Roy Welensky Article Index for
Roy
Website Links For
Roy
 

Information About

Roy Welensky




Welensky left school at the age of 14 and spent his teen years wandering around the continent working at jobs varying from Railroad ing to Boxing before settling in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia ) where he worked on the railroad as a main line engine conductor and became involved in the Trade Union movement as well as heavyweight boxing champion of the colony.

In 1933 , Welensky became chairman of the local branch of the Railway Workers' Union. He was first elected to the Northern Rhodesian Legislative Council in 1938 and served in the colonial Upper House until the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953 . He won election to the federation's newly formed Legislative Assembly and became a senior Cabinet minister. In 1956 he succeeded Sir Godfrey Huggins as Prime Minister and continued in that role until the federation collapsed in 1963 with the creation of Zambia and Malawi as independent states under black majority rule.

With the collapse of the federation, Welensky moved to Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia) which had reverted to Crown Colony status and remained under White Minority Rule . He opposed the Ian Smith government's Unilateral Declaration Of Independence .








Preceded by:

Sir Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern
1953 - 1956
Prime Minister of the Federation Of Rhodesia And Nyasaland Followed by:

''position abolished in 1963''