The Reverend Alexander McAulay founded the Bow Road Methodist Church (ACC/1850/11) in 1861.
The North Bow Primitive Methodist Church was founded in 1878. It was one of two in the London Mission, although by the 1920s it was in the East London Mission, under the Metropolitan Mission. It closed in 1933.
The Prince of Wales Wesleyan Methodist Church stood in Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town. The church closed in 1965 when it merged with the Gospel Oak Methodist Church, and the building was converted to a Dance Centre.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 153-158.
Harlesden Methodist Church was founded in 1869. It was damaged by enemy action in 1941, and rebuilt in the 1950s on its present site.
Willesden Green Primitive Methodist chapel was opened in the High Road, Willesden Green by 1897. The church was rebuilt in 1904 but closed in 1963.
Brunswick Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was situated on Three Colt Street, Limehouse. The building was sold to the London County Council in 1965.
The Queen Victoria Seamen's Rest (QVSR) started life as the Wesleyan Seamen's Mission of the Methodist Church in 1843. The aim was to minister to the spiritual needs and promote the social and morale welfare of seafarers and their families in the vicinity of the Port of London.
Over time a need arose for a meeting place of some kind in the new sailor town that had sprung up at Poplar. Right opposite the 'seamen's entrance' of the local Board of Trade Office on the East India Dock Road in Jeremiah Street stood a small public house called The Magnet. In 1887, the license of The Magnet was withdrawn, providing the Mission an opportunity to rent the public house and it was transformed into a Seamen's Rest.
Gradually the sphere of the Mission 's operation extended from London Bridge to Tilbury and embraced the river, docks and wharfs, as well as the on-shore haunts of sailors and hospitals, so that by the end of the century it was evident that the old 'Magnet' premises were inadequate. The freehold of No 1 Jeremiah Street and its adjoining properties was purchased in 1899; the whole site was cleared and a new Seamen's Home and Institute built. The foundation stone was laid on the 17th December 1901 by the Lord Mayor of London, and King Edward VII gave his royal consent for the new Seamen's Rest to bear his mother's name, "Queen Victoria ".
The Seamen's Hospital Society 'Dreadnought' rented a portion of the building to use as a sailor's dispensary clinic providing free medical treatment on the premises. In addition free banking was available and a lawyer held an advice surgery once a week. The Association with Seamen's Homes Beyond the Seas had been inaugurated and men from the Mission were introduced to similar institutions in foreign ports. As the work of the mission prospered a resolution was made to extend the building by another storey to increase the number of beds from 25 to 60.
In order to function effectively, QVSR needed a separate hall for public worship and meetings. The Emery Hall was opened on December 5th 1907 by the Patron, HRH Princess Louise. In the First World War, 20,000 unarmed Merchant Seamen lost their lives and the Mission began an appeal to raise funds for a War Memorial Wing with room for another 100 beds. On 20th October 1932 , Prince George (later Duke of Kent) performed the opening ceremony. The extension comprised three stories of private cubicles, 66 in all, a lounge and the New Agar Hall. Each cubicle was plainly furnished with an iron bedstead, dressing table, wooden chair, rug and electric light.
On June 21st 1944 a V1 Flying-bomb fell in Jeremiah Street and the whole of the staff quarters were destroyed. Mercifully, there was no loss of life. Disaster struck again on August 3rd when another bomb displaced the temporary repairs and added further damage, but restoration was done by the seamen lodgers and it was a source of pride that the Rest never closed.
With the war over, plans for the centenary extension of another 60 bedrooms and other sundry communal rooms resumed. The new development was in two parts, one each end of the building. The North Block included an officers' lounge and billiard room together with a chapel, library and 35 bedrooms for officers. The South Block provided not only a common room and rest rooms, two cafes and new bedrooms for ratings, but also a spacious entrance hall with an imposing entrance onto the main road. This necessitated a change of postal address from Jeremiah Street to 121-131 East India Dock Road.
Over the next thirty years, the "Queen Vic" had to adjust itself in line with the re-development of the East End Dockland area and the modernisation of the shipping industry. In order to maintain financial efficiency, space was made to allow a number of retired seamen a more permanent home at QVSR whilst also providing a home for men who had nowhere else to turn. In recent times there has been an increased use of the London River, from Barking Creek to Silvertown, which has re-kindled the need to provide a service that supports the welfare of active seafarers using the Port of London .
Source: http://www.qvsr.org.uk/history.htm.
The Spitalfields Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was situated at the corner of Church Street (now Fournier Street) and Brick Lane, Spitalfields. The building was constructed in 1743 for a Huguenot congregation. In 1819 the lease passed to the Wesleyan Methodists, who remained in the building until 1897. The building was subsequently used as a synagogue and then a mosque.
In 1885 the Wesleyan Methodist Church established its first Mission at Saint George's Church, Cable Street, Shadwell, with the Reverend Peter Thompson as Superintendent. The Church aimed to combat the poverty and squalor of the East End of London with a combination of evangelism and social work. The Mission at Saint George's rapidly expanded and new Missions were opened at Stepney, Mile End, Bethnal Green and Tower Hill. Following the foundation of the welfare state after the Second World War the Mission shifted the focus of its social work. Saint George's was converted into a centre for the care of homeless men.
The Grove Wesleyan Methodist Mission was situated on Great Guildford Street, Southwark.
The School Board for London was set up under the Public Elementary Education Act of 1870 for the whole of the 'metropolis', the latter being defined as the area coming within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works. For electoral and administrative purposes the area was split into ten divisions. The franchise was extended to all ratepayers (including women) who were entitled to vote in the vestry elections; the Board was therefore the first of the Metropolitan authorities to be directly elected on a democratic basis.
Though in its early years the Board has great difficulty in carrying out even the minimal requirements of the Act, it was by the 1880's trying to extend its functions to fill the obvious need for education beyond the three R's and to improve the physical conditions of the children. The School Board was closed in 1903 and its powers passed to the London County Council.
Paddington Green is the name given both to an open space and to the village surrounding it, bounded to the north and east by Edgware Road, to the south and west by the Grand Junction canal and to the north by the Regent's canal. The parish church was Saint Mary's, which ceased to be used in 1845. Part of the green west of the church, which had been bought as more burial ground, was instead used for a new parish vestry hall.
The vestry hall of the parish of Saint George was rebuilt in 1884 on Mount Street, near Hanover Square, Mayfair, presumably with an attached garden.
