Lieutenant Colonel Sir Stewart Gore-Browne, called Chipembele by Zambians, was a British soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia.
21 Facts About Stewart Gore-Browne
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2.
Stewart Gore-Browne's father was a lawyer and writer on company law, Stewart Gore-Browne's paternal grandfather was Sir Thomas Gore Browne, who had been governor of New Zealand and Tasmania.
3.
Stewart Gore-Browne passed into the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1900 and was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery.
4.
Stewart Gore-Browne was sent to Northern Rhodesia in 1911 as part of an Anglo-Belgian boundary commission, surveying and laying out the border between the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia.
5.
From his boyhood, Stewart Gore-Browne had an ambition to own an estate but though comparatively wealthy, knew that he could not afford much land in Britain.
6.
At his new home Stewart Gore-Browne cultivated a military bearing and wore a monocle.
7.
Lady Stewart Gore-Browne did not share her husband's dreams for the estate and they divorced in 1950.
8.
Stewart Gore-Browne moved to London where she called herself 'Mrs Browne'.
9.
Stewart Gore-Browne disagreed with British colonial 'trusteeship' and, instead, looked to a future 'partnership'.
10.
Stewart Gore-Browne thought settlers ought to have a larger share in government, but argued for the interdependence of "white and black" prosperity.
11.
Unlike other white politicians, such as his friend Roy Welensky, a trade union leader, Stewart Gore-Browne felt no threat from African social and educational advance, and the consequent addition of qualified voters to the electoral roll.
12.
Stewart Gore-Browne realised the need to educate and train local people in the skills his estate required, and realised that it would benefit from a prosperous local community.
13.
Stewart Gore-Browne sought out African opinion and denounced various forms of the colour bar.
14.
Stewart Gore-Browne welcomed the growth of African welfare societies and trade unions, and managed to get the white government to set up African representative councils.
15.
Stewart Gore-Browne was opposed to Welensky's push for amalgamation and resigned in protest from the leadership of the elected members of the legislative council.
16.
Stewart Gore-Browne continued to advise first the African National Congress under his early protege, Harry Nkumbula and later, after the break away, the United National Independence party, under his close friend, Kenneth Kaunda.
17.
Lady Stewart Gore-Browne, still living in England made occasional long visits to Shiwa.
18.
Stewart Gore-Browne spent most of his later years at Shiwa Ngandu, where he replaced citrus crops with cattle.
19.
When, in 1953, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was imposed against the wishes of some local settlers and urban Africans, Stewart Gore-Browne opposed it because he felt that it was based on the discredited idea of 'partnership'.
20.
Stewart Gore-Browne died from pneumonia at Kasama Hospital, Zambia, on 4 August 1967.
21.
Stewart Gore-Browne was buried at Shiwa Ngandu two days later in Zambia's only to date state funeral for a white person.