I know Cecil Rhodes dreamt of reintegrating it into the Empire whilst he was around in the 1800's although he wanted to do it by "breeding an American elite of philosopher kings who would have the US rejoin the empire" .

But then he also wanted the entire globe to be under English rule as well. He believed the Anglo-Saxon people were "destined for greatness" and that included America (And the other Anglo-Saxon nations).

I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, but that's the view of one of the most famous British Imperialists in history from the 1800's.