Sidney Bunting's life offers a unique perspective on the British Empire, illustrating the complex social networks and values that were carried across the world in the name of empire. Drawing on archival material, including the Bunting family papers and records of Bunting's Oxford years, this work presents his biography.

This is the first scholarly biography of Sidney Bunting. His life offers a unique perspective on the British Empire, illustrating the complex social networks and values that were carried across the world in the name of empire. The lawyer son of renowned Wesleyan social activists, Bunting was radicalised in South Africa. He was a founding member of the Communist Party and campaigned for black emancipation. Allison Drew draws on archival material which has only recently become available, including the Bunting family papers, records of Bunting's Oxford years, trial transcripts from Bunting's legal and political career, and the Comintern archives.

Chapter 1. To save soulsChapter 2. God and GladstoneChapter 3. A classical boyChapter 4. Imperial universityChapter 5. Fighting for empireChapter 6. An Englishman in JohannesburgChapter 7. A new gospelChapter 8. The star in the EastChapter 9. The earth is the workers'Chapter 10. Fighting against empireChapter 11. For a native republicChapter 12. Into the wildernessChapter 13. Falling from grace