Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Henry Breedon Everard

GCLM Glutamate-cysteine ligase regulatory subunit is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''GCLM'' gene. Glutamate-cysteine ligase, also known as gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, is the first rate limiting enzyme of glutathione synthesis. Th ...

ICD DSO TD (21 February 1897 – 7 August 1980) was a railway engineer and executive who briefly became the Acting

President of Rhodesia The president of Rhodesia was the head of state of Rhodesia from 1970 to 1979. As Rhodesia reckoned itself a parliamentary republic rather than a presidential republic at the time, the president's post was almost entirely ceremonial, and the r ...

during the U.D.I. period. Everard was born in

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

and educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and graduated from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1922. During the

First World War 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 served in France with the Rifle Brigade, where he was wounded in combat and reached the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He worked as a railway engineer from 1922, but was commissioned again on the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, this time in the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

; he was taken prisoner by German forces, 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 ...

, and reached the rank of

. When repatriated after the war he became an executive of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. In 1953 Everard moved to

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 ...

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 ...

to become General Manager of

Rhodesia Railways The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

, which he remained for five years before retiring. He supported the Rhodesian Front and stood in for

Clifford Dupont Clifford Walter Dupont, GCLM, ID (6 December 1905 – 28 June 1978) was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government (from 1965 until 1970) and president ...

(who had been made "

Officer Administering the Government An administrator (administrator of the government or officer administering the government) in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a governor or a governor-general. ...

") in 1968–69. Following the proclamation of a republic, Everard was Acting President on three occasions between 1975 and 1979.''Heads of State and Government''
John V. Da Graça, Springer, 1985, page 265 His maternal first cousin was the eminent scientist Professor

Naomi Datta Naomi Datta, FRS (''née'' Goddard; 17 September 1922 – 30 November 2008) was a distinguished British geneticist. Working at Hammersmith Hospital in the 1950s and early 1960s, she identified horizontal gene transfer as a source of multi-anti ...

; their maternal grandfather's first cousins were architect Henry Goddard and Mormon pioneer George Goddard.

References

Primary sources

*''Encyclopaedia Rhodesia'' (The College Press, Salisbury, 1973) 1897 births 1980 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge White Rhodesian people Rifle Brigade officers Sherwood Foresters officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Rhodesian businesspeople Rhodesian politicians Presidents of Rhodesia World War II prisoners of war held by Germany British Rail people British emigrants to Rhodesia People from Chipping Barnet Military personnel from Hertfordshire {{Zimbabwe-politician-stub