This Day in History: May 5, 1897
Additional Date: May 5, 1897
The British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, appointed Sir Alfred Milner as Governor of the Cape Colony in 1897. Milner arrived in Cape Town on 5 May 1897 to assume his new position. Soon after taking up the position, he advocated a sterner policy with regard to the Transvaal Republic than that suggested by Chamberlain and Salisbury. He continued to emphasise the grievances of the Uitlanders with the intention to 'work up a crisis'. This hard-line attitude earned him the reputation of being a convinced imperialist.