last Will and Testament Of Cecil Rhodes, W.T Stead Writing to his wife immediately after leaving Rhodes, 1889.
"On leaving me he said, “wish we could get our secret society" Journals and Letters of Reginald Viscount Esher By Chapman and Hall London Page 197 talking about Cecil Rhodes
"But it is essential to remember that this final Will is consistent with those which had preceded it, that it was no late atonement for errors, as some have supposed, but was the realization of lifelong dreams persistently pursued." The Rhodes Scholarships by George Parkin Page 85. (He also devoted pages to discussing his wills but mentions at no time the secret society, if it did not exist he would of mentioned his previous statements and his change of mind)
"He took to me. Told me some things he has told to no other man - save Lord Rothschild - and pressed me to take the £20,000, not to have any return, to give no receipt, to simply take it and use it to give me a freer hand on the P.M.G." The life of W.T Stead by Frederick Whyte Page 271
"You must keep my confidence secret,’ he warns Stead. ‘The idea is right, but, until sure of the lines, would be ruined in too many hands. Your subsidiary press idea can be discussed without risk, but the inner circle behind would never be many, perhaps three or four." The life of W.T Stead by Frederick Whyte Page 272
"His personality was so impressive that he founded a school of able young men who during his lifetime and since have acknowledged him as their principal political teacher… He was an Expansionist, up to a point a Protectionist, with a strain in social and industrial matters of semi-Socialist sentiment." Herbert Henry Asquith memories and reflections, talking about Lord Alfred Milner Page 182
Members and Associates
Lord Milner (1854-1925)
Nathan Rothchild, Baron 1840-1915)
Lionel George Curtis CH (1872–1955)
Lord Esher (1852- 1930)
Philip Kerr (1882-1940, Lord Lothian)
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, (1881-1959, Lord Halifax)
Lord Grey (1862-1933)
William T Stead (1849-1912)
Leopold Amery (1873-1955)
Edward William Mackay Grigg (1879-1955) Lord Altrincham)
H. A. L Fisher (1865-1940)
Thomas Raleigh (1850-1923).
Phillip Lyttelton Gell (1852-1826)
Michael Glazebrook (1853-1926)
H.H Asquith (1852-1928)
St. John Brodrick (1856-1942).
Charles Firth (1857-1936)
W. P. Ker (1855- 1923)
Charles Lucas (1853- 1931)
Robert Mowbray (1850- 1916)
Rowland E. Prothero (1851-1937)
A. L. Smith (1850-1924)
Charles A. Whitmore (1850-1908)
Jan Smuts (1870-1950)
Many, many more are named at the end of the book.
Newspaper
Paul mall Gazette
The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, The Globe merged into The Pall Mall Gazette, which itself was absorbed into The Evening Standard in 1923.
Ownership
George Smith (1865–1880)
Henry Yates Thompson (1880–1892)
William Waldorf Astor (1892–1917)
Henry Dalziel (1917–1923)
Frederick Greenwood 1865–1880
John Morley 1880–1883
William Thomas Stead 1883–1889
Edward Tyas Cook 1890–1892
Henry Cust 1892–1896
Douglas Straight 1896–1909
Frederick Higginbottom 1909–1912
James Louis Garvin 1912–1915
D. M. Sutherland 1915–1923
George Bernhard Shaw was a writer early in his career. Lord Milner was a writer under John Morley.
The Roundtable Movement
The Round Table Movement evolved out of Lord Milner's Kindergarten. They held meetings called 'The Moot', named after the Anglo-Saxon meeting.
The framework of the organisation was devised by Lionel Curtis, but the overall idea was due to Lord Milner. Former South Africa administrator Philip Kerr became secretary to the organisation.
Set up the roundtable journal in 1910.
In 1910–1911 Lionel Curtis took a tour of the Dominions to set up local Round Table groups. Groups were formed in Canada, the Union of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and a Newfoundland Group was set up in 1912.
Prominent members of the Round Table.
Leo Amery
Lord Robert Brand
Sir Reginald Coupland
2nd Baronet, Sir George Craik
Lionel Curtis
Geoffrey Dawson
Lionel Hichens
Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian
William Marris, Lord Marris
James Meston, Lord Meston
Alfred Milner, Lord Milner
2nd Earl of Selborne
Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland
Sir Alfred Zimmern
Ownership
1894 to 1908 – Arthur Fraser Walter
1908 to 1922 – Lord Northcliffe
1922 to 1966 – Astor family
1966 to 1981 – Roy Thomson
1981 to present Rupert Murdoch
George Dawson editor 1912-19 and 1923-41
Thomas Raleigh
H. H. Asquith
St. John Brodrick
Charles Firth
W. P. Ker
Charles Lucas
Robert Mowbray
Rowland E. Prothero
A. L. Smith
Charles A. Whitmore
Grillions
Grillion's is a London dining club founded in 1812. It was founded by the British diplomat Stratford Canning as a meeting place free from the violence of political controversy. The club had no premises but met at Grillion's Hotel on Albemarle Street, from which it took its name. Later it would meet at the Hotel Cecil. The club met weekly during parliamentary session. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many leading statesmen belonged to the club, including prime ministers Gladstone, Salisbury, Balfour, Asquith, and Baldwin.
The Club
Source - Asquith Memories and Reflections
“The Club” was founded in 1764, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, with whom were associated Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Christopher Nugent, Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Oliver Goldsmith, and Anthony Chamier." Asquith memories and reflections Page 263
Notable attendees :
1. Earl of Rosebery.
2. Earl of Balfour.
3. Earl of Oxford and Asquith.
4. Viscount Grey. (Edward grey)
6. Viscount Haldane.(Richard Haldane)
8. Lord Hugh Cecil.
9. John Buchan
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