N. H. Brettell

Last updated
N. H. Brettell
Born
Noel Harry Brettell

(1908-07-03)3 July 1908
Died(1991-11-29)29 November 1991
Education University of Birmingham
OccupationWriter
Known forPoetry
Spouse
Eva Gertrude Scovell
(m. 1934;died 1984)
Children2

N.H. Brettell (3 July 1908 - 29 November 1991) was a British-Zimbabwean poet and writer. His poetry collection, Bronze Frieze: Poems Mostly Rhodesian was published by Oxford University Press in 1950. [1] The South African poet Douglas Livingstone remarked that Brettell was the best poet writing in the region. [1] Brettell was awarded the Book Centre / P.E.N. Centre of Rhodesia Annual Literary Prize in 1972 and 1978. [2]

Contents

Background

Brettell was born in 1908 in Lye, West Midlands and attended the grammar school King Edward VI College, Stourbridge. [2] In 1930 he graduated with a first-class honours Degree in English at the University of Birmingham where he published his earlier poems in the University Gazette. [2] After graduating he took up a teaching position at Ruzawi School in Southern Rhodesia. [2] He returned to England in 1932 to teach at Bishop Auckland Grammar School and to enroll in a teaching diploma at the University of Birmingham and teach. [2] He returned to Southern Rhodesia permanently in 1934 and taught in government schools for the next twenty five years. [2]

His poetry appeared in several anthologies, including A Book of South African Verse (London: Oxford University Press, 1959) and P.E.N 1960: New South African Writing and a Survey of Fifty Years of Creative Achievement (1960). [2] His poems also appeared in Rhodesian Poetry, the periodical of the Poetry Society of Rhodesia (founded in 1950), New Coin, Rhodes University's poetry magazine (founded in 1964), Poetry Review Salisbury and Two Tone . [2] In an academic review (1978) of Rhodesian poetry, Graham Robin wrote that “Brettell puts into words the halting stupefaction of the exile in such a new and strange land. At last Rhodesia has a poet possessed by his country; but amazed, almost reluctantly possessed." [3]

Works

Personal life

In 1934 he married Eva Scovell, a British colleague at Ruzawi School. [2] The couple had two children together; John (b.1935) and Rosemary (b.1938). [2] In 1941 he befriended Arthur Shearly Cripps, an anglican priest and poet. [1] [2] In 1979, the final year of the Rhodesian Bush War, the couple's home in Inyanga was attacked and destroyed by insurgents. [4] They subsequently moved to Kadoma where their son was living. In 1984, the couple's car was rammed by a bus in Kadoma, fatally injuring Eva and she died a few days later. [2] Brettell died in 1991 and his funeral was held at the Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints, Harare. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Rhodesia</span> British colony in Africa, 1923 to 1980

Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as south Zambesia until annexed by Britain at the behest of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company, for whom the colony was named. The bounding territories were Bechuanaland (Botswana), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Portuguese Mozambique (Mozambique), and the Transvaal Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zimbabwe Bird</span> National emblem of Zimbabwe

The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird is the national emblem of Zimbabwe, appearing on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins. It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle. The bird's design is derived from a number of soapstone sculptures found in the ruins of the medieval city of Great Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Zimbabweans</span> Ethnic group in Zimbabwe

White Zimbabweans are Zimbabwean people of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, these Zimbabweans of European ethnic origin are mostly English-speaking descendants of British settlers. A small minority are either Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Afrikaners from South Africa or those descended from Greek, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish immigrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Edward School</span> State school, boarding and day school in Harare, Zimbabwe

Prince Edward School is a public, boarding and day school for boys aged 13 to 19 in Harare, Zimbabwe. It provides education facilities to 1200+ boys in Forms I to VI. The school is served by a graduate staff of over 100 teachers.

The Hon. Lionel Cripps, CMG, was the first Speaker of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Eppel</span>

John Eppel is a Zimbabwean short story writer, novelist and poet. In 1990 he was awarded the Ingrid Jonker Prize for his poetry volume, "Spoils of War", detailing his experiences as a soldier in the Rhodesian Bush War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desmond Lardner-Burke</span> Rhodesian politician

Desmond William Lardner-Burke was a politician in Rhodesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruzawi School</span> School in Marondera, Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe

Ruzawi School is an Anglican, independent, co-educational, preparatory, boarding school for children aged 6 to 12. It is located near the town of Marondera in Zimbabwe. Ruzawi, which was founded by Robert Grinham and Maurice Carver, has a pupil population ranging from 205 to 220 depending on the balance of boys and girls and the number of pupils in each age group. In the Infants' Department there is one class each for Grade One and Grade Two. An additional entry point at Grade Three enables there to be two classes from that level up to Grade 7. The school is situated some five kilometres south of Marondera in extensive grounds surrounded by many hectares of indigenous miombo woodland and exotic eucalyptus plantations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Zimbabwe</span>

The history of the Jews in Zimbabwe reaches back over one century. Present-day Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia and later as Rhodesia.

Leonard Ray Morgan (1894–1967) was the first permanent Secretary for Education in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Prag Lalloo Naran was a Zimbabwean politician and businessman recognized as a "Nationalist for the struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence," and a "leading member of the (Zimbabwe) Asian Community".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Smith (Rhodesia)</span> Teacher, wife of Ian Smith, PM of Rhodesia

Janet Duvenage Smith, was the wife of Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she studied history at the University of Cape Town and became a teacher. In 1942, she married Piet Duvenage, a rugby player, and had two children. He died in an accident on the rugby field in 1947. The next year, a short visit with family in Southern Rhodesia became permanent when she accepted a teaching job in Selukwe. There, she met her future husband, Ian Smith, who had recently come home from the Second World War. In 1948, the couple got married and bought a farm, and Ian was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.

The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe is a Baptist Christian denomination in Zimbabwe. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe. The headquarters is in Gweru.

Neil Housman Wilson (1886–1960) was an English-born Southern Rhodesian journalist and politician who became a member of the Southern Rhodesian parliament in 1933.

Peter William Hewlett is a Zimbabwean farmer and politician who served as a member of Parliament in the House of Assembly from 1990 to 2000. A member of ZANU–PF, he represented the Zhombe and Kwekwe North constituencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Smith (Rhodesian politician)</span> Rhodesian/Zimbabwean politician

David Colville Smith was a farmer and politician in Rhodesia and its successor states, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. He served in the cabinet of Rhodesia as Minister of Agriculture from 1968 to 1976, Minister of Finance from 1976 to 1979, and Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1978 to 1979. From 1976 to 1979, he also served Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia. He continued to serve as Minister of Finance in the government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed Minister of Trade and Commerce of the newly independent Zimbabwe, one of two whites included in the cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

State House, formerly known as Government House, is the official residence of the President of Zimbabwe and is located in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was previously used by the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia, Governor of Southern Rhodesia and the Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in addition to being occupied by the internationally unrecognised Rhodesian Officer Administering the Government and later President of Rhodesia. It was constructed in 1910 to a design by Detmar Blow in the Cape Dutch revival style.

Zimbabwean literature is literature produced by authors from Zimbabwe or in the Zimbabwean Diaspora. The tradition of literature starts with a long oral tradition, was influenced heavily by western literature during colonial rule, and acts as a form of protest to the government.

Colin Style was a British-Zimbabwean poet and writer. He was awarded the Ingrid Jonker Prize for best published collection in English in Southern Africa, 1977 with Baobab Street (1977).

References