Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern (6 July 1883 – 8 May 1971), was a

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained in office as the first

prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (also known as the Central African Federation) served as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, country's head of government. The federation was formed on 1 August 1953 from the ...

until October 1956, becoming the longest serving prime minister in

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...

history, until 1961.

Early life and education

Huggins was born at 'Dane Cottage', Knoll Road,

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

in northern

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England (now a borough of London), the second child, but eldest son of a stockbroker. The family later moved to a property his father built, 'Shore House' in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

, a town 27 miles from London. He was educated at Brunswick House, a preparatory school in

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

and then moved to Sutherland House, a similar school in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

. He suffered a severe infection of the left middle ear at the age of 11, which left him deaf on that side and delayed his move to

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

in 1898, a school from which he later took part of his title. From there he moved on to study medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, after some difficulty obtaining the necessary entrance qualifications. After practising medicine and training as a surgeon in London, spending some time as a Resident Superintendent at

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

, Huggins travelled to

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a 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 known as South ...

, in 1911, initially to act as a

locum A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...

to some doctors there, but eventually deciding to stay on.

First World War

Huggins returned to the UK in late 1914 following the outbreak of war and joined the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

with the rank of lieutenant from October 1914. Huggins was first stationed at Colchester Hospital in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, which had become a casualty clearing station. Although he wanted to go to France, he was sent to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

where he dealt with incoming casualties from the Battle of Gallipoli. Promoted to the rank of captain in March 1916, Doctors only had to serve for a year at that point in the war, and so in 1916 Huggins went out again to Southern Rhodesia but returned to the UK within a few months. This time he was posted to the Hammersmith Orthopaedic Hospital and then the Pavilion Hospital in Brighton. In 1917, he finally got to go to France with the 5th Cavalry Field Ambulance, attached to the 2nd Cavalry Division near

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

. His surgical work at this time led to his writing a book, ''Amputation Stumps: Their Care and After Treatment'' (Frowde, Hodder & Stoughton, London 1918).

Practice in Southern Rhodesia

He returned to

at the end of the war, just in time to deal with the

1918 influenza epidemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest document ...

, and bought Craig Farm on the outskirts of Salisbury, now

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, which was to remain his home for the rest of his life. He began again as a surgeon, quickly becoming the best known, albeit in a small field, in Southern Rhodesia. He married in 1921 to Blanche Slatter of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, the daughter (some sources say stepdaughter) of a Major in the

South African Constabulary The South African Constabulary (SAC) was a paramilitary force set up in 1900 under British Army control to police areas captured from the two independent Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State during the Second Boer War. Its fir ...

. He and his wife had two sons, born in 1922 and 1928. Having become a spokesman for the local Comrades of the Great War Association, he began to have contact with government, intervening for the Association with the then-

Administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

, Sir Drummond Chaplin. Although he was on the side of union with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

when there was a referendum on the matter in 1922, he accepted the Southern Rhodesian decision to 'go it alone' and accept

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 br ...

Political career

He entered politics in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

as a

Rhodesia Party The Responsible Government Association (RGA), called the Rhodesia Party from 1923, was a political party in Southern Rhodesia. Founded in 1917, it initially advocated responsible government for Southern Rhodesia within the British Empire, as opp ...

member and was elected, unopposed, in the Salisbury North constituency, to 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 ...

of the newly created

self-governing colony In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with responsible government in which the Executive council (Commonwealth countries), Executive Council was appointed from the majority in the elected Legislative assembly, Legislative A ...

. In 1932, he broke with the Rhodesia Party government led by

Howard Unwin Moffat Howard Unwin Moffat (13 January 186919 January 1951) served as second premier of Southern Rhodesia, from 1927 to 1933. Early life Born in the Kuruman mission station in Bechuanaland (now in the Northern Cape province of South Africa), Moffat ...

when it introduced a measure to cut civil service salaries by 10%; a cut that was especially unpopular in Huggins's constituency which had a large number of civil servants. Huggins could not vote against the government without precipitating an early general election, something he did not wish to do as an election was already scheduled for the next year. Instead, Huggins voted for the bill and then

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

the next day to join the newly formed Reform Party which appointed Huggins

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Prime minister

Huggins became Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia following the 1933 general election which his Reform Party won by a one-seat majority with 16 out of 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Reform Party's platform included measures such as the creation of a

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

and various economic, credit and monetary reforms designed to provide support for the white working class during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The Reform Party was believed by many in Rhodesia to be a left-wing party but Huggins presented a cautiously conservative Cabinet after winning power in 1933. In particular, Finance Minister Jacob Smit was a strong believer in conventional economics and opponent of

Keynesianism Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomics, macroeconomic theories and Economic model, models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongl ...

. The course of government led eventually to a confrontation in August 1934 with the left-wing of the party over reform to the

Rhodesian Railways The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways (RR), is a Bulawayo headquartered state-owned enterprise that operates the country's national railway system. It was established in 1893 and is governed by an Act of Parliament ...

