1. Hugh Beadle came to international prominence against the backdrop of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in November 1965, upon which he initially stood by the British Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs as an adviser; he then provoked acrimony in British government circles by declaring Ian Smith's post-UDI administration legal in 1968.
Hugh Beadle became a member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Godfrey Huggins's ruling United Party in 1939.
Hugh Beadle retired from politics in 1950 to become a Judge of the High Court of Southern Rhodesia.
Hugh Beadle held the Rhodesian Front, the governing party from 1962, in low regard, dismissing its Justice Minister Desmond Lardner-Burke as a "small time country solicitor".
Hugh Beadle retired in April 1977 and thereafter sat as an acting judge in special trials for terrorist offences.
Thomas Hugh William Beadle was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia on 6 February 1905, the only son and eldest child of Arthur William Beadle and his wife Christiana Maria.
Hugh Beadle completed his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1928, then continued his studies in England as a Rhodes Scholar at The Queen's College, Oxford.
On 16 July 1928, Hugh Beadle received his commission as a Pilot Officer in the Reserve of Air Force Officers, Royal Air Force.
Hugh Beadle graduated with a second-class Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1930, and soon after was called to the English bar.
Hugh Beadle briefly read in London chambers before commencing practice in Bulawayo in 1931.
Hugh Beadle stood in Bulawayo South in the 1934 election, challenging Harry Davies, the Labour Party leader.
Hugh Beadle was seconded to the Gold Coast Regiment with the rank of temporary captain following the outbreak of the Second World War, but was released from military service at the request of the Southern Rhodesian government to serve as Huggins's Parliamentary Secretary, "with access to all ministers and top-ranking officials on the PM's business to speed up affairs".
Hugh Beadle held this post from 1940 to 1946, during which time he was Deputy Advocate General for the Southern Rhodesian armed forces.
Hugh Beadle was appointed Minister of Justice and Minister of Internal Affairs.
Hugh Beadle had entered the Cabinet at a time when relations between the United Party and the British Labour Party were warming.
Hugh Beadle formed a good relationship with Aneurin Bevan, the UK Minister of Health, and put considerable work into attempting to create a Southern Rhodesian system similar to National Insurance in Britain.
Hugh Beadle retired from politics in 1950 to accept a seat on the Southern Rhodesian High Court.
Hugh Beadle filled the seat on the High Court bench vacated by Sir Robert Tredgold, who had just been appointed Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia.
Hugh Beadle argued that since the British government would never devolve indigenous African affairs to Federal responsibility, native policy in the three territories would never be co-ordinated, meaning "the thing was bound to crash".
Hugh Beadle later expressed regrets that he had not played a bigger role in drawing up the constitution for the Federation, which was inaugurated as an indissoluble entity in 1953, following a mostly white referendum in Southern Rhodesia.
Hugh Beadle later said that he was repeatedly asked to resign from the bench to become the Federal Minister of Law or stand for Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, but "didn't regard any of the issues as crucial enough to warrant my going back".
Hugh Beadle was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1957 New Year Honours.
Hugh Beadle upheld the government's actions, reporting that the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress had disseminated "subversive propaganda", encouraged racial hatred, intimidated people into joining and undermined the authority of tribal chiefs, government officials and police.
In 1960, Hugh Beadle was a member of the Monckton Commission on the Federation's future.
Hugh Beadle was knighted in the 1961 New Year Honours and the same year appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Southern Rhodesia.
In Mehta v City of Salisbury, a case challenging the racial segregation of a public swimming pool, Beadle decided that apartheid made precedents in South African case law invalid, ruled that the plaintiff's dignity had been unlawfully affronted, and awarded him damages.
Hugh Beadle told Wilson that he and the judiciary would stand by the law in the event of a UDI, but that he expected the armed forces and police to side with the post-UDI authorities.
Hugh Beadle thought UDI would be a political and economic mistake for Rhodesia, and attempted to dissuade Smith from this course of action, but at the same time asserted that if UDI occurred it was "not the function of a court to attempt to end the revolution and restore legality".
Hugh Beadle warned his High Court colleagues that he would not direct "a judicial rebellion against the Rhodesian government".
Hugh Beadle told Wilson that he thought Smith was personally disposed to continue talks but under pressure from some of his ministers to abandon negotiations.
Hugh Beadle later wrote to his fellow High Court judge Benjamin Goldin that he thought he had "saved the situation" by going to London, having persuaded Wilson to give some ground on the terms for the Royal Commission, but his trip alarmed the pro-UDI camp in the Rhodesian Cabinet, who feared that Hugh Beadle might be carrying a message to the Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs telling him to prorogue parliament.