The church of Saint Mary the Virgin in the High Street, Lewisham was a medieval foundation which has undergone several rebuildings. The churchyard was closed to burials in 1856. District Boards of Works handled aspects of local government and administration relating to public health, such as sewerage, drainage, maintenance of roads and highways, transport systems and the management of public open spaces.
The Emmanuel Church on Hornsey Road, Holloway, in the borough of Islington was constructed in 1886 and is still used for worship.
George Green's School, 80 Manchester Road, Poplar was opened originally as an endowed charity school and then reorganised in 1884. Control of the school was handed to the London County Council in 1910.
In 1715 the Westminster Hospital was founded to help the poor and needy. It opened as a Public Infirmary in 1719, situated first in Petty France, then Chapel Street and finally James Street. A hospital building was not opened until 1834. For a more detailed history of the Westminster Hospital please see H02/WH.
Saint Saviour's Grammar School, Southwark was founded in 1559 as a free grammar school. In 1896 it became Saint Olave's and Saint Saviour's Schools Foundation, which supports Saint Olave's Grammar School for boys and Saint Saviour's and Saint Olave's Church of England School for Girls.
The Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, was founded in 1801 at the height of Britain's war with France (1793-1815). An estimated 315,000 men died during this conflict, leaving their dependents destitute. The Asylum was intended to provide a home and school for the children of fallen rank and file soldiers as an alternative to the workhouse. In 1892, the RMA was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and, in 1909, moved to new premises constructed on the Downs of Dover, Kent.
Source: The Duke of York's Royal Military School website, http://www.achart.ca/york/history.html.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
A workhouse was constructed in Saint Marylebone in 1730, while Directors and Guardians of the poor were first constituted in 1775. In 1867 the Metropolitan Poor Act enabled the Poor Law Board to bring all independent 'local act' parishes within the scope of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Therefore the Directors and Guardians of the Poor of the parish of Saint Marylebone were abolished and were replaced by an elected Board of Guardians. The new Guardians continued to develop the existing workhouse site at Northumberland Road, adding new wards and facilities. During these renovations some of the inmates were held at the disused Holborn Union workhouse on Grays Inn Road. Casual wards for vagrants were also opened on Grays Inn Road.
In 1879 construction began on a new infirmary at Rackham Street, Ladbroke Grove, which created more space for the able bodied in the main workhouse. The Guardians also constructed and managed an industrial school in Southall.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Early Commissioners of Sewers were solely concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, not with the removal of sewage in the modern sense. In 1531 an Act of Sewers was passed which set out in great detail the duties and powers of Commissioners and governed their work until the 19th century. Gradually a permanent pattern emerged in the London area of seven commissions, five north and two south of the Thames, with, after the Great Fire, a separate commission for the City of London. The London commissioners had more extensive powers than those in other parts of the country; they had control over all watercourses and ditches within two miles of the City of London as well as newly constructed drains and sewers. After 1800 the London commissioners also obtained powers to control the formation of new sewers and house drains.
The first Commission of Sewers for the Westminster area issued under the 1531 Act appears to be that for "certen lymitts in and aboute Westminster in the countie of Midd" issued on 22 May 1596 (National Archives Crown Office Docquet Book, Ind. 4208). For the next 50 years the formula varied but the bounds of the commission always extended beyond Westminster. The first extant Letters Patent appointing a commission defines the limits as "extending from the Parishes of Hampton, Teddington, Twitnam, Isleworth, Hanwell, Cranford, Acton, Eling, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsey in the County of Middlesex and the City of Westminster and precincts of the same and so to Temple Bar. And from thence within the Parishes of St. Giles in the Fields, Pancras, Marylebone, Hampstead, Wilsden, Paddington and to the River of Thames" (W.C.S. 1). It was not until 1807 that the area was defined by statute (Act 47, Geo. III, Sess I.c.7 (L. and P.)). It then included all parishes within what is now the County of London west of the City and north of the Thames as far as Stamford Brook, with part of Willesden.
Rapid building development in Westminster in the second half of the 17th century added greatly to the difficulties and duties of the Commissioners. By an Act of 1690 (Act 2, W. and M. Sess II.c.8) new sewers, when built, were subject to their supervision but statutory power to control the construction of new sewers or to build new sewers themselves was not obtained until 1807 (Act 47, Geo. III, Sess I.c.7 (L. and P.)). In 1834 the Commissioners obtained a Special Act (Act 4 and 5, W. IV, c.96) to enable them to construct a new sewer in Bayswater. By the 1840s they were conscious of the need to overhaul the whole of their organisation but the amending Act of 1847 (Act 10 and 11, Vic., c.70 (L and P.)) came too late for any effective action.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
The Westminster Boards of Guardians were formed of several smaller Unions in the Westminster area which merged:
Saint George's Hanover Square Poor Law Union:
1789: Care and management of the poor vested in a body of Governors and Directors elected by the vestry of St George Hanover Square
1867: Superseded by a Board of Guardians for the parish
1870: Became part of Saint George's Union
Saint Margaret and Saint John Poor Law Union:
1851: Governors and Directors of the poor appointed for parishes of St Margaret and St John the Evangelist
1867: superseded by Board of Guardians for the united parishes
1870: became part of Saint George's Union
1875: Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter added to Saint George's Union
City of Westminster Poor Law Union:
1913: Saint George's Union amalgamated with the Strand and Westminster Unions to form the City of Westminster Union
Strand Poor Law Union:
1836: Union formed of the parishes of the Liberty of the Rolls, Saint Clement Danes, Saint Mary le Strand, Saint Paul Covent Garden and the Precinct of the Savoy
1837: Parish of Saint Anne added
1868: Parish of Saint Anne removed to form part of the Westminster Union, and the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields added
1913: Strand Union amalgamated with Westminster Union and Saint George's Union
Westminster Poor Law Union
1727: poor of parish of Saint James in the care of the Vestry Parochial Committee
1762: Governors and Directors of the Poor appointed
1868: amalgamated with parish of St Anne to form Westminster Union. NB Vestry of St James continued to elect Governors and Directors until 1889 when they were abolished
1913: Westminster Union amalagamated with Strand and St George's Union to form City of Westminster Poor Law Union
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
James Ware was born at Portsmouth on 11 February 1756, and was the son of Martin Ware, who was successively the master shipbuilder of the royal dockyards of Sheerness, Plymouth, and Deptford. He was educated at the Portsmouth grammar school, and went upon trial to Ramsay Karr, surgeon of the King's Yard in Portsmouth on 3 July 1770. He was bound apprentice to Karr on 2 March 1771, to serve for five years from the previous July. During his apprenticeship he attended the practice of the surgeons at the Haslar Naval Hospital, and, having served a part of his time, his master allowed him, as was then the usual custom, to come to London for the purpose of attending the medical and surgical practice of one of the general hospitals. Ware selected St. Thomas's, and entered himself as a student on 25 Sept. 1773. In 1776, Joseph Else appointed him to be his demonstrator of anatomy. On 1 January 1777 he began to act as assistant to Jonathan Wathen, a surgeon who devoted himself principally to diseases of the eye; and on 25 March 1778 he entered into partnership with Wathen until 1791, after which Ware began to practise upon his own account, chiefly but not entirely in ophthalmic surgery. In 1788 he became one of the founders of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men in London and its vicinity, a society of which he was chosen president in 1809. In 1800 he founded the school for the indigent blind, in imitation of a similar institution which had been established at Liverpool ten years earlier. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 18 Jan 1798, and on 11 March 1802 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society. He married, in 1787, the widow of N. Polhill, and daughter of Robert Maitland, by whom he had a large family of sons and daughters. He died on 13 April 1815.
