John James Wrathall

John James Wrathall (born August 28, 1913 in Lancaster , Lancashire , England , † August 31, 1978 in Salisbury , Rhodesia ) was a Rhodesian politician .

biography

Wrathall emigrated to Rhodesia in 1936 and was initially an employee of the tax administration of Southern Rhodesia until 1946 . He then opened a tax consultancy and accounting office in Bulawayo . He began his political career first in 1949 as a member of the city council of Bulawayo and then in 1954 as a member of the United Rhodesia Party (URP) with the election to the legislative assembly (Legislative Assembly) of Southern Rhodesia. In 1962 he was one of the founders of the Rhodesian Front Party, alongside Ian Smith .

When Smith first became Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia in 1964 , he appointed him Treasury Secretary in his cabinet. In this position he was instrumental in the protection of the country's economy to circumvent sanctions of United Nations against Rhodesia. At the same time he became Minister of Post and was also Minister for African Education from 1963 to 1964 .

On November 11, 1965 he was one of the signatories of the unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia from the United Kingdom . He then took on the office of Treasury and Postal Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Smith. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he gave up the post of Post Secretary in 1973 to Roger Hawkins.

On January 14, 1976, he succeeded Clifford Dupont, who resigned on December 31, 1975, as President of Rhodesia, and on the same day he took over this office from Acting President Henry Everard . He died on August 31, 1978 while in office.

Web links

• rulers.org