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The ‘Evil Genius’: Sir Hugh Beadle and the Rhodesian Crisis, 1965–1972

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070701475799

1465-3893

Manuele Facchini,

African studies and sociopolitical issues

Abstract This article assesses the role of the Rhodesian Chief Justice, Sir Hugh Beadle (1905–1977), in the Rhodesian crisis. From 1965 to 1968, as the legal adviser and personal friend of Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs, Beadle participated in official attempts to settle the dispute, indefatigably working behind the scenes as a mediator between the British and Rhodesian governments. Politically opposed to the Rhodesian Front (RF) when the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was announced, Beadle moved into Government House to help the governor and was, for some time, his closest confidant. After he granted legal recognition to the rebel regime in 1968, however, the chief justice became abhorrent to the British public and was expelled from Government House. When he became embroiled in a confrontation with the British government for refusing to return official documents, the Labour government even considered removing him from the Privy Council. Had the unexpected Conservative victory in the 1970 elections not toppled the Labour Party from power, Beadle would have been only the second person in the twentieth century to have been punished in this way. Contrary to Harold Wilson's well-known and generally accepted opinion that Beadle was a ‘furtive supporter of UDI’, I will suggest another plausible explanation for the chief justice's ambiguous behaviour. A mediator between London and Salisbury in the first stages of the UDI crisis, Beadle was a moderate who genuinely tried to broker a settlement until he became convinced that Wilson and Smith had neither the will nor the power to settle the dispute. Sharing the values of many of Rhodesia's long-term settlers, he also came to accept UDI when he realised that Britain would not allow the white elite to preserve their racial privileges. Notes 2 J.R.T. Wood, So Far and No Further! (British Columbia, Trafford Publishing, 2005), p. 9. 1 R. Blake, A History of Rhodesia (New York, A. Knopf, 1978), p. 193. For the convention established between Southern Rhodesia and Great Britain, see C. Palley, The Constitutional History of Southern Rhodesia, 1888–1965 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1966), pp. 241–71. 3 L.W. Bowden, Politics in Rhodesia (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1973), p. 19. 4 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 328. 5 Ibid., p. 322. 6 Wood, So Far, p. 100. 7 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 342. 8 Winston Joseph Field (1904–1969) was born in England and moved to Rhodesia in 1921. 9 D. Lowry, ‘The Ulster of South Africa’, Southern African-Irish Studies, 1 (1991), p. 137. 10 Respectively Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 387 and B. Goldin, The Judge, the Prince and the Usurper (New York, Vantage Press, 1990), p. 41. 11 C. Watts, ‘Killing Kith and Kin: The Viability of British Military Intervention in Rhodesia, 1964–65’, Twentieth Century British History, 16, 4 (2005), p. 16. 12 J.W. Young, The Labour Governments, 1964–1970. Volume 2 (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2003), p. 177. 13 D. Lowry, ‘Gibbs, Sir Humphrey Vicary’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line update, Oxford University Press, 1996. 14 Lowry, ‘Gibbs’, and Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 386. 15 Young, Labour Governments, 1964–1970, p. 177. 16 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 386. The English-born Dupont (1905–1978) was a lawyer who arrived in Rhodesia in 1948. Lardner-Burke (1909–1984) was a Gwelo lawyer. 17 Public Records Office, Kew (hereafter PRO), PRO, PREM 13/545. Telephone call from Beadle to Jones, 12 November 1965. 18 National Archives of Zimbabwe (hereafter NAZ), Oral History Project (ORAL), Interview with Sir Hugh Beadle (ORAL/BE2), p. 52. 19 Quoted in Goldin, The Judge, p. 55. A judge of the Rhodesian high court, Bennie Goldin (1919–2003), was given access by the Beadle family to Beadle's private papers and diaries. 20 C. Palley, ‘Beadle, Sir (Thomas) Hugh’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on-line update, Oxford University Press, 1986. 21 A. Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs (London, Macmillan Press, 1998), p. 112. 22 Goldin, The Judge, p. 26. 23 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p.388. 