Publications:
Remarks on the Ophthalmy, Psorophthalmy, and Purulent Eye, London, 1780; Chirurgical observations relative to the epiphora, or Watery Eye ... The scrophulous or intermittent ophthalmy, the extraction of the cataract, and the introduction of the male catheter, London, 1792; An enquiry into the causes which have ... commonly prevented success in the operation of extracting the cataract, London, 1795; Chirurgical Observations relative to the Eye, London, 1798; Remarks on the Fistula Lachrymalis, to which are added observations on hæmorrhoids and additional remarks on the ophthalmy, London, 1798; Remarks on the purulent ophthalmy which has lately been epidemical in this country, London, 1808; Observations on the Treatment of the Epiphora edited by his son, Martin Ware, London, 1818; On an Operation of largely Puncturing the Capsule of the Crystalline Humour in Gutta Serena, London, 1812. He published several papers of professional importance in the Transactions of the Medical and of the Medical and Chirurgical societies, of which the most interesting are the cases of recovery of sight after long periods of blindness. He also edited Reade's Practical Observations on Diseases of the Inner Corner of the Eye, London, 1811; and translated Wenzel's Treatise on Cataract, 1791.
Astley Paston Cooper was born at Brooke Hall near Norwich, 1768; educated at home; apprenticed to his uncle, William Cooper, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, 1784; soon after transferred to Henry Cline, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital; Edinburgh Medical School, 1787-1788; Demonstrator of anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1789; joint lecturer with Cline in anatomy and surgery, 1791; lectured on anatomy at the College of Surgeons, 1793-1796; Surgeon, Guy's Hospital, 1800-1825; private practice rapidly increased; Fellow, Royal Society, 1802; made post-mortem examinations wherever possible, and was often in contact with 'resurrectionists'; a founder and first treasurer, 1805, President, 1819-1820, Medical and Chirurgical Society of London; Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, 1813; lectured, 1814-1815; performed a small operation on George IV, 1820; by the bestowal of a baronetcy; examiner at the College of Surgeons, 1822; published his 'Dislocations and Fractures of the Joints', 1822; resigned his lectureship at St. Thomas's, 1825; instigator of the founding of a separate medical school at Guy's Hospital; Consulting Surgeon to Guy's Hospital; President, College of Surgeons, 1827, 1836; Sergeant-Surgeon to King William IV, 1828; Vice-President, Royal Society, 1830; died, 1841.
Publications include: The Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Inguinal and Congenital Hernia (Crural and Umbilical Hernia) (printed for T Cox; sold by Messrs Johnson, etc, London, 1804); A Treatise on Dislocations, and on Fractures of the Joints (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown; E Cox & Son, London, 1822); The Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart., F.R.S. ... on the Principles and Practice of Surgery: with additional notes and cases, by Frederick Tyrrell 3 volumes (Thomas & George Underwood, London, 1824-1827); Illustrations of the Diseases of the Breast ... In two parts (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green: London, 1829; Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery Second edition (F C Westley, London, 1830); Observations on the Structure and Diseases of the Testis (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green; Highley & Underwood, London, 1830); The Anatomy of the Thymus Gland (Longman, Rees, Orme, Green & Brown, London, 1832).
Richard Weekes was born in 1751, the son of Richard Weekes of Shoreham. He was admitted as a pupil at Guy's Hospital, London in 1773. He married in 1777Charity Hampton (1756-1786). In 1791, he married Elizabeth Peckham (1791-1802) Hampton Weekes was born in 1780, the eldest son of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his wife Charity Hampton. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School from1791-1796, before returning home to learn the trade of surgeon-apothecary. He furthered his studies at St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he was pupil to Richard Whitfield, Hospital Apothecary, from 1801 to 1803. He practiced in Brighton, before returning to the family home at Hurst around 1810. He married in 1906, Sarah Borer (died 1829), and in 1836, Phyllia Ellis. He retired to Brighton in 1831 aftter selling the family home to his son George, also a medical practitioner. He died in 1855. Richard Weekes was born in 1751, the son of Richard Weekes of Shoreham. He was admitted as a pupil at Guy's Hospital, London in 1773. He married in 1777Charity Hampton (1756-1786). In 1791, he married Elizabeth Peckham (1791-1802).
Hampton Weekes was born in 1780, the eldest son of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his wife Charity Hampton. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School from1791-1796, before returning home to learn the trade of surgeon-apothecary. He furthered his studies at St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he was pupil to Richard Whitfield, Hospital Apothecary, from 1801 to 1803. He practiced in Brighton, before returning to the family home at Hurst around 1810. He married in 1906, Sarah Borer (died 1829), and in 1836, Phyllia Ellis. He retired to Brighton in 1831 aftter selling the family home to his son George, also a medical practitioner. He died in 1855.
Richard Weekes (junior) was born in 1783, the second son of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his wife Charity Hampton. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School between 1795 and 1797, after which he assisted his father in his surgeons practice, succeeding his brother Hampton as pupil to Richard Whitfield, Apothecary, St Thomas's Hospital, London, in 1803. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeon, 1804. He returned to Hurst where he practiced his trade as well as engaging in the collection of archaeological artefacts. He died in 1847.
Mary Ann Weekes was born in 1781, the eldest daughter of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his wife Charity Hampton. In 1811, she married Nathaniel Borrer. She died in 1854.
Grace Weekes , was born in 1784, the second daughter of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his wife Charity Hampton. She never married, and died in 1834.
Fanny Weekes was born in 1792, the daughter of Richard Weekes, a Sussex doctor, and his second wife Elizabeth Peckham. She died in 1823.
