Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland | |
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Style | The Right Honourable |
Residence | Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) |
Appointer | Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland |
Formation | 7 September 1953 |
First holder | Godfrey Huggins |
Final holder | Roy Welensky |
Abolished | 31 December 1963 |
The prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (also known as the Central African Federation) served as the country's head of government. The federation was formed on 1 August 1953 from the former colonies of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was formally dissolved on 31 December 1963.
United Rhodesia Party / United Federal Party [lower-alpha 1]
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) Constituency | Term of office | Elected (Parliament) | Political party | ||
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Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
1 | Godfrey Huggins (1883–1971) MP for Salisbury North | 7 September 1953 | 2 November 1956 | 3 years, 56 days | 1953 (1st) | United Rhodesia Party | |
First Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Served as Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia for 20 years before becoming Prime Minister of the Federation. Huggins became an advocate of federating Southern Rhodesia with some of the neighbouring British colonies in the region so that they would become an independent state within the British Empire while maintaining white minority rule with only a small number of educated blacks qualifying for the vote in addition to most whites. As a result of his effort the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created in 1953 uniting Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland with Huggins as the federation's first Prime Minister. Huggins remained in office until 1956 and was elevated to the British peerage as Viscount Malvern on 17 February 1955, prior to his retirement. | |||||||
2 | Roy Welensky (1907–1991) MP for Broken Hill | 2 November 1956 | 31 December 1963 | 7 years, 59 days | — (1st) 1958 (2nd) 1962 (3rd) | United Federal Party | |
During his tenure as Prime Minister of the Federation, Welensky opposed British moves towards Black majority rule, and used force to suppress politically motivated violence in the territories. In foreign policy, his government supported the United Kingdom during the Suez Crisis and got involved in the Congo Crisis, accepting white refugees and supporting the State of Katanga and its leader Moïse Tshombe. After the advent of black majority rule in two of the Federation's three territories under 'one man, one vote' constitutions (Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zambia and Malawi respectively), the Federation was dissolved in late 1963. |
Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia. It was initially administered, as were the two earlier protectorates, by the British South Africa Company (BSAC), a chartered company, on behalf of the British Government. From 1924, it was administered by the British Government as a protectorate, under similar conditions to other British-administered protectorates, and the special provisions required when it was administered by BSAC were terminated.
The prime minister of Rhodesia was the head of government of Rhodesia. Rhodesia, which had become a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, and was thereafter an unrecognized state until 1979. In December 1979, the country came under temporary British control, and in April 1980 the country gained recognized independence as Zimbabwe.
Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
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The United Federal Party (UFP) was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 14 December 1962. Voters elected 65 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was notable for bringing to power the Rhodesian Front, initially under Winston Field, which set the colony on the course for its eventual Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland general election of 15 December 1953 was the first election to the legislative assembly of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which had been formed a few months before. The election saw a landslide victory for the Federal Party under Godfrey Huggins, who had been Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia for the past 20 years.
The Rt Hon. Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold, KCMG, PC, was a Rhodesian barrister, judge and politician.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It existed between 1953 and 1963.
The Responsible Government Association (RGA), called the Rhodesia Party from 1923, was a political party in Southern Rhodesia. Founded in 1917, it initially advocated responsible government for Southern Rhodesia within the British Empire, as opposed to incorporation into the Union of South Africa. When responsible government was achieved in 1923, the party became the governing Rhodesia Party. It endured until 1934, when it merged with the right wing of the Reform Party to create the United Party, which remained in power for 28 years afterwards, and was itself defunct by 1965.
Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern, was a Rhodesian politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained in office as the first Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland until October 1956, becoming the longest serving prime minister in British Commonwealth history, until 1961.
Federal elections were held in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland on 12 November 1958. The result was a victory for the ruling United Federal Party, with Roy Welensky remaining Prime Minister.
Federal elections were held in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland on 27 April 1962. Due to a boycott by all opposition parties, the ruling United Federal Party was the only party to contest the election.
The Monckton Commission, officially the Advisory Commission for the Review of the Constitution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was set up by the British government under the chairmanship of Walter Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, in 1960. Its purpose was to investigate and make proposals for the future of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, made up of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland—respectively equivalent to today's Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
The Central Africa Party was a multi-racial political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The party organised separately in the three constituent part of the federation, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Southern Rhodesia.
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