24 Goldin, The Judge, p. 141. 25 K. Young, Rhodesia and Independence (London, Eyre & Spottiswood, 1967), p. 538. 26 Palley, ‘Beadle’. ‘The Vicar of Bray’ is an eighteenth-century satirical description of an individual fundamentally changing his principles. 27 PRO DO 161/489, Sir Hugh Beadle: Appointment as a Privy Counsellor. Johnson to Watson (CRO), 9 October 1964. 28 PRO DO 161/489, Bottomley to Wilson, 30 November 1964. 29 E. Windrich, Britain and the Politics of Rhodesian Independence (London, Croom Helm, 1978), p. 76. 30 Ibid., p. 76. 31 The Daily Telegraph, 7 August 1971. In fact, the renewal had taken place under the Labour government. See Faulds to Douglas Home, PRO, FCO 36/751, 12 August 1971. 32 M. Williams, Inside Number 10 (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972), p. 165. 33 Ibid., p. 158. 34 C. Dupont, The Reluctant President (Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, 1978), p. 65. 35 Ibid., p. 165. 36 Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs, p. 150. 37 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 386. 38 Private communication to the author, 16 September 2005. 39 K. Young, Rhodesia and Independence, 2nd edn (London, Dent, 1969), pp. 537–8. 40 Julian Greenfield (1907–1993) was Federal minister of law. For the quotation see, J.M. Greenfield, Testimony of a Rhodesian Federal (Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, 1978), p. 98. 41 John Pestell (1916–2005). Private letter to the author, 18 October 2002. By recognising that the Smith government was the de facto government of Rhodesia, the sentence in the Madzimbamuto case opened the way for the final de jure recognition of the regime. 42 Ibid. 43 Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs, p. 117. 44 Respectively PRO PREM 13/1109, lunch-time conversation, 18 January 1966; private letter to the author. 45 NAZ ORAL/BE2, p. 3. Thomas (Hugh William) Beadle was born in Salisbury on 6 February 1905. 46 NAZ ORAL/BE2, p. 3 47 Ibid., p. 3. 53 NAZ ORAL/BE2, p. 40. In 1948, Beadle rejected the offer of some UP and Liberal Party members who saw him as an alternative to Huggins for prime ministership. Ibid., pp. 32–5. 48 Ibid., p. 4. 49 L. Gann & M. Gelfand, Huggins of Rhodesia (London, Allen & Unwin, 1964), p. 50. 50 See ‘Retirement of Sir Hugh Beadle’, Rhodesia Law Journal, 17 (April 1977), pp. 87–96. 51 Respectively NAZ ORAL/BE2, p. 30 and Interview with Sir Julian Greenfield, NAZ ORAL/GR2, p. 34. Beadle, eventually brought in what was known as the ‘Beadle baby scheme’, a maternity grant for white babies. For Beadle's ministerial years, see NAZ ORAL/BE2, p. 30; pp. 32–5 52 NAZ ORAL/GR2, p. 34. 58 Ibid., p. 43. 54 Ibid., pp. 41–2. This notwithstanding, in November 1949, Huggins had sent him to London to discuss with the British Government the legal problems of the Federation he wanted to create. Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 249. 55 See Aiden Crawley's recollection that Beadle started the activity in the Monckton Commission ‘as a radical advocate of white supremacy’ but then modified his views ‘to a remarkable extent in the light of experience’, in Lord Birkenhead, Walter Monckton (London, The Camelot Press, 1969), p. 345. For the quotation and Beadle's own impressions see NAZ ORAL/BE2, pp. 42–3. 56 Ibid., p, 43. 57 Ibid., pp. 44–5. 59 Palley, ‘Beadle.’ 60 I. Hancock, White Liberals, Moderates and Radicals in Rhodesia, 1953–1980 (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1984), p. 8 61 Wood, So Far, pp. 293–329. 62 PRO, PREM 13/554. Minute to the Secretary of State, 25 May 1965. 63 For the six principles see R. Good, UDI (London, Faber & Faber, 1973), p. 48; p. 123. 64 H. Wilson, The Labour Government, 1964–1970 (London, Weidenfeld, Nicholson and Joseph, 1986), p. 219. 65 Respectively S. Kentridge, ‘A Judge's Duty in a Revolution – the Case of Madzimbamuto v. Lardner-Burke’, Commonwealth Judicial Journal, 15, 2 (December 2003), p. 41 and Wood, So Far, p. 424 66 Wood, So Far, p. 424 72 Quoted in Goldin, The Judge, p. 49. 67 PRO, DO 183/874. Tel. No 1667 from Salisbury to CRO, 8 November 1965. 68 Ibid. 69 George Wilburn Rudland (1910–1977) held various ministerships under Field and Smith. 70 Young, Rhodesia and Independence, pp. 286–7. 71 Dupont, Reluctant President, p. 177. 74 PRO, PREM 13/1109. Notes for Foreign Secretary's Discussions with Mr Rusk in Washington, 25 January 1966. On 8 January 1966, Wilson had described Beadle to Lord Alport as ‘having the courage of a lion’ but also ‘the smartness of a fox’. PRO PREM 13/1115. 