Harvey Henry Vincent Welch entered St Thomas's Hospital as a student in 1905. He graduated MB BS, Lond, 1911, FRCS Edin. He served with the British East Africa Medical Service.
The first organised Trotskyist organisation on the Witwatersrand was an ephemeral Communist League of Africa, founded in 1932 by Thibedi, followed by a succession of small Trotskyist groups in Johannesburg. In the Western Cape, which was to become the historical stronghold of South African Trotskyism, the first organisation was the Lenin Club, which was formed in 1933. It split soon after, with its majority faction joining with Johannesburg-based groups to form the Workers' Party of South Africa in 1935, and the remainder forming the Communist League of South Africa. The South African Trotskyists were, from the start, characterised by centrifugal tendencies, and were also disunited in their response to the two-stage theory of the Communist Party of South Africa.
Kenneth Vundukayi Manyonda was born in 1934 in Buhero, in Southern Rhodesia. After completing his education he worked in various jobs in the industrial and commercial sector. He became a member of the African National Congress of Rhodesia not long after its formation, and then joined the National Democratic Party after the banning of the ANC, becoming the local branch secretary of the NDP in Gwelo. After a short period working in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia, Manyonda returned to Gwelo in 1962, where he was asked to become chairman of the Gwelo branch of ZAPU. Also at this time, Manyonda first became involved in trade union activity. He obtained a post as an accounts clerk for Charles W Hall Ltd., a hosiery manufacturing company, and when workers at the factory decided to form themselves into a branch of the Textile Workers' Union of Rhodesia, Manyonda was elected their chairman. At a national meeting in Gatooma, the Union's name was changed to the United Textile Workers Union of Rhodesia, and Manyonda was elected President.
Following the split in ZAPU and the formation of ZANU in 1963, Manyonda joined the latter organisation. He became vice-chairman of the Gwelo branch, and was increasingly involved in both political and trade union activities. In 1966 he was arrested and began what turned out to be over two years of detention. On his release in 1968, he found himself unemployable in industry. Instead, he obtained a full-time position with his union, first resigning his presidency which had continued during his detention. Manyonda organised the publication of a union newspaper, which led to his election as Publicity Secretary for the African Trades Union Congress. However, he then made the decision to leave Rhodesia, having obtained a British Government grant to study industrial relations in the UK. He arrived in Britain in 1970, with his two young sons, and wrote the autobiographical account while there.
At some date after the writing of this account, Manyonda returned to Rhodesia and ultimately became involved in the Government of the independent Zimbabwe, latterly holding the position of Provincial Governor of Manicaland.
The University of Transkei (UNITRA) was established in Umtata in 1976 at the request of the Government of the Transkei Homeland, initially as a branch of the University of Fort Hare. Its mission was to offer educational opportunities to the largely rural population, and to upgrade the qualifications of teachers and civil servants who hitherto had been denied the chance to attend higher education institutions by Apartheid policies. Legislation in 1976 provided for the establishment of an autonomous University, which officially opened in 1977. It experienced rapid expansion in the following decade.
During the 1980s, when resistance to the Apartheid regime was occurring throughout South Africa, there were several instances of demonstrations and unrest among the students at Transkei. The papers in this collection document some of these events.
Proposals to introduce income tax to Kenya Colony and to the Straits Settlements were made in 1933 and 1940 respectively. In the case of Kenya there was strong opposition from colonists working in trade and commerce, who viewed the proposed legislation as detrimental to their economic viability and a removal of one of the material benefits of living and working in the colony. The petition was spearheaded by Lord Francis Scott, a son of the Duke of Buccleuch, and a Member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council.
In the Straits Settlements, while an increase in taxation was accepted in principle because of the outbreak of war, the petitioners viewed income tax as a method impossible to implement efectively and fairly, because of widespread corruption in the colony. They suggested (but did not specify) an alternative method of taxation which would be self-assessing.
In Fiji, schools for the large Indian community provided (in accordance with legislation) teaching of and in the Indian language of Hindustani only, despite there being significant numbers speaking the languages of South India, namely Tamil, Telegu and Malayalam. There had been moves to widen the teaching to include these languages in the 1930s, instigated by the then Governor, Sir Arthur Richards. Following Sir Arthur's transfer from the Colony, the matter remained in abeyance, and the petitioners sought to reactify this by appealing directly to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) promotes, through collaborative projects, the growth of international telecommunications throughout the Commonwealth. The organisation endeavours to link its commitment to development and training to the benefits attached to the creation and extension of commercial opportunities.
Commonwealth collaboration in international telecommunications dates back to 1902. During this period the nature and scope of formal Commonwealth collaboration in this field has undergone profound change. In most respects, this change reflects technological development and, by extension, the commercial nature of the telecommunications business and, of course, the changing status and functions of the Commonwealth. The CTO is the present institutional manifestation of this wider evolution.
The earliest substantive example of Commonwealth collaboration was the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board (PCB). The first submarine telegraph cables linking Britain with the other commonwealth dominions of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand were laid by cable companies. These companies were unwilling to meet the expense of laying a cable across the Pacific from Canada to Australia. The Dominion governments considered that the link was necessary for the enhancement of imperial strategic security and imperial trade. The PCB was given the responsibility of constructing and managing the cable, which was laid in 1902. In subsequent years the board established and operated facilities in other parts of the Commonwealth.
The commercial development of long-distance radio transmission by the Marconi company led to the introduction in the 1920s of beam radiotelegraphy between Britain and Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. This new medium posed a threat to the commercial interests of British long-distance cable companies. In 1928 the inter-governmental Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference was convened to discuss the situation. This produced a report recommending, inter alia, the formation of a single communications company to take over and operate all the communications systems of all wireless and cable companies throughout the Commonwealth and Empire, including the British Post Office (BPO) and the Pacific Cable Board. This company (Imperial and International Communications Ltd) later became known as Cable and Wireless Limited. Since then, Cable and Wireless has continued to play an important commercial and training role in Commonwealth telecommunications.
The 1928 conference also led to the creation of the Imperial Communications Advisory Committee (ICAC), which the new company was required to consult on any questions of policy, including alterations in rates. Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Irish Free State, New Zealand and South Africa were represented on this committee. British committee members were usually drawn from British Dominion Office personnel and Dominion officials came from the respective high commissions in London. A Colonial Office official represented the British Colonies and Protectorates.
In making these arrangements the 1928 Conference was particularly concerned to ensure that the competing technologies of wireless and cable transmission was integrated and harmonised to maximise the benefits to the Commonwealth as a whole.
