The Acting Rhodesian High Commissioner to Britain.
The first day Edgar Whitehead assumed duty at Rhodesia House, sitting in the High Commissioners chair at an enormous desk, he received a phone call from his friend the R.A.S.C. Postings Officer.
The Postings Officer said, "That you Whitehead? You'll have to brush up your Rhodesian a bit, won't you Your Excellency?" and rang off before Edgar could reply.
The Mission's Civil Service head had quarreled with the High Commissioner and was suspended from duty when Edgar arrived. No replacement was sent. Edgar was left with one fully trained Rhodesian Administrative Officer, Baggott, to support him. Nicknamed Tickey, he was an immense help to Edgar.
Tickey admired Huggins tremendously and was very popular with the Servicemen. He had been in London a long time and knew all the ropes. He was, however, not a gifted administrator which exacerbated their desperate shortage of staff.
Edgar was pretty certain the Dominions Office had made careful enquiries about him from the WO because as soon as he took over they began sending a series of Top Secret Documents which Baggott told him had never been sent to the Permanent High Commissioner. Some were such dynamite that Edgar took them straight down to the incinerator and burnt them himself as he did not dare to allow any of his staff to see them.
When he first started they were still getting an occasional V2, Germany's long distance revenge weapons, to remind British civilians that the war was not yet over. The RAF was still suffering a few casualties. The Air Ministry took to ringing Edgar up in the morning to report if any Rhodesians had failed to return from a raid. But in Edgar's talks with Rhodesians on leave they concentrated on the post war plans.
Edgar gave one or two parties for prominent Londoners to meet Rhodesian Servicemen. They were most impressed at their quality. Edgar's new public relations officer also worked hard, getting the Press to meet them and take an interest in Rhodesia's future.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
- Photo Credit: By kind permission of Mrs. Rachel Clarkson (Sir Edgar Whitehead's niece.)