Mark Henry Heathcote Partridge (23 November 1922 – 13 December 2007) was a

Rhodesian Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

politician who served as the minister of Lands and Natural Resources and Defence.

Early life

Partridge was born on 23 November 1922, at States Mines,

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includes ...

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

, in

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 ...

. A year later his family moved to

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

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 ...

, and Patridge was later educated at St. George's College. He enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1940, seeing service in the Mediterranean theatre. In 1944 he received a temporary commission as an officer in the KRRC. Following demobilisation in 1945, Partridge became a company director.

Political career

After joining the

Rhodesian Front The Rhodesian Front was a right-wing conservative political party in Southern Rhodesia, subsequently known as Rhodesia. It was the last ruling party of Southern Rhodesia prior to that country's unilateral declaration of independence, and the rul ...

party, Partridge stood as the RF candidate for 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 found ...

seat of Greendale in the December 1962 assembly election. He subsequently gained 55% of the vote, defeating Herbert Jack Quinton of the

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, which had operated at the federal level, and the Southern Rhodesian ...

. He was re-elected for Greendale in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

and at the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

elections in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

(72%),

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

(70.2%) and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

(79.3%). In 1966 he was made Minister of Local Government and Housing by Prime Minister

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

, and was made Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in May 1973. On 10 March 1977, he was briefly appointed as

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

, before being appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Water Development until the end of Rhodesia on 1 June 1979. In the only

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

for the House of Assembly of

Zimbabwe Rhodesia Zimbabwe Rhodesia (), alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, and sometimes as Rhobabwe, was a short-lived sovereign state that existed from 1 June to 12 December 1979. Zimbabwe Rhodesia was p ...

held in April 1979, Partridge was elected unopposed as the member for Highlands but did not hold office in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. Following

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

's formal independence and first elections in 1980, Partridge was elected to the indirectly-elected

Senate of Zimbabwe The Senate of Zimbabwe is the upper of the two chambers in Zimbabwe's Parliament. It existed from independence in 1980 until 1989, and was re-introduced in November 2005. The other chamber of Parliament is the National Assembly. In its curren ...

. With the Rhodesian Front becoming the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe from 1984, he moved from the Senate to the

from the 1985 election as the MP for Mazowe-Mutoko, serving until the abolition of the White roll seats in 1987.

References

Rhodesian people of British descent Alumni of St. George's College, Harare King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Southern Rhodesian military personnel of World War II British Army personnel of World War II White Rhodesian people White Zimbabwean politicians Rhodesian politicians 1922 births 2007 deaths Rhodesian Front politicians Members of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia Members of the Parliament of Rhodesia Members of the Senate of Zimbabwe Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians South African emigrants to Rhodesia Defence Ministers of Zimbabwe {{Zimbabwe-politician-stub