The Second World War had a considerable impact on Commonwealth telecommunications and in 1942 a Commonwealth Conference in Australia recommended that the advisory committee should be reconstituted. It was replaced by the Commonwealth Communications Council (CCC), with its members now being resident in their own countries. This change was effected in 1944 and the new council met in London on five occasions between 1944 and 1949. Much of its time and effort was devoted to devising ways and means of improving the central co-ordination of Commonwealth telecommunications, a matter which the governments regarded as essential for the consolidation and strengthening of the Commonwealth system.
In 1945 Lord Reith, at the request of the British Government, undertook a tour of the Dominions, including India, in order to discuss with the governments the new proposals put forward by London. This tour prepared the way for a Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference in London in that same year. The conference was attended by representatives of the Dominions, as well as Southern Rhodesia and India. The central recommendation was for the nationalisation of all overseas telecommunications in the Commonwealth and for the establishment of a strong central co-ordinating body. This new central body would replace the CCC and was to be known as the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board.
These recommendations were accepted and embodied in the Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreement, signed in London on 11 May 1948. Provision was included in the agreement for operating agreements to be signed between each partner government, its national (operating) body and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board. (The 1948 Agreement was later modified by a Supplemental Agreement, dated 25 July 1963, which substituted a revised form of operating agreement). South Africa ceased to be a partner government in 1961 on leaving the Commonwealth. Similarly, Southern Rhodesia left in 1969.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Board was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 31 May 1949 by the Commonwealth Telegraphs Act 1949. The board held its first meeting on 10 November 1949. It was composed of an independent Chairman (appointed jointly by all the partner governments), one member from each of the individual governments, and one member appointed by Britain to represent the colonies and protectorates. These members were normally resident in London and the board met regularly at fortnightly intervals.
The Board's functions, as originally specified in the CTA, was wide-ranging, but in practice the Board's efforts over the years were mainly consultative, coordinative and advisory, directed towards the efficient development and use of the Commonwealth telecommunications network. Associated with this objective was the important task of administering the Partners' joint financial arrangements known as the First Wayleave Scheme.
Under the Wayleave Scheme, which was in force until 1972/73, each national body kept its own net revenue (calculated by an agreed deduction from its gross receipts) and made such use of the Commonwealth 'common-user' system as it desired. The expenses incurred by each national body in maintaining and operating its part of the system were calculated in an agreed manner. The total expenses of the whole common-user system were then allocated among national bodies in proportion to the net revenue each received of the total net revenue of all national bodies. The resultant debits were set against the common-user expenses incurred by each national body and the differences settled as net Wayleave payments or receipts.
Reviews of these financial arrangements took place in 1952, 1958, 1964 and 1966, the first and the third being held under the auspices of the Board, the second and fourth in conjunction with Commonwealth Telecommunications Conferences.
Despite the post-war expansion of long-distance radio links and their increased operating efficiency, by 1956 it was apparent to the CTB that the growing demand for telecommunications facilities could not be adequately met by this means. The Board therefore drew up and recommended to partner governments plans for a round-the-world submarine telephone cable system to serve the trunk routes of the Commonwealth network. This cable system would employ the newly developed coaxial cable technique with submerged repeaters. A Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference was convened in London in 1958 to review the plans for the project. Because of the huge extra costs involved in the project it was recommended that separate financial arrangements should apply to all services carried by the new cable system. This resulted in a new Second Wayleave Scheme embodied in a new arrangement and based on the same principles as the First. The Second Wayleave Scheme added to the practical tasks of organising the installation and subsequent exploitation of the new cable system. In order to cope with the increased work load a new body, the Commonwealth Cable Management Committee (CCMC), was established by those Commonwealth countries that financed the project.
The expanding demand for broad band systems on some of the shorter Commonwealth routes (e.g. Caribbean) led to the employment of other media, notably tropospheric scatter and VHF radio systems.
The development of satellite technolgy in the early 1960s presented new opportunities in international telecommunications. It also posed new financial problems for the Commonwealth partnership. For these reasons a Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference was held in London, in 1965. In the light of these new technological developments the conference recognised the need to devise new collaborative financial arrangements, as well as review the existing arrangements for collaboration. Having arranged for a meeting of financial experts and a committee to review the organisation the conference adjourned. It reconvened in 1966 to consider the reports of these bodies and to frame recommendations to the member governments.
The 1966 Conference recommended that a new Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) should be established. It would be made up of a council composed of representatives of partner governments and a bureau based in London to function under the control and direction of the council. It would hold Commonwealth conferences every three years.
The 1966 Conference also recommended the termination of the Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreements of 1948 and 1963 and the incorporation of all existing financial arrangements in a new single financial agreement. These recommendations were accepted by all the partner governments and the CTO came into being in 1967. The first meeting of the Council took place in April 1967 and the Bureau was established in 1968-9. Transfer of the old Board's functions to the organisation occurred in April 1969, following the signing of a new Financial Agreement, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Financial Arrangements (CTFA), and the termination of the old CTAs.
In 1973 a new unified accounting arrangement was introduced under the Commonwealth Telecommunications Financial Agreement. Throughout the 1970s, however, advances in technology were complicating accounting arrangements, and commercial pressures were creating dissatisfaction regarding some aspects of the arrangements, particularly among the more developed national bodies. Following the 1977 Conference, a Committee of Council for the Development of Financial Arrangements (CCDFA) recommended that the CTFA be replaced.
Alongside these developments, steps were being taken to terminate the Commonwealth cable system. Increasingly cables were laid in co-operation with non-Commonwealth administrations. In this case it was a straightforward matter to cancel the CTFA pooling arrangements and allow the cables to revert to the circuit allocations of each owner. For the older cables, the cable owners agreed to operate a simplified form of the cost-sharing scheme until the cables reached the end of their useful lives. The last of these cables was taken out of commission in 1986 and the Commonwealth Cable Management Committee was disbanded.
The 1982 Conference endorsed the scheme as proposed by Council and recommended to governments that the CTFA 1973 be terminated on 1 April 1983 and be replaced with a new agreement (CTOFA 1983) to operate from that date. The CTOFA had two functions. First, to provide a new accounting arrangement (CAA) for the member governments. Second, to provide start-up funding for collaborative projects, termed Non-Financial Collaborative Arrangements (NFCA). This later became known as the Programme for Development and Training (PDT). Funding under the CTOFA came in the form of annual pledges from national bodies. Members were organised into contribution groups with their annual contributions being based on their ability to pay.
