Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Marshall Hole, CMG (16 May 1865 – 18 May 1941) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

pioneer, administrator and author and best known for issuing the "Marshall Hole currency".

Education and appointments

Marshall Hole was born in Tiverton in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

and

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

(where he won the Newte exhibition). Marshall Hole came to

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

in 1889 and met the mine magnate and politician

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. Rhodes offered him a job as the first clerk to the newly formed

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...

. In 1891''Guide to the Historical Manuscripts in the National Archives of Rhodesia'' ed by TW Baxter & EE Burke Salisbury, National Archives of Rhodesia, 1970 Marshall Hole took up the position of private secretary to Sir Starr Jameson in

Mashonaland Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. Currently, Mashonaland is divided into four provinces, * Mashonaland West * Mashonaland Central * Mashonaland East * Harare The Zimbabwean capital of Harare, a province unto itself, lies entirely ...

(who was shortly to be appointed Administrator of the company's territories). Marshall Hole's other appointments included: * Secretary for

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi r ...

* Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo * Chief Secretary of

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 ...

* Chief Native Title Commissioner for Matabeleland * Administrator of North West Rhodesia Cecil Rhodes took a great liking to Marshall Hole and in 1901 had sent him on missions to

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

to devise means for the introduction of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

labour to

. Marshall Hole also took charge of the arrangements for Rhodes' burial in the Matopo Hills in 1902. Marshall Hole retired from Government service in 1913 and at the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined

The Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

, was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and retired in 1919.

Marshall Hole currency

Marshall Hole is best known for issuing "Marshall Hole currency" in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

in 1900. During the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

there was a shortage of small change and circulating coinage in Rhodesia. Marshall Hole, who was then serving as Government Secretary for

and Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo, authorised the issue of small cards bearing a

postage stamp on the obverse, and an official handstamped signature on the reverse, and these cards circulated as emergency currency between 1 August 1900 and their withdrawal on 1 October 1900. Smith (1967: p332) says "£20,000's worth of stamps were used, and when circulation ceased... it was found that almost exactly £1,000's worth was still outstanding... This £1,000... was clear profit to the Administration and compensated Mr Hole for the ridicule the experiment provoked when he first proposed it." The currency cards were issued in denominations of 2d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6, 4/-, 5/- and 10/-, and bore two types of validation stamp. One type is inscribed ''ADMINISTRATOR'S OFFICE * BULAWAYO''. The other type is inscribed ''ADMINISTRATOR'S OFFICE''. The validation stamps were applied at Marshall Hole's office.

Publications

* ''The Jameson Raid''; London: Philip Allan, 1930; Book Bib ID 1021256 * ''The passing of the Black kings''; London: Philip Allan, 1932; Book Bib ID 1018104 * ''Old Rhodesian days''; London, Cass, 1968; Book Bib ID 2491756 * ''Lobengula''; London: Allan, 1929; Book Bib ID 707969 * ''The making of Rhodesia''; London: Cass, 1926 (1967 reprint); Book Bib ID 855788
(Also available on Google Books)
* ''Hugh Marshall Hole and his Matabeleland Stamp Currency Cards of 1900:'' Robert Armstrong; 2016

References

*Smith, J. C., 1967. ''Rhodesia, A Postal History - Its Stamps, Posts & Telegraphs'', Published by the author, Salisbury, Rhodesia. *Obituary of Lt.Col H. Marshall Hole, The Times, Tuesday, 20 May 1941; pg. 2; Issue 48930; col F {{DEFAULTSORT:Hole, Hugh Marshall People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English writers Rhodesian politicians Royal Norfolk Regiment officers 1865 births 1941 deaths People from Tiverton, Devon British Army personnel of World War I People from Southern Rhodesia Cape Colony people British expatriates in Northern Rhodesia