You might say that a chapter with this title ought to test the hypothesis of ‘the official mind of imperialism’, the idea that there was a definable directing theory (or ‘invisible hand’) behind the British empire. This essay does not quite do that, although it does ask some of the main questions relevant to such an enquiry, at least for the first half of the twentieth century. How was the central bureaucracy of the empire organised? What was its role and function, and where did it stand in relation to other agencies? What sort of officials ran it? (They were almost entirely male, though we should not forget the pioneering women, Mary Fisher – see pp. 274–5 below – and Eleanor Emery.) Did they have any sort of agreed outlook? To the extent that ‘trusteeship’ can be identified as an institutionally defining doctrine, how did this work in practice? How did it change to meet post-war challenges after 1945?