Concurrent with the introduction of the CTOFA 1983, Council revised the machinery to deal with other collaborative arrangements. A management board (BOM) was established, comprising eight council representatives from developed and developing national bodies to oversee the disbursement of funds to both the CAA and the PDT. The Board was disbanded at the Twenty-fifth meeting of Council and its mandate was assumed by the Council. Four new bodies were constituted to assume direct control over specific aspects of the CTOFA. The Consultative Committee on Collaborative Arrangements (CCCA); the Operational and Development Group (ODG), the Accounting Arrangements Contact Officers Group (AACOG) were all composed of representatives from the national bodies. The fourth body was the Commonwealth Telecommunications Bureau. The Bureau is the secretariat of the organisation and works under the direction of the General Secretary . It provides administrative and logistical support to the Conference, the Council, its groups and committees.
In 1986, three years after the new financial arrangements were inaugurated, it was agreed at Conference that the division of funds between the CAA and the PDT should be altered. In three years, from 1986-9, the PDT's share of CTOFA funds would be increased from 10% to 50%. It was agreed that this would be effected through an increase in overall funding with a possible reduction in the amount given over to accounting arrangements. With this in mind Council undertook a survey in that year of the telecommunications needs of the developing national bodies, which resulted in a number of larger projects being undertaken, including significant rehabilitation exercises involving the loan of expertise and the provision of essential parts.
The spread of digital technology put a good deal of strain on relations within the organisation and, by extension, on its various functions. On the one hand the demand for international telecommunications throughout the 1980s continued to increase. Even during economic recessions the level of international telecommunications traffic continued to grow. Meeting this demand required a continuing expansion of broad band telecommunications transmission facilities. The CTO played an important role in ensuring a regular flow of information on future plans and their integration into the wider Commonwealth system. But at the same time two notable developments took place within the Commonwealth. First, many counties were extending the number of direct circuits with other non-commonwealth countries. There was, therefore, a declining need for a Commonwealth network. Second, the more developed countries adopted digital technology to extend their range of services. By 1992 two thirds of all
national bodies had digital satellite transmission facilities, much of this in the form of transglobal digital fibre optic cables. Unfortunately in Africa there were no plans to extend this system beyond French-speaking West Africa.
At the Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference in 1992, the governments agreed to Council's proposal that the CTO's preferential adjustments under the Commonwealth Accounting Arrangements should be terminated, while at the same time extending the scope and scale of the Programme for Development and Training (PDT). Cost constraints, along with privatisation and commercialisation, appear to have driven this decision. Even with these changes, some doubt existed over whether national bodies were prepared to fund the extension of the PDT. With funding a central issue, the CTO was directed by conference to establish a working group to investigate this issue. The issue of funding was important: administrative costs had risen from £0.94 to £0.99 million. Another issue at this time was outstanding debts carried over from the old CTFA liabilities.
By the following year major funding and organisational changes were anticipated, based on the findings of a CTO working party (the Genting Group). The working party's recommendations were endorsed by the 1992 Conference. The emphasis henceforth would be placed on training and the 'commercial interests of the service providers'. For some country members these changes did not go far enough. This issue, coupled with new proposals for contributions (switching from voluntary to mandatory contributions with a view to stabilising the CTO's funding) led to protests from New Zealand or Australia. These members gave notice that they were withdrawing their membership.
In early March 1993, Australia and New Zealand, still members, continued to express concerns regarding their contributions. Another working party, the Windsor Group, was appointed to investigate the future role of the bureau.
By 1995 the organisation had come through a difficult five year period of restructuring and policy reappraisal. This transitional period formally culminated in the approval by council at its thirty-fourth meeting of a new constitution. But these changes were not without their cost. Both New Zealand and Australia left the organisation in wrangles over unpaid contributions and moneys due from the CTFA funds. Moreover, Canada gave notice that it would withdraw its membership in 1996. This was later withdrawn, pending a revision of its contributions. In contrast, by mid-1997 there was a strong possibility that South Africa would rejoin the CTO.
Item CTO 4.2.5. is an undated and unattributed 'History of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, 1928-1969'
Simon Taylor was born in Jamaica in 1740, eldest son of Patrick Tailzour, who had assumed the name Taylor on his marriage to Martha Taylor. Patrick had come out to Jamaica from Borrowfield, Scotland and established himself as a merchant in Kingston. Simon Taylor began his career as an attorney for absentee planters, became a sugar planter in his own right and at his death in 1813 he was reputedly the richest man in Jamaica. He was active in Jamaican politics and society, being member for Kingston in the Jamaican Assembly, 1763-81, and for St. Thomas in the East, 1784-1810; Custos; Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; and Lieutenant Governor of Militia. He never married, although he had a large illegitimate family. For an account of his life and business, see R.B. Sheridan, "Simon Taylor, Sugar Tycoon of Jamaica, 1740-1813" in Agricultural History Vol.45, No.4 (Oct. 1971) pp. 285-296 (a copy is available at ICS) General Nugent, Governor of Jamaica, 1801-1806, described Taylor in 1806 as "...by much the richest proprietor in the island, and in the habit of accumulating money, so as to make his nephew and heir one of the most wealthy subjects of His Majesty. In strong opposition to Government at present and violent in his language against the King's Ministers, for their conduct towards Jamaica. He has great influence in the Assembly, but is nearly superannuated. He has most extraordinary manners and lives principally with overseers of estates and masters of merchant vessels; but he has had an excellent education [he went to Eton], is well informed and is a warm friend to those he takes by the hand. He is also very hospitable and civilised occasionally, but is said to be most inveterate in his dislikes." [P. Wright, ed. Lady Nugent's Journal (4ed., Institute of Jamaica 1966) p318] Simon's heir was his nephew, Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor (1785-1815), and after the latter's death his eldest niece, Anna Susannah Watson Taylor (1781-1853), inherited the estates. She had married George Watson in 1810 and the additional name Taylor was assumed at the time of the inheritance.
Kamarang - Ekereku - Wenamu expedition, British Guiana Geological Survey Department, 1951; Government Geologist of the Leeward and British Virgin Islands; Government Geologist of the Winward Islands; Federal Geologist, West Indian Federation; Director of the Geological Survey, British Guiana, 1961-1966.
Matthew Goniwe was born in Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa, in 1947. He attended St James' Primary school and moved on to Sam Xhallie Secondary school, where he obtained his junior certificate.
