Richard Brathwaite Hope Hall ICD (5 June 1924 – 17 November 2007) was a British-born merchant banker, businessman, and politician active in Rhodesia (now

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 ...

) during the 1960s and 70s. A member of 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 1 ...

's UDI cabinet, he served as a member of parliament in Rhodesia's

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 gove ...

from 1965 to 1976. He began his political career as a member of the

Dominion Party The Dominion Party was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, led by Winston Field. History The party was established in 1956 by a merger of several political groups and the remains of the Confederate Party, which had d ...

, and served as its chairman from 1960 to 1962. In 1962, he was a founding member of the Rhodesian Front, but switched to the Rhodesian Action Party in 1976. After unsuccessfully running for re-election in

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 Democrat ...

, he moved back to the United Kingdom, where he lived until his death.

Early life and education

Hope Hall was born on 5 June 1924 in

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

, Devon, England, United Kingdom. He was educated at Charterhouse School in Godalming, then he served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

during

World War II 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 opposing ...

as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve where he was mentioned in Despatches. During the war, he became partially deaf as a result of exposure to gunfire. In 1947, he was

demobilised Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

as Senior AA Gunnery Lieutenant on the carrier HMS Hunter. He embarked on his career in merchant banking. In 1948 he got a transfer to Cape Town . In June 1950, he moved to

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 kno ...

to set up a branch of what was later to be known as UDC in Salisbury.,

Political career

Upon moving to

, Hope Hall became involved in business and politics. Initially setting up UDC in Salisbury he moved on to work for Standard Finance. Around the same time he went into partnership with John Smith with Smith & Hall pianos He joined the

, and ran unsuccessfully for parliament in 1959. From 1960 to 1962, he chaired Dominion Party, which after 1960 was solely based in Southern Rhodesia, when the party's Northern Rhodesian and Nyasaland branches split off to form the

Federal Dominion Party The Dominion Party was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, led by Winston Field. History The party was established in 1956 by a merger of several political groups and the remains of the Confederate Party, which had di ...

. In March 1962, when the Dominion Party was reconstituted as the Rhodesian Front, Hope Hall was a founding member. In 1965, the year Rhodesia declared independence from the United Kingdom, Hope Hall won election to the

as the Rhodesian Front candidate for the Highlands South constituency. He was reelected 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 of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

with 76% of the vote, and again in 1974 with 75% of the vote. On 27 March 1973, he was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and Chairman of Committees. He was a member of the parliamentary caucus all through his career and was at the meeting where the PM The Hon. Ian Douglas Smith asked each member on their view of the way forward. Richard agreed the a declaration of Independence was the only way but stipulated that if declared then a national day of prayer be called. This was heartily seconded by Angus Graham (Duke of Montrose). There followed, 'two of the most peaceful years of my life' as he recalled to his son Andrew later.From Andrew Hope Hal's current works on his personal memoire "Recollections of War, peace, activism and faith". He was a member of the Police 'C' Reserve throughout his time in Rhodesia and ended as the Commander of the Highlands Police Station C Reserve. His son Mark served in the C Reserve in between call-ups to the army. In 1977, the Rhodesian parliament was presented with a highly controversial bill that, if passed, would open up some areas of European-designated land to African ownership. The House of Assembly voted on Land Tenure Amendment Bill on 4 March 1977. On a

three line whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

, Hope Hall and 11 other conservative Rhodesian Front MPs voted against the bill. Nicknamed the Dirty Dozen by the Rhodesian press, Hope Hall and the other MPs left Rhodesian Front and formed the right-wing Rhodesian Action Party. Prime Minister

, whose party had now lost its two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution responded by dissolving the House of Assembly and scheduling elections earlier than previously planned. In the 1977 general elections, Hope Hall, along with the other Rhodesian Action Party members, lost his seat in parliament. After 1977, Hope Hall never ran for elected office again.

Later life and death

Hope Hall remained in Rhodesia through the

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 ...

period. In September 1979, six months before

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

would become president of the new

government, Hope Hall and his wife left and moved to the United Kingdom, losing most of their possessions. They settled in Tadley, where his wife worked as a nurse at a local hospital. Hope Hall died on 17 November 2007 at his home in Tadley. He died around mid-day, having gone for his daily hour-long walk earlier that morning. He was survived by his wife, his three sons, and eight grandchildren. He is buried in Tadley, next to his wife, who died in 2015. Their shared tombstone simply says "Rhodesians."

Personal life

Hope Hall was married to Renée Evelyn Tyndale-Biscoe. He met her in the early 1950s in

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 ...

(now Harare), where she taught at

Girls High School Girls High School is a historically and architecturally notable public secondary school building located at 475 Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It was built in 1886.''Brooklyn: a soup-to-nuts g ...

. They were married at the Salisbury Anglican Cathedral on 16 February 1952. After marrying, they bought a home in Salisbury on Wingate Road. They later relocated to Dulwich Road in the Highlands area, the constituency Hope Hall would later represent in Parliament. Together, they had three sons: Robert, Mark, and Andrew. Their sons were educated at St. John's Preparatory School and

Falcon College Falcon College (or simply Falcon) is an independent boarding school for boys and girls aged 12–18 in the southern Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1954 near Essexvale, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Esigodini, Zim ...

, and all fought in the

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...

, Robert in 4th Bn RR, Mark in the highly successful 3 Indep Company – then 4th Bn RR and Andrew in the BSAP Black Boots. Robert left Rhodesia in 1977, Mark in October 1978 and Andrew leaving Zimbabwe in January 1983. Renée Hope Hall worked at the Rhodesian Front headquarters and managed her husband's political campaigns. Renee also trained Police reservists in First aid and helped out with ambulance driving and WVRS forces canteens. Hope Hall was an amateur ornithologist and could identify a bird by its song from twenty yards away, despite his partial deafness from the war.

Awards and honours

Independence Commemorative Decoration The Independence Commemorative Decoration was a Rhodesian civil decoration awarded to persons who had rendered valuable service to Rhodesia. The award was instituted in 1970 by Presidential Warrant, the first awards being made the same year. Recip ...

Electoral history

Parliamentary elections

Highlands South constituency, 1959 * ''Opponent missing'' * Richard Hope Hall ( DP) Highlands South constituency, 1965 * Richard Hope Hall ( RF) * Alan David Butler ( RNP) Highlands South constituency, 1970 * Richard Hope Hall (RF) – 1,133 (76.3%) * Jeremy Ralph Bushton Broome ( CP) – 351 (23.7%) Highlands South constituency, 1974 * Richard Hope Hall (RF) – 1,299 (75.3%) * Marcus Patrick Doyle ( RP) – 425 (24.7%) Highlands South constituency, 1977 * John Christie (RF) – 1,266 (76.5%) * Richard Hope Hall (

RAP Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

) – 230 (13.9%) * David Frank Sutherland (CP) – 158 (9.6%)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope Hall, Richard 1924 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Anglicans 20th-century English lawyers 21st-century Anglicans 21st-century English lawyers British emigrants to Southern Rhodesia Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Dominion Party politicians English Anglicans Members of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia Members of the Parliament of Rhodesia People educated at Charterhouse School Military personnel from Bideford People from Harare Rhodesian Anglicans Rhodesian businesspeople Rhodesian emigrants to the United Kingdom Rhodesian Front politicians Rhodesian lawyers Rhodesian politicians White Rhodesian people White Zimbabwean politicians People from Tadley Royal Naval Reserve personnel