. Huggins decided to approach Sir Percy Fynn, leader of the Rhodesia Party, who pledged support for a National Government under Huggins. However, the acting

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

refused a dissolution on the grounds that the Assembly had many years left, and the government had not been defeated. Huggins persuaded the majority of the Executive of the Reform Party to suspend the party's constitution to allow a National Government on 17 September, and then formed the United Party with Fynn, asking a second time for a dissolution on the basis of a changed party alignment. This time the Acting Governor acceded. The November 1934 election resulted in a landslide for Huggins' United Party, which won 24 out of 30 seats, while the Reform Party returned only one seat in the new legislature. Huggins himself switched electoral districts and ran and defeated Reform Party MP

Thomas Nangle Thomas Matthew Mary Nangle (September 5, 1889 – January 4, 1972) (known to family and friends as "Tim") was a Newfoundland cleric and diplomat. He served as the military chaplain of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I. In his lat ...

who had been one of the Reform Party's founders. In addition to prime ministership, Huggins was the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

on several occasions. Huggins was made a Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in the

1941 New Year Honours The 1941 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 31 December 1940.United Kingdom and Briti ...

, and appointed to the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are curre ...

, granting the title "''

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealt ...

''", in the

1947 Birthday Honours The 1947 King's Birthday Honours were appointments by many of the Dominions of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made "on the occasion of the Cel ...

. He was a guest at the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Huggins became an advocate of federating Southern Rhodesia with some of the neighbouring British colonies in the region so that they would become an independent state within the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

while maintaining

white minority rule In political science, minoritarianism (or minorityism) is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority group of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that population's decision making, with legislative power or j ...

with only a small number of educated blacks having the vote in addition to white settlers. As a result of his efforts, the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

was created in 1953 uniting

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

and

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...

, with Huggins as the federation's first

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

after his new

United Federal Party The United Federal Party (UFP) was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. History The UFP was formed in November 1957 by a merger of the Federal Party (Rhodesia and Nyasaland), Federal Party, which had operated at the fed ...

won the federation's first general election. Huggins remained in office until October 1956 and was elevated to the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

as Viscount Malvern in March 1955, over a year and a half before his retirement. He was succeeded as federal

by Sir Roy Welensky. The biggest political issue of his tenure as federal prime minister was the question of race relations. Huggins and other proponents of Federation claimed to stand for a policy of partnership, which was claimed to be much more enlightened than the ''

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

'' that the new Nationalist Party government was then installing in South Africa. He compared it to "the partnership of rider and horse." The following quotation, from a speech he made to the Federal Assembly on 28 July 1954, against a motion to enforce equal treatment of the races, illustrates Huggins's attitude towards black Africans:

You cannot expect Europeans to form in a queue with dirty people, possibly an old ''mfazi'' with an infant on her back, mewling and puking and making a mess of everything... It is perfectly obvious to anyone that the system we have in Southern Rhodesia at the present time is the most satisfactory to both sides and it is certainly impossible to alter it until the hon. leaders of the African people have cleaned up their brother Africans a bit; and then we can perhaps consider it.''Colonialism to Cabinet Crisis''
Andrew C. Ross, Kachere Books, Zomba, 2009, p. 76.

Having served 23 years as prime minister, Lord Malvern, as he now was, became the longest-serving prime minister in

history, beating the records of

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

of Canada and

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prime Minister of Great Britain, ser ...

of Great Britain and Ireland. He is the only prime minister in British Commonwealth history to serve under four monarchs (

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

, and

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

). Lord Malvern's successor, Welensky, spent his time in office trying to prevent an inevitable break-up of the Federation. Lord Malvern lived out the remainder of his life in Southern Rhodesia, continuing his quiet retirement under the territory's

Unilateral Declaration of Independence A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) or "unilateral secession" is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the ...

(UDI) administration. He died in May 1971 aged 87.

Honours

Medals and awards

Honorific eponyms

* Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine,

University of Rhodesia The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the Univers ...

* Godfrey Huggins Primary School,

Marondera Marondera, originally known as Marandellas, is a capital city of Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, located about east of Harare. History It was first known as Marandella's Kraal, corrupted from Marondera, chief of the ruling VaRozvi people who li ...

* Lord Malvern High School, Salisbury * Malvern House,

Peterhouse Boys' School Peterhouse Boys' School (or Peterhouse) is an independent, boarding high school for boys in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe. The school was founded by Fred Snell in 1955 and is located on an estate that is shared with Calderwood Park, a conservati ...

Grant of Arms

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
Collection of the National Portrait Gallery : Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern of Rhodesia and Bexley (1883–1971), Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia.''Godfrey Martin Huggins, Viscount Malvern, 1883–1971: his life and work.''
Edited by Michael Gelfand and Joseph Ritchken. Central African Journal of Medicine in

Salisbury, Rhodesia Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metropolitan province. The city is situat ...

, 1971.
Lord Malvern, Chairman of the Council of University College, Rhodesia, receiving the Queen Mother.
British Pathé. 1960.
Rhodesian Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins ALS.
www.worthpoint.com. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
''Statesman and Surgeon.''
British Medical Journal, 20 November 1971, pp. 497.

Written in 1951 by Cyril Allen, O.B.E., J.P * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malvern, Godfrey Huggins, 1st Viscount Prime ministers of Rhodesia Finance ministers of Rhodesia Foreign ministers of Rhodesia Rhodesian military medical officers 1883 births 1971 deaths British emigrants to Southern Rhodesia British Army personnel of World War I Rhodesian military personnel of World War I British white supremacists Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia Members of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federal Assembly Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Northern Rhodesia people Royal Army Medical Corps officers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights of the Order of St John Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Malvern College People from Bexley White Rhodesian people World War II political leaders 20th-century Zambian politicians Zimbabwean surgeons United Federal Party politicians Viscounts created by Elizabeth II Defence ministers of Rhodesia Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Politicians from the London Borough of Bexley Rhodesian surgeons