The 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the first Meeting of the Heads of Government of the British Commonwealth. It was held in the United Kingdom, between 1–16 May 1944, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
| 1st Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Host country |  United Kingdom |
| Dates | 1 May 1944– 16 May 1944 |
| Cities | London |
| Heads of Government | 6 |
| Chair | Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) |
| Follows | 1937 Imperial Conference |
| Precedes | 1946 |
| Key points | |
Supporting the Moscow Declaration Coordination of war effort | |
The conference
editOutline
editThe conference was attended by the Prime Ministers of all of the Dominions within the Commonwealth except Ireland and Newfoundland. Attendees included Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada, Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand and Prime Minister Jan Smuts of South Africa. Also attending was Prime Minister Sir Godfrey Huggins of the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, and representing India was The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Members of the Churchill War Cabinet and the High Commissioners of the Dominions also attended.
Ireland did not participate although at the time the British Commonwealth still regarded Ireland as one of its members. Ireland had not participated in any equivalent conferences since 1932.
The British Commonwealth leaders agreed to support the Moscow Declaration and reached agreement regarding their respective roles in the overall Allied war effort.[1]
Prior to the conference, Robert McIntyre and Douglas Young, the leaders of the Scottish National Party, lobbied King, Fraser, Smuts, Huggins, and Curtin, asking them to raise the issue of Scottish independence at the conference and to invite Scotland to take part in it and all future Commonwealth Conferences. Curtin viewed it as an internal matter for the British government, King was sympathetic, and the remainder simply voiced their acknowledgement of the communiques.[2]
Participants
editMinisters
edit
Military
edit- AUS General Sir Thomas Blamey
- UK Lieutenant-general Sir Hastings Ismay
- NZL Lieutenant-general Edward Puttick
Diplomats and civil servants
edit- AUS Sir Frederick Shedden Secretary, Department of Defence
- CAN Norman Robertson
- UK Sir John Stephenson
- UK Sir Richard Hopkins Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Ehrman, John (1956). Grand Strategy Volume V, August 1943-September 1944. London: HMSO (British official history). p. 332.
- ^ National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Acc. 10090, Papers of Dr Robert Douglas McIntyre, MB ChB, DPH, Duniv, JP. File 19: Letters to Commonwealth Prime Ministers 1944, and argument with Douglas Young 1951. Accessed 6 August 2014.
- ^ Churchill at the time was Minister of Defence and First Lord of the Treasury
- ^ Attlee was at the time Lord President of the Council
- ^ Eden was at the time Leader of the House of Commons
- ^ Morrison was at the time Minister of Home Security
- ^ Curtin was at the time Minister for Defence Coordination
- ^ Mackenzie King was at the time Secretary of State for External Affairs and President of the Privy Council
- ^ Fraser was at the time Minister of Foreign Affairs
- ^ Smuts was at the time Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence
- ^ Huggins was also Minister for Native Affairs