Milner, Alfred, 1st Viscount Milner (1854–1925)

British colonial administrator. As governor of Cape Colony 1897–1901, he negotiated with Kruger but did little to prevent the second South African War (Boer War); as governor of the Transvaal and Orange River colonies 1902–05 after their annexation, he reorganized their administration. In 1916 he became a member of Lloyd George's war cabinet. KCB 1895, Baron 1901, Viscount 1902.

He opposed the ‘People's Budget’ in 1909 and the reform of the House of Lords. As secretary for war 1918–19 he was largely responsible for creating a unified Allied command under Foch. He emphasized the ‘organic union’ of the Empire, rather than the need for independence for its members and he negotiated with Egyptian Nationalist leaders to bring about the Anglo-Egyptian Settlement of 1922, which reduced British political control in the region but defended the Empire's strategic interests. His publications include The Nation and the Empire (1913).