Smith and his Cabinet declared independence on 11 November 1965, while Hugh Beadle was at Lusaka Airport on his way home.
Smith later rejected the suggestion that Hugh Beadle could have had anything significant to tell them on his return, saying that "the only thing that Hugh Beadle could have done when he got back was to have talked us out of insisting on our questions".
When Hugh Beadle arrived later in the day, he not only persuaded Gibbs to stay at the official residence, but moved in himself to provide advice and moral support.
Lardner-Burke asked Hugh Beadle to administer the oath of allegiance to Dupont, but was rebuffed; Hugh Beadle said he would be committing a criminal offence if he did so.
Hugh Beadle was told to liaise with Lardner-Burke regarding any proposals Smith's government might have.
Hugh Beadle became the main intermediary between them, and received a dormant commission from the UK government to replace Gibbs as governor in case of necessity.
Hugh Beadle visited London in January 1966 and, according to Wilson's Attorney General Elwyn Jones, was "scornful of the 1965 constitution".
Some in Rhodesia criticised Hugh Beadle for going to London, or accused him of siding with Gibbs against Smith.
The Chief Justice insisted that he was just trying to do his best for Rhodesia, a claim Smith accepted, saying Hugh Beadle "thought more of his country than of his position".
Hugh Beadle summarised the Rhodesian judiciary's position in light of UDI by saying simply that the judges would carry on with their duties "according to the law", but this non-committal stance was challenged by legal cases heard at the High Court.
Hugh Beadle arranged "talks about talks" between the British and Rhodesian governments during 1966, which led to Smith and Wilson meeting personally aboard HMS Tiger off Gibraltar between 2 and 4 December.
Hugh Beadle had to be hoisted aboard because of a back injury.
Hugh Beadle agreed with Smith that a deal ending UDI without any prior agreement on the replacement constitution would meet with widespread opposition among white Rhodesians, but still felt that Salisbury should agree.
Hugh Beadle asked Smith to commend the terms to his colleagues in Salisbury, speculating that if he did the Cabinet would surely accept.
Wilson was furious with Hugh Beadle, feeling that he should have taken a far firmer line to persuade Smith to settle; after Hugh Beadle left the meeting, Wilson said that he "could not understand how any man could have a slipped disc whom Providence had failed to provide with a backbone".
On 5 December 1966, when Hugh Beadle heard at Government House that Smith's ministers had rejected the terms, he stood "as though pole-axed", Gibbs's Private Secretary Sir John Pestell recalled, and appeared close to collapse.
Hugh Beadle grappled with the Rhodesian problem privately and in correspondence, attempting to reconcile the Smith administration's control over the country with the unconstitutional nature of UDI.
Sir Robert Tredgold, the former Southern Rhodesian and Federal Chief Justice, told Gibbs that Hugh Beadle had thereby "sold the pass" and "should be asked to leave Government House".
At the hearing for Dhlamini and Mlambo on 4 March 1968, Hugh Beadle dismissed the statement from London, saying it was a decision by the UK government and not the Queen herself, and that in any case the 1961 constitution had transferred the prerogative of mercy from Britain to the Rhodesian Executive Council.
Hugh Beadle told reporters that "Her Majesty is quite powerless in this matter," and that "it is to be deplored that the Queen was brought into this".
Hugh Beadle declared that while he believed the Rhodesian judiciary should respect rulings of the Privy Council "so far as possible", the judgement of 23 July had made it legally impossible for Rhodesian judges to continue under the 1961 constitution.
Hugh Beadle asserted that as he could not countenance a legal vacuum, the only alternative was the 1965 constitution.
The British Prime Minister minimised the political impact of the Chief Justice's decision by presenting it as evidence that Hugh Beadle had furtively supported UDI all along, and subsequently excluded him from the diplomatic dialogue.
Hugh Beadle remained a privy counsellor for the rest of his life.
In May 1973, Hugh Beadle chaired the High Court appeal hearing for Peter Niesewand, a freelance reporter for the overseas press who had been convicted of espionage under the Official Secrets Act, prompting outcry abroad.
Hugh Beadle retired as Chief Justice in 1977; Macdonald succeeded him.
Hugh Beadle continued to serve under the short-lived, unrecognised government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which replaced the Rhodesian republic in June 1979, and under the British interim authorities following the Lancaster House Agreement of December that year.
Hugh Beadle died, aged 75, in Johannesburg on 14 December 1980.
Hugh Beadle's drive and enthusiasm were overwhelming, whether at work, in charitable activities, or as a courageous hunter and fisherman.
Hugh Beadle had a warm family life and many friends.
Palley asserts that but for UDI, "Hugh Beadle would have been remembered as a Commonwealth chief justice who upheld individual liberty".