Sir Evelyn Dennison Hone (13 December 1911 – 18 September 1979) was the last Governor of Northern Rhodesia, from 1959 until it gained its independence as Zambia in 1964.

Early life

Hone was born into the

Hone family The Hone family is an Anglo-Irish family dating back to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland when Samuel Hone arrived with the Parliamentary army in 1649. The family is believed to be of Dutch extraction, although no connection to the Netherlands ha ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Southern Rhodesia 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 kn ...

, on 13 December 1911. He was the son of Arthur Rickman Hone, the Chief Magistrate in Southern Rhodesia, and Olive Gertrude Fairbridge Scanlen, the daughter of Sir Thomas Scanlen. He was the nephew of Rt. Rev. Campbell Hone and the great-grandson of Ven.

Richard Hone Richard Brindley Hone (born Gloucester 12 March 1805 – died Halesowen 20 February 1881) was a nineteenth century Anglican priest and author. Life Hone was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and ordained in 1828. After a curacy in Portsmouth ...

Career

After studying at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, Hone entered the Colonial Service. He served in the Tanganyika Territory,

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, British Honduras, and

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

. He was chief secretary to the Governor of Northern Rhodesia from 1957 to 1959, became governor himself in 1959. Quickly beginning talks with African nationalists, he developed a good working relationship with Kenneth Kaunda and helped pave the way for

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

to gain independence as Zambia in October 1964. The Evelyn Hone College in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

was later named after him. He died in September 1979.''

African Affairs ''African Affairs'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press on behalf of the London-based Royal African Society. The journal covers any Africa-related topic: political, social, economic, environmental an ...

'', January 1980

References

1911 births 1979 deaths Chief Secretaries of Northern Rhodesia Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Governors of Northern Rhodesia Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Harare White Rhodesian people Zambian people of British descent Zimbabwean Rhodes Scholars {{Zambia-bio-stub