The End of the Beginning...
As mention previously Edgar Whitehead was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1944 for his contribution to the war effort in West Africa.
As mention previously, Edgar Whitehead was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1944 for his contribution to the war effort in West Africa. In the 1952 New Years Honors Whitehead was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) for the sound post-war financial plan he set out at Prime Minister Huggins' request while he was holed up in Twyford between postings during the war. In the 1954 Birthday Honors he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St George (KCMG) for public services rendered for his part in setting up the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. But he was too busy as Minister of Federation Affairs in Washington, D.C. to receive the honors in person until the young Queen Elizabeth visited Washington and belatedly dubbed him.
Unexpectedly, not long after he would be recalled from Washington to assume the leadership of the United Federal Party (UFP) and premiership of Southern Rhodesia after Garfield Todd, Rhodesia's Prime Minister, was deposed by a revolt in his party.
I'll be chronicling Sir Edgar Whitehead's extraordinary political trajectory in the last book of my historical fiction trilogy...meanwhile Whitewashed Jacarandas and Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon. Read the books and write reviews, --just a line or two will do! Thanks so very much for you loyalty and support.
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.
Photo reference:
By permission: Whitehead archives, Bodleian Library, Rhodes House, Oxford University.