Rhodes, Cricket and the Scholarship Legacy: A Southern African Perspective, 1903–1971

Abstract

This chapter seeks to examine the part played by southern African Rhodes Scholars in the imperial games—cricket in particular—as they provide a window on aspects of a scheme designed to preserve Cecil John Rhodes’s ideals and protect his legacy. Ability in sport was relevant to the selection and training of the Scholars, not least because the games reflected imperial ideology in the development of ethical behaviour and the formation of sound social attitudes. The investigation endeavours to explore the extent to which sport’s role in the scheme was dependent on empire, and takes into account not only the decisions and values of trustees and selection committees, but attitudes of the University and political, economic and social developments that unfolded during the twentieth century.