Harold Hardwicke Clake Holderness (6 January 1915 – 21 March 2007) was a lawyer and liberal politician in

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 ...

, who was also a highly decorated wartime RAF Coastal Command pilot.

Background

Hardwicke Holderness was born in Salisbury (now

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

(now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

). He was educated at Rhodes University College (now

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

) and won a

Rhodes Scholarship 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' ...

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, where he joined the

Oxford University Air Squadron The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed in 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fifteen Univers ...

and trained as a pilot.

Second World War

At the outbreak of war he joined the RAF and served as a pilot firstly in

RAF Training Command Training Command was the Royal Air Force's command responsible for flying and ground training from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1968 to 1977. Training Command was formed from RAF Inland Area on 1 May 1936 and absorbed into RAF Support Command on 13 ...

and then later in

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, serving in

No. 502 Squadron RAF No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron was a Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadron that saw service in World War II. It was reformed in September 2013, and is the oldest of all the reserve squadrons, being formed in 1925. History Formation and early years No ...

. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

(DSO),

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 to other ranks, of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countri ...

and

Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) The Air Force Cross (AFC) is a military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is granted for "an a ...

, and finished the war with the rank of a wing commander . His DSO citation read:

Wing Cdr. Holderness has commanded his squadron for a considerable period. He has taken part in many of the sorties completed by the squadron. These have been mainly anti-shipping patrols over the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic. In October, 1944, Wing Cdr. Holderness attacked an enemy vessel in the Skagerrak, and in November, 1944, he bombed a beached U boat. He has completed many other attacks on enemy ships, some of them in the face of intense opposition. As a pilot and as squadron commander this officer has always displayed outstanding determination, leadership and courage.

After the war he returned to Southern Rhodesia and became a leading lawyer, and in 1948 married Elspeth Macdiarmid with whom he had two daughters.

Politics

He was a strong advocate for full racial equality, founding in 1953 the Interracial Association of Southern Rhodesia. In the 1954 general election he was elected as an MP for

Garfield Todd Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (13 July 1908 – 13 October 2002) was a liberal Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. Background T ...

's ruling

United Rhodesia Party The name United Rhodesia Party and the acronym, URP, refer to two political parties in Southern Rhodesia. The first was the party, led by Sir Godfrey Huggins, and which in 1933 came to power in the colony. It was informally known as the United Pa ...

, and was considered to be the most liberal member of the party. He served as an MP until

was forced out of government in 1958.

Later life

In 1975 he left Rhodesia and settled at first in Oxford, before moving to Cheltenham, where in the 1980s he wrote his memoir about postwar Rhodesia ''Lost Chance: Southern Rhodesia 1945–1958'' (1985).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holderness, Hardwicke 1915 births 2007 deaths Rhodesian politicians