After leaving school he obtained a teachers' diploma from Fort Hare University and returned to Sam Xhallie school to teach maths and science. In 1974 Goniwe left for a teaching post in Transkei and married Nyameka, a social worker. Matthew's political involvement in Transkei led to his arrest in 1977, when he was convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act and sentenced to four years in Umtata Prison. After his spell in prison, Goniwe returned to teaching in Graaff-Reinet and completed a BA degree through Unisa. He was then transferred to Cradock and appointed the headmaster of Sam Xhallie High. In 1983 Goniwe called a mass meeting to discuss how the community should respond to high rents, and in the same year the Department of Education and Training (DET) tried to transfer him to Graaff-Reinet. This caused teachers and pupils from Cradock's seven schools to embark on a 15-month class boycott - the longest in the country's history.
On 27 June 1985 Goniwe and three other activists, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were killed and mutilated by unnamed members of the Security Forces.
No 1 Company Indian and Malay Corps (No 101 South African Reserve Motor Transport Company was established in Natal in 1939, and left for South Africa for active service in Kenya, Sep 1940. The Company returned to South Africa in Dec 1940, and took part in the Somaliland Campaign in 1941.
Bantu Stephen Biko was born in Kingwilliamstown on the 18th December 1946. He was educated at Marianhill Secondary School in Kwazulu. He entered the Medical School of the University of Natal (Black Section), 1966; he and his colleagues founded the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) in 1968. He was elected the first President of the organisation at its inaugural congress held at Turfloop in 1969; he was instrumental in the formation of one of SASO's projects, the Black Workers' Project (BWP) which was co-sponsored by the Black Community Programmes (BCP) the project addressed problems of Black workers whose unions were then not recognised in law; After serving as President, Biko was elected Publications Director of SASO where he wrote prolifically under the pen name Frank Talk in the SASO Newsletter; he was expelled from medical school in 1972 and joined the BCP; in March 1973 he was banned and restricted to Kingwilliamstown, there he set up a BCP office where he worked as aBranch Executive, but shortly afterwards his banning order was amended to prohibit him from working or associating with the BCP; on 18th August 1977, he was arrested in a police roadblock with his colleague and comrade, Peter Cyril Jones and detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. He died in custody, on 12 Sept 1977.
John Michael Lee's publications include Colonial Development and Good Government: a study of the ideas expressed by the British official classes in planning decolonization, 1939-1964 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967); African Armies and Civil Order (Instuitute for Strategic Studies, London, 1969) and (with Martin Petter) The Colonial Office, war and development policy, 1939-1945 (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London 1982).
The African National Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress (it changed its name to the ANC in 1923) with the aim of replacing tribal opposition to white rule with a united African force. At first its membership was narrow - its leaders drawn from among traditional chiefs and wealthy Africans, its aims were limited and its activities were law-abiding. An attempt by J.T. Gumede to create a mass anti-imperialist movement was defeated by the moderates in 1930, following which the ANC lapsed into inactivity.
With an enlarged membership, a new President-General, Dr A.P. Xuma, and the adoption in 1943 of a new constitution and political programme - calling for full political rights for the first time - the ANC began its transformation into mass movement. It began to co-operate with other organisations, like the Communist Party and the South African Indian Congress. The Congress Youth League, formed in 1944, played an increasingly powerful role within the ANC: in 1949, its Programme of Action, with mass opposition to apartheid at its heart, was adopted as ANC policy. The Defiance' campaign of 1952 was the result and, though eventually broken by the state forces, it did give the ANC a mass membership. Under the Presidency of Albert Lutuli and the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others, the ANC became the leading resistance force in South Africa. The alliances it developed with other organisations, including the South African Indian Congress and the Congress of Democrats, led to the formation of the Congress Alliance, whose delegates adopted the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in 1955. This was adopted as the ANC's programme in 1956. In the same year, the Charter was used as the basis of a charge of treason against 156 members of the Congress Alliance. All of the accused in the 'Treason Trials' were acquitted, but in April 1960 the ANC was forced underground when it was banned as anunlawful organisation' following the pass law campaign and the Sharpeville massacre.
Many leaders went into exile and an external mission under Oliver Tambo and a military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), under Mandela were formed. After the arrest at Rivonia in 1963 of Mandela, Sisulu and other leaders and their imprisonment, ANC activities were for a while based mainly on the work of the external mission and the development of MK. However, following the rise of mass opposition among workers and students in the 1970s and 80s, the ANC's position as the leading anti-apartheid force was confirmed after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and his and the ANC's subsequent victory in the election of 1994.
Not known
Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. A British Task Force was despatched on 3 April, the first troops landing at San Carlos Bay on 21 May. Argentine forces surrendered on 14 June following fierce land, sea and air battles.
The multiracial Liberal Party of South Africa was founded in 1954, and was forced to disband under the Prohibition of Political Interference Act of 1968.
Not known
In 1961 Basutoland was one of three British High Commission Territories in South Africa. In the original treaties between the British Government and Chief Moshoeshoe [Mshweshwe] on behalf of the Sotho people in 1843 and 1862, a British Protectorate was established. In 1871, after Moshoeshoe's death, Basutoland became part of Cape Colony without the consent of the Sotho, and then in 1884 was relinquished to British rule, becoming a High Commission Territory. During the 20th century there was increasing concern among the Sotho people about continued colonial rule, not least because the changes in status of Basutoland had not been subject to their agreement and were contrary to the original treaties. Also, there were serious fears about the possibility of the territory becoming part of the Union of South Africa, which became acute when the Republic of South Africa was due to be created at the time of the memorandum in 1961. The memorandum details these issues, and seeks UN aid in making the voice of the Basuto nation heard. It was written by Josiel Lefela, a member of the National Council since 1916. In the event, Basutoland remained outside the Republic of South Africa and became independent as Lesotho in 1966.
Lesotho, formerly known as Basutoland, became a British Protectorate in 1868. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but became a separate British Colony in 1884, and was administered as one of the High Commission Territories in Southern Africa (the others being Bechuanaland , now Botswana, and Swaziland). Modern party politics began in 1952 with the founding of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP, renamed the Basotho Congress Party in 1966) by Dr Ntsu Mokhehle. At the first general election in 1965 the majority of seats in the new legislative assembly were won by the Basutoland National Party (BNP, renamed Basotho National Party in 1966), a conservative group, which had the support of the South African government. Following the election, Moshoeeshoe II, the paramount chief, was recognised as king. The BNP leader, Chief Leabua Jonathan, becamer Prime Minister. Basutoland became independent, as the Kingdom of Lesotho in October 1966. A General election was held in January 1970, when the opposition BCP appeared to have won a majority of seats in the National Assembly. Chief Jonathan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constutution and arrested Dr Mokhehle and other leaders of the BNP. The election was anulled and the county effectively passed under the Prime Minister's control. In Jan 1974 Chief Jonathan survived a coup attempt but he was deposed by the military, led by Maj Gen Justin Metsino Lekhanya in Jan 1986.
