Imperial Conferences
Imperial Conferences were gatherings of
British Empire government leaders in
London in
1887,
1897,
1902,
1907,
1911,
1921,
1923,
1926,
1930 and
1937. The 1907 conference changed the name from "Colonial Conference" and agreed that the meetings should henceforth be regular rather than taking place while overseas statesmen were visiting London for royal occasions (jubilees, coronations).
The conferences were a key forum for Dominion governments to assert their desire for increased independence, that of 1926 marking the acknowledgement that the Dominions would henceforth rank as equals to the United Kingdom within the Empire (see Balfour Declaration 1926. After World War II the meetings were replaced by those of The Commonwealth.