Sir Thomas Williams (1893 – 25 February 1967) was the last

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

Biography

Born in 1893, Williams was educated at

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in Yorkshire between 1905 and 1911,''The University of Leeds Review'', Vol. 8–9, 1962, p175 before attending the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

.Ng'ona Mwela Chibesakunda (2001) ''The Parliament of Zambia'', p36 He later moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, becoming head of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Teachers College. In 1935 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Education by the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

, a position he held until 1949. After moving to

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 ...

, Williams became Director of European Education in 1950. He held the post until 1955, when he was appointed Clerk of the Legislative Council. The following year he was made the Speaker after the retirement of Thomas Spurgeon Page. Having already received an OBE, Williams was knighted in the

1964 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1964 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

. Following independence on 24 October 1964, he resigned as Speaker on 14 December, and was succeeded by

Wesley Nyirenda Pillsbury Wesley Nyirenda was a Zambian politician and the first elected Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia after the it was renamed from Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly w ...

. Williams died in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

on 25 February 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Thomas 1893 births Alumni of the University of Leeds South African educators British emigrants to South Africa Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand Zambian civil servants Members of the Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia 1967 deaths Immigrants to Northern Rhodesia South African emigrants