Winston Joseph Field was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire on the 6 June 1904 and educated at Bromsgrove School. In 1921 Field went to Southern Rhodesia where he was engaged in tobacco farming in the Marandellas District and he also served in the Rhodesian and British Forces (1940-1945), raising to the rank of Major, 6th Durham Light Infantry.

Field entered politics in 1956 when he became the head of the new Dominion Party, Southern Rhodesia was then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. A year later Field was elected to the Federal Assembly where he was Leader of the Opposition (1958-1962) to Sir Roy Welensky's government. Field was MP for Marandellas, Southern Rhodesia (1962-1965) and for the same period was President of the Rhodesia Front Party in Southern Rhodesia (formerly the Dominion Party). Field led the Party to victory in territorial elections at the end of the year and was made Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia in 1962. After the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved a year later, the right wing of his party revolted against him for failing to press Britain on the issue of independence for the colony. A party congress in April 1964 dismissed him from office in favour of his Deputy Prime Minister Ian Smith. Field retired from politics in 1965 and died in Salisbury on the 17 March 1969.

This collection contains the following official and personal papers of Winston Field:

• Correspondence
• Reports and Papers
• Rhodesia Front Party (minutes and papers), 1962-1964
• Speeches
• News cuttings
• Personal memorabilia and miscellanea (correspondence between Field and Evan Campbell, High Commissioner for Southern Rhodesia in London), 1963-1964

Donated in January 1997.

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No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room and a handlist is also available for this collection.

Field | Winston Joseph | 1904-1969 | Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia

Campbell | Evan Roy | 1908-1980 | High Commissioner for Southern Rhodesia in London

Prime ministers | Zimbabwe

Rhodesia Front Party

Dominion Party

Rhodesia and Nyasaland | Politics and government

Zimbabwe | Politics and government

Zimbabwe | Officials and employees