Hugh Edward Egerton (1855–1927) was a British barrister and colonial historian. After graduating from Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1876 he was appointed private secretary to Edward Stanhope in 1885. His employer's promotion to Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1886 sparked a lifelong interest in colonial policy, which led to his becoming Professor of Colonial History at the University of Oxford in 1905. This volume, first published in 1897, contains Egerton's pioneering history of developments of British colonial policy. Focusing on colonial policy from 1457, Egerton explores the causes of changes in Britain's colonial policy, linking the importance of securing trade with the growth of systemic colonization and examining the rise and decline of laissez-aller attitudes in the mid nineteenth century. This volume was the first published historical survey of colonial policy, and continues to provides a comprehensive overview of developments in British colonial policy.