The British End of the British Empire

Sarah Stockwell is professor of imperial and Commonwealth history at King's College London, and a leading historian of British decolonization. Her publications include The Business of Decolonization: British Business Strategies in the Gold Coast (2000) and, as editor, The British Empire: Themes and Perspectives (2008).

• 1. The imperial roles of British institutions; 2. Technical assistance and state building at the end of empire; 3. Teaching what 'the natives need to know': the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and training for overseas public administration; 4. 'Education and propaganda': the Bank of England and the development of central banking in African states at the end of empire; 5. Making Money: the Royal Mint and British decolonization; 6. 'Losing an empire and winning friends': Sandhurst and British decolonization.

'With this book Sarah Stockwell emerges as the one of the foremost economic historians of the British Empire. By studying the linkages between the colonial service, the universities, the Bank, the Army and above all the Mint, she explains the reasons British overseas businesses were able to carry on and move with the times, with difficult and painful adjustments, eventually finding significant success hardly imaginable in the era of decolonization.' Roger Louis, University of Texas