Product Code Database
Clifford Walter Dupont (6 December 190528 June 1978) was a British-born politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government (from 1965 until 1970) and president (from 1970 to 1975). Born in London and qualifying as a solicitor, Dupont served during the Second World War as an officer of the British Royal Artillery in North Africa before first visiting Southern Rhodesia in 1947. He returned a year later, started a ranch and emigrated full-time during the early 1950s, by which time the country had become a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
When Rhodesia's government under Ian Smith issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965, Dupont, as Deputy Prime Minister, was the second to sign. Smith attempted to have Dupont named as Governor-General in place of the British-appointed Governor, Humphrey Gibbs, but failing this instead made him Officer Administering the Government. He held this post until 1970, when he became president following the declaration of a republic. After suffering from ill health during this last appointment, he retired at 1976 and died in 1978.
Having served in the Royal Artillery Officer Training Corps while at university, on the outbreak of World War II he was commissioned into the Artillery and served as an adjutant for a light anti-aircraft battalion. He served in North Africa and was on General Eisenhower's staff Anatomy of a Rebel: Smith of Rhodesia: a Biography, Peter Joyce, Graham Publishing, 1974, page 284 during the liberation of Europe in 1944; he ended the war as a War Office official.
However, Dupont was not pleased with the performance of the prime minister, Winston Field, and after Field's failure to win independence from the United Kingdom in 1963 following the dissolution of the Central African Federation, he and Desmond Lardner-Burke, known as "the cowboys", joined forces to overthrow Field and install Ian Smith as prime minister. Comment: Communist Fortnightly Review, Volume 3, Issues 1-51, Central Books Limited, 1965, page 773
In October 1964, Dupont thwarted Sir Roy Welensky's attempt to re-enter politics in Rhodesia following the break-up of the Federation. Clifford Dupont, First President of Rhodesia, Dies, The Washington Post, 29 June 1978 Welensky had assumed the leadership of the opposition United Federal Party (which he renamed the Rhodesia Party), and was contesting a by-election in Arundel, but Dupont deliberately resigned his constituency in Charter to oppose him. East Africa and Rhodesia, Volume 41, Africana, 1964, page 4 Dupont soundly defeated Welensky by 1079 votes to 633. So Far and No Further: Rhodesia's Bid for Independence During the Retreat from Empire 1959 - 196 JRT Wood, Trafford, 2004, page 239
Forming a close relationship with the rising RF politician Ian Smith, Dupont assisted in the latter's becoming prime minister in 1964 and was consequently promoted to become Smith's deputy. As Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia, he held the portfolio of External Affairs, and added Defence in June 1965.
Smith's government initially continued to profess loyalty to Queen Elizabeth II. Accordingly, after UDI it reconstituted Rhodesia as a Commonwealth realm with Elizabeth as head of state. All oaths of allegiance continued to be taken to "Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Rhodesia, her heirs and successors". International Law Reports, Volume 52, E. Lauterpacht, Cambridge University Press, 1979, page 53 At the same time, Smith's government ceased to recognise the authority of her de jure representative, the Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs. When Gibbs formally dismissed Smith and his entire cabinet on orders from Whitehall, Smith maintained that Gibbs' executive authority, including his reserve power to sack the government, no longer existed. Ian Smith Strips Gibbs Of All Official Privilege, Associated Press, The Morning Record, 18 November 1965 Rhodesian independence, (Interim history), Robert W. Peterson, Facts on File, 1971, page 34
On 17 November, Smith appointed Dupont to the post of "Acting Officer Administering the Government", effectively superseding Gibbs as Elizabeth's viceregal representative in Rhodesia. East Africa and Rhodesia, Volume 42, Africana, 1965, pages 339, 464 Bulletin, Volumes 3-4, Africa Institute of South Africa, 1965, pages 12-13 Opponents of UDI who considered it an illegal move, such as the independent member of the Legislative Assembly Ahrn Palley, refused to recognise Dupont's office, and walked out of the opening of Parliament when Dupont came to deliver the Speech from the Throne. Africa Report, Volumes 11-12, African-American Institute, 1966, page 44 The appointment was made with a view to making Dupont Governor-General of Rhodesia. Accordingly, on 2 December 1965, Smith wrote a personal letter to the Queen asking her to formally appoint Dupont as Governor-General. The New Law Journal, Volume 127, Butterworth, 1978, page 529 In response, Buckingham Palace replied, "Her Majesty is not able to entertain purported advice of this kind, and has therefore been pleased to direct that no action shall be taken upon it". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Volume 20, page 659, 1971 Smith was attempting to assert his claimed prerogatives as Her Majesty's Rhodesian prime minister. However, Elizabeth did not recognise the Rhodesian crown and treated Smith's letter as a request from a private citizen. The UK, with the near-unanimous support of the international community, maintained that Gibbs was the Queen's only legitimate representative in what it still considered to be the colony of Southern Rhodesia, and hence the only lawful authority in the area.
Under the 1965 Constitution, if the Queen did not appoint a governor-general within fourteen days of advice being tendered by the prime minister, a regent was to be appointed. The Constitution of Rhodesia, 1965, Government Printer, 1965, page 7 In deference to the royal family, however, on 16 December, Smith amended his original plan and Dupont was appointed as officer administering the government. Rhodesia and the United Nations: UN Imposition of Mandatory Sanctions 1966, Avrahm G. Mezerik, International Review Service, 1966, pages 39-40 He would continue to use the title until the declaration of a republic in 1970. Rhodesian Commentary, Volumes 3-5, 1970, page 72
In a referendum held on 24 June 1969, the predominantly white electorate approved a new constitution making Rhodesia a republic, with the president as ceremonial head of state. "Final Break", Time, 27 June 1969. A bill to that effect was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 17 November, and was signed into law by Dupont on 27 November. Bulletin, Volume 15, Africa Institute, 1977, page 14 Dupont's last duty as officer administrating the government was to sign the proclamation of a republic on 2 March 1970. The Spectator, Volume 224, F.C. Westley, 1970, page 300
During the latter period of his term he suffered long bouts of ill health, and retired on 31 December 1975.
On 23 May 1963, he married Armenell Mary Betty Bennet (1929-2000), Who's Who of Southern Africa, Volume 53, Argus Printing & Publishing Company, 1969, page 1202 originally from Cornwall, who was a branch organiser for the Rhodesian Front. The Reluctant President: The Memoirs of the Hon. Clifford DuPont, GCLM, ID, Clifford DuPont, Books of Rhodesia, 1978, page 120 They had no children. Armenell died on 10 April 2000 in Harare.
"Dupont, Rhodesian Ex‐Leader, Dies", The New York Times, June 29, 1978, p.B-2 Africa Research Bulletin, Blackwell, 1978, page 4900
|-
|-
|-
|-
|
|
