The British Empire League was formed in London in 1894 in order to support the ideology of British imperialism and to promote loyalty to and the unity of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. It was particularly active in the British dominion

Dominion

A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...

s of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

in the early part of the twentieth century.

The League focused on the celebration of the birthday of Queen Victoria—24 May—as a patriotic holiday. In Australia, this was not only an observance of the holiday in schools, but was also a wider opportunity to demonstrate loyalty to Britain. Empire Day was officially adopted by the Reid government in 1905 and observed for more than fifty years.

In Australia, the League sponsored a monthly publication United Australia which featured on its cover Britannia and the motto "One people one destiny".