The British wanted to anglicise the Boer population to establish political control and culturally assimilate them to promote social cohesion within the British Empire. The British government not only wanted to teach the Boers to speak English but also to make them better people, according to the British Colonial Office: "gradually superseding the Dutch Schoolmasters by Englishmen of a superior class, as affording both the best means of making the English language more general in the Colony & improving the manners & morals of the people."[269]
