The Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council was the inaugural governing body for the

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 ...

(BSAC) territory 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 ...

(today Zimbabwe) before its replacement by the

Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Rhodesia was the legislature of Southern Rhodesia and then Rhodesia from 1924 to 1970. Background In 1898, the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council, Southern Rhodesia's first elected representative body, was foun ...

in 1923, when the country achieved

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

, and duly became a

self-governing colony In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with an elected government in which elected rulers were able to make most decisions without referring to the colonial power with nominal control of the colony. This was in contrast to a ...

within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. The Council was established on 20 October 1898, and the first election for the Council was held on 17 April 1899. The Council sat for the first time in May 1899. Initially, the Council consisted of four elected members and five members nominated by the British South Africa Company, with the BSAC administrator presiding (and who also holding the right of veto over any legislation).Berens, D. (1988) ''A Concise Encyclopedia of Zimbabwe'', Mambo Press, Gweru. Additionally, a British resident commissioner sat on the Council as a non-voting member.Kent Rasmussen, R. & Rubert, S. (1990) ''Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe'', The Scarecrow Press, London. Qualifications for members and franchise were set by the commissioner, who required voters to be British subjects, male, 21 years of age and older, able to write their address and occupation, and then to fulfil any one of the following financial requirements: All voters were entered onto a common roll. Due to continuing pressure by white settlers for a greater role in the administration of the colony, the number of elected representatives on the Council was gradually increased, so that by 1920 there were 13 elected members. The main issue debated in the Legislative Council by the 1910s was the future of Southern Rhodesia following the planned end of BSAC rule. When responsible government was granted to Southern Rhodesia in 1923, the Legislative Council was replaced by the Legislative Assembly. Under the 1924 Constitution, there was provision for the establishment of an

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

to be known as the Legislative Council, but none was ever established.Southern Rhodesia
''

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...

'', HC Deb 22 June 1961 vol 642 cc1696-739

References

{{Reflist Legislative Council Historical legislatures 1898 establishments in the British Empire