73 PRO, PREM 13/1109, Note of meeting between Jones, Gardiner and Beadle, 19 January 1966. 75 Wilson, Labour Government, 1964–1970, p. 270. Wilson wrongly thought that Beadle himself was the author of the article (which appeared in the London Sunday Express on 16 January 1966 and in the Rhodesian Sunday Mail on 23 January). In fact, the author was Reginald Paget (1908–1990), Labour MP. Paget spent two hours at Government House with Gibbs and Beadle reporting that they both called for the opening of direct negotiations. 76 Young, Rhodesia and Independence, p. 376. 77 Goldin, The Judge, p. 77. 78 PRO, PREM 13/1132. Record of meeting between Gardiner, Gibbs and Beadle, 27/11/1966. 79 PREM 13/1128. Salisbury to CRO, Tel. 1295, 3 October 1966. 80 PRO, CAB 134/3617, R(X)66,16th, 25 October 1966. 81 Rhodes House Library, Oxford, ‘The Diary of Sir John Pestell’, p. 156. 82 Wilson, Labour Government, 1964–1970, p. 405. 83 Ibid., p. 405. 84 Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs, p. 129. 85 Goldin, The Judge, p. 77. 86 Ibid., p. 77. 87 Private letter to the author. 88 Goldin, The Judge, p. 80. 89 Good, UDI, p. 227. 90 Goldin, The Judge, pp. 95–6. 91 Good, UDI, pp. 242–5. 92 Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs, p. 148. Robert Tredgold (1899–1977) was Federal Chief Justice (1950–1960). 93 Ibid., p. 150. 94 The state executed the three Africans on 6 March 1968 and Beadle lost his dormant commission on 15 March 1968 (Beadle was replaced by Sir Henry McDowell). PRO, FCO 36/39. Memorandum on Sir Hugh Beadle, September 1968. 95 Megahey, Humphrey Gibbs, p. 150; The Melbourne Herald, 6 March 1968. 96 See Palley, Constitutional History, p. 276; pp 720–21. 97 Young, Rhodesia (2nd edn.), pp. 536–7. 98 Borthwick Institute, York, Thyne Papers, The Papers of William Thyne OBE, Beadle to Thyne, 13 March 1968. 101 G. Williams, ‘The Case That Stopped a Coup?’, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 1, 1 (2001), p. 74. 99 See F.M. Brookfield, ‘The Courts, Kelsen and the Rhodesian Revolution’, University of Toronto Law Journal, 19, 3 (1969), pp. 326–52. 100 PRO FCO 36/39. Confidential memorandum on the possible removal of Sir Hugh Beadle from Privy Council, September 1968. 103 NAZ ORAL/BE, p. 51. 102 PRO FCO 36/39. 104 Ibid., p. 51. 105 Rhodesia Herald, 26 November 1968, quoted in Good, UDI, p. 285. 106 Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968, XXIV, Telegram no. 568, 7 October 1968. 107 Good, UDI, pp. 345–6. 108 I. Smith, The Great Betrayal (London, Blake Publishing, 1997), p. 145. 109 PRO, CAB 164/118. 110 PRO, CAB 164/118, Brighty to Palliser, 15 August 1968 111 Bowden, Politics in Rhodesia, p. 139. 112 PRO, FCO 36/605, Graham (FCO) to Halls (Downing Street), 17 March 1970. 113 The financier Sir Edgar Speyer was the only person to be removed from the Privy Council in the twentieth century. In 1921, he was struck off after being convicted of collaborating with the Germans in the First World War. 114 PRO, FCO 36/605, Varcoe to Mansfield, 17 April 1970. A secret report argued that ‘Beadle had hoped that he might be appointed the first “President” of the republic. When he was disappointed, he may have purposely stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony’. Ibid., Note by Mansfield (FCO), 27 April 1970. 115 The Rhodesia Herald, 29 April 1970. 116 PRO, FCO 36/605, Stewart to Wilson. 117 Ibid., Downing Street to Graham, 19 May 1970. 118 PRO, FCO 36/1046, January 1972 – December 1972. In 1972, the Pearce Commission reported that the proposals for a settlement, put forth by the Heath government in November 1971, were not acceptable to the Rhodesian people. 119 Beadle's obituary is in the Rhodesia Herald, 16 December 1980. 120 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 388 121 Rhodesians also blamed Whitehall for petty vindictive measures, for instance, Douglas-Home's pre-UDI decision to withdraw the traditional invitation of the Rhodesian prime minister to the Commonwealth prime ministers’ conference and, in 1966, the banning of the Rhodesians from the annual remembrance service at the Cenotaph. 122 B. Pimlott, The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy (London, HarperCollins, 1996), p. 351. 123 Respectively: Blake, History of Rhodesia, p. 386; NAZ, interview with R.G.S. Todd, ORAL/TO1, p. 28. 124 Ibid., p. 28. 125 Blake, History of Rhodesia, p 369. 126 PRO PREM 15/546, Mitchell to Wilson, 12 November 1965 and PREM 13/553, Mitchell, Note for the Record, 21 November 1965. 127 Kentridge, ‘A Judge's Duty’, p. 41. 128 Ibid., p. 42. 129 Pimlott, The Queen, p. 353. 130 Ibid., p. 353.