N. H. Wilson

Neil Housman Wilson (1886–1960) was an English-born Southern Rhodesian journalist[1] and politician who became a member of the Southern Rhodesian parliament in 1933.

Career

Wilson was born in Suffolk, England[2] and a grandson of George Housman Thomas. He emigrated to Southern Rhodesia when he was 20 years old to join the British South Africa Police (B.S.A.P.).[3]

He then joined the Native Department[4][5] during which time he was co-founder and first General Secretary of the Southern Rhodesia Public Services’ Association, and first editor of the Rhodesia Services’ Record.  In 1922, he was elected General Secretary of the Public Services Association and it was in this capacity that he served as an Advisory Member of the Southern Rhodesian delegation at the Terms of Union Convention, Cape Town.  In 1923, he founded the Native Affairs Department Annual (NADA) and was its first editor. That year he transferred to the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture and was appointed Secretary to the Minister.[6] He retired from public service in 1924 to take up farming.[2]

While still farming he published a manifesto for a Progressive Responsible Government Party, and a couple of years later founded a newspaper The Spokesman.[7]

As the elected chairman of the Progressive Party he negotiated the amalgamation with the Country Party and Labour Party to form the Reform Party, of which he became the first chairman and then President.[8]  In 1933, he became a member of parliament (M.P.) for Salisbury Central, becoming one of the M.P.s who made up the 3rd Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia.[9] In 1934 he was adviser to the Southern Rhodesia Delegation when Godfrey Huggins went to negotiate a new Railway Agreement in Cape Town.[10]

Wilson was co-founder of the Capricorn Africa Society and chairman of its African Affairs Committee until 1954. He also founded and was secretary of the White Rhodesia Association[11] and the founder of the Southern Rhodesia Association.[12]  He was at one time: general secretary of the Dominion Party;[13][14] president of the Immigration and Development Association of Rhodesia; and, chairman of the Central Africa Wing of the League of Empire Loyalists.

Wilson at different times edited the magazine NADA, the Sunday Mail[15] and The New Rhodesia (which he also founded).[16][17] He was the author of several pamphlets and in addition to writing articles for various publications including the Rhodesia Herald, he was a correspondent for The Manchester Guardian.[18][19][20][21]

Works
  • Progressive Responsible Government Party: Statement of Aims (1926)
  • Rhodesia, A Nation (1934)
  • Notes on the Mining Industry in Southern Rhodesia (ca. 1934)
  • Idar: Large Scale Planned Immigration into Southern Rhodesia (1946)
  • Challenge of Africa (1949)
  • Native Policy for Africa, with D. Stirling (1951)
  • Federation and the African, with Abel Nyirenda and T.J. Hlazo (1952)
  • Central African Dilemma (1954)

References
  1. Vambe, Lawrence (1976). From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Heinemann. p. 52.
  2. Gann, Lewis Henry and, Gelfand, Michael (1964). Huggins of Rhodesia: The Man and his Country. George Allen & Unwin. p. 77.
  3. "A Special Welcome". The United Kingdom Outpost. Issue 75: 23. 2010 – via British South Africa Police Regimental Association UK.
  4. Lockyer, Sir Norman (1921). Nature, Volume 106. Macmillan Journals Limited. p. 389.
  5. Passmore, Gloria C. (2002). Hidden Conflict: A Documentary Record of Administrative Policy in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1950–1980. Praeger. ISBN 9780275974060.
  6. "Obituary: N.H. Wilson". NADA: Native Affairs Department Annual: 104. 1961.
  7. "Populism in Rhodesian Politics: N. H. Wilson". The Journal of the Central Africa Historical Association. V6: 58. 1975.
  8. Whetherell, H.I. (1976). N.H. Wilson: Populism in Rhodesian Politics.
  9. "Rhodesia – The Years Between". Our Rhodesian Heritage. 26 June 2010.
  10. Gann, I.H (1965). A History of Southern Rhodesia: Early Days to 1934. Chatto & Windus. p. 316.
  11. Steele, Murray Cairns (August 1972). "The Foundations of a 'Native' Policy: Southern Rhodesia, 1923–1933" (PDF). A Dissertation, Simon Fraser University: 489.
  12. King, Anthony (2001). "Identity and Decolonisation: the policy of partnership in Southern Rhodesia 1945–62". Thesis for St. Antony's College, Oxford.
  13. East Africa and Rhodesia, Vol 35. 1959. pp. 790 and 1030.
  14. Sanger, Clyde (1960). Central Africa Emergency. Heineman. p. 100.
  15. "Obituary: N.H. Wilson". East Africa and Rhodesia: 1019. June 23, 1960.
  16. "Obituary: Mrs. Agnes Wilson". The New Rhodesia: 19. October 27, 1950.
  17. Shutt, Allison K. (2015). Manners Make a Nation: Racial Etiquette in Southern Rhodesia. University of Rochester Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781580465205.
  18. "N.H. Wilson". The Manchester Guardian Contributors' Ledger. GDN 234: 1747–1750. October 1953 – July 1959 – via University of Manchester Archives.
  19. "N.H. Wilson". The Manchester Guardian Contributors' Ledger. GDN 231/4: sheets 5–12. 3 January 1950 – 10 August 1953 – via University of Manchester Archives.
  20. "D/1858/1-65 Wilson, N.H (1953–1960)". Guardian Archives. Part 2: 255 – via University of Manchester.
  21. "D/2674/1-4 Wilson, N.H (1951–1953)". Guardian Archives. Part 2: 276 – via University of Manchester.

External References
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