Persuasion and Propaganda: Monuments and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire

Bonnie White is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at McMaster
University.

Persuasion and Propaganda explores the meaning of 18th-century monuments
throughout the British Empire. At the centre of this study is the
public-private dichotomy of monuments. Throughout the long 18th-century
(1700–1820) empire was continually redefined not only by those who
constructed the monuments but also by those who observed them. Coutu’s
work is truly global in its scope, investigating the significance of
monuments from Jamaica to Quebec. Through numerous examples she explores
the relationship between citizens and the state, which in many ways
advanced the interests of both groups.

Monuments were not just about the empire and the men who explored and
colonized it; in many cases monuments were evocations of Britishness, an
attempt to reconcile a colonial identity with a distinctly English one.
Of particular interest is Coutu’s assertion that these monuments said
little or nothing about the places where they were located. In Part 1
she investigates funeral monuments commissioned by the colonial
“plantocracy” as less a tribute to the person who died and more an
attempt to “manufacture a past by creating a future.” Part 2
examines monuments from the Seven Years War that provided Canadians with
a tangible connection to England. Part 3 looks at monuments that were
commissioned by the colonial assemblies, while Part 4 focuses on
monuments in the West Indies and America following the American
Revolution, when the empire had to be completely redefined.

The monuments discussed by the author and the accompanying images
provide a comprehensive and detailed exploration of the process of
memorialization. Persuasion and Propaganda is a welcome addition to the
historiography and provides a fresh look at the intended meaning of
18th-century British monuments and the circumstances under which they
were commissioned.