On 10 February 1955 the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was incorporated by Royal Charter. In 1956 the College entered into a ' Scheme of Special Relation' with the University of London. An Academic Board of the College negotiated with the University of London the entrance requirements for the admission of students, syllabuses, examination procedures, the award of London degrees and other academic matters.
After the break up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963, Zambian and Malawian students were to be catered for by universities in their own countries but it was agreed that the College should continue as 'an independent institution of learning, open to all races, serving not only the higher education requirements of Rhodesia but also contributing to the advancement of knowledge, science and research in Central Africa and within the international community of Universities'.
In 1970 the 'Schemes of Special Relation' were phased out and in September that year the University of Rhodesia was established, to be governed by a Council and a Senate. At the end of 1973, the first students with University of Rhodesia degrees graduated from the Faculties of Arts, Science and Social Studies.
The College now forms part of the University of Zimbabwe.
Tim Matthews was expelled from the College in 1970.
Josie Palmer (sometimes the African form of the name is used (Mpama) was born in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in 1903. She refers to herself as 'coloured' but married an African, Edwin Mofutsanyane (a leading member of the Communist Party of South Africa and the African National Congress (ANC), and lived in an African area. She became the first black woman to play a significant part in the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and in the womens' movement in South Africa.
She came to the fore in Potchefstroom in the 1928 campaign against residential permits and joined the Communist Party then. During the late 1920s and 1930s she wrote for 'Umsebenzi', the Journal of the CPSA. In 1943-1945 she was a member of the CPSA's Anti-Pass Campsign and in March 1944 convened the women's Anti-Pass Conference in Johannesburg. At the 1947 International Women's Day Meeting in Johannesburg a resolution was passed to establish a 'non colour bar women's organisation' and the Transvaal All-Women's Union was formed, with Palmer as the secretary. It did not last very long, and although it changed its title in 1949 to become the Union of South African Women, it never became a national movement. However the idea was planted and Palmer later became a founding member of the Federation of South African Women and President of the Transvaal Branch. She was banned in 1955 before the Pretoria women's demonstration, and never became involved in the Anti-Pass Campaigns of those years.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies was founded in 1949 to promote advanced study of the Commonwealth. The Institute offers opportunities for graduate study, houses several research projects and offers a full conference and seminar programme.
The Royal Commonwealth Society was founded in 1868 as the Colonial Society. It was renamed the Royal Colonial Institute in 1870 and the Royal Empire Society in 1928. It adopted its current name in 1958. It is a pan-Commonwealth Non-Governmental Organisation, supported by a world-wide membership, working to inform and educate about the Commonwealth.The RCS Library contains about 300,000 printed items and over 70,000 photographs. At the beginning of the 1990's, it appeared that the Society would be forced to break up and sell the collection. A £3 million appeal launched in 1992, saved the Library for the nation and enabled it to be moved to Cambridge University Library, where it remains on permanent deposit.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, was founded in 1949 to promote advanced study of the Commonwealth.
The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers, were established in 1881 by proclamation of the lieutenant governor. This new volunteer force was commanded by British officers, while the ranks were filled out largely with Burghers, a highly Westernized group that adapted well to the demands of volunteer service. A mounted infantry company was added in 1892, and in 1900 this contingent was called to South Africa to assist the British army in the Boer War.
In 1910 the volunteer corps was redesignated as the Ceylon Defence Force. Although Sri Lankan units were not deployed outside the island in either of the world wars, individual soldiers served in the British and British Indian armies. In World War II, the British crown took direct control of the island's armed forces from the colonial government. During this period, the Ceylon Light Infantry grew from 1 battalion to 5 battalions, while the total number of troops in uniform increased to 12,000. Most of these were engaged in maintenance and transport functions. Their most direct contact with the war came in April 1942 when the Japanese launched an air attack on Colombo.
The Parliament of South Africa was established by the Act of Union of 1910. There are two houses: the Senate and the House of Assembly. On the outbreak of World War One the Government of South Africa declared war on Germany and her allies, and invaded German South West Africa. There was an anti-British rebellion in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
The International Socialist League was founded in 1915, in opposition to World War One and the racist and conservative policies of the all-white South African Labour Party and the craft unions supporting it. It was initially rooted amongst white labour militants, but from the start it attracted black workers. The League argued in its weekly paper, the International, for a "new movement" to found One Big Union that would overcome the "bounds of Craft and race and sex," "recognise no bounds of craft, no exclusions of colour," and destroy capitalism through a "lockout of the capitalist class." From 1917 onwards, the International Socialist League began to organise amongst black and coloured workers. In March 1917, it founded an Indian Workers Industrial Union in Durban; in 1918, it founded a Clothing Workers Industrial Union (later spreading to Johannesburg) and horse drivers' union in the diamond mining town of Kimberly; in Cape Town, a sister organisation, the Industrial Socialist League, founded the Sweet and Jam Workers Industrial Union that same year. The International Workers of Africa was founded in 1917, the new general union's demands were simple, summed up in its slogan- "Sifuna Zonke!" ("We want everything!"). It was the first trade union for African workers ever formed in South Africa.
The Capricorn Africa Society was founded in Southern Rhodesia by David Stirling in 1949, with objective of democratic and multi-racial development in East and Central Africa.
Wreck is flotsam, jetsam, derelict and lagan found in or on the shores of the sea or any tidal water. It includes any vessel, cargo or equipment. It may be of antique or archaeological value such as gold coins, or a yacht or dinghy abandoned at sea, or items such as drums of chemicals, or crates of foodstuffs. It is a legal requirement that all recovered wreck is reported to the Receiver of Wrecks. The Ceylon Receiver of Wrecks was based at Galle until 1882, when the office was moved to Colombo.
In 1959 the South African National Party Government passed the extension of University Education Act which prohibited the admission of any person not classed as 'white' to universities, other than those established specifically for them, without a permit from the Minister of State. This legislation was strenuously opposed by the University of Cape Town and others. Following an inquiry into education, the Government published the Universities Amendment Bill in 1983, which altered the rules in that rather than a permit system, universities were to be prohibited from admitting black students beyond a quota to be stipulated annually by the Minister. Once again there was considerable opposition to the proposed new legislation, and the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Cape Town sent copies of material to contacts in the UK, for use in campaigning against the Bill. The papers in this collection comprise a set of this material