My Memoirs of the British South Africa Police, by John Shaw

My Memoirs of the British South Africa Police, 1966–1981 and a Colonial Upbringing in Northern Rhodesia, by John Shaw. 30 Degrees South Publishers (Pty) Ltd. and Helion Company Ltd. Pinetown, South Africa and West Midlands, England 2015. ISBN 9781910294987 / ISBN 978-1-910294-98-7 United Kingdom. ISBN 9781928211716 / ISBN 978-1-928211-71-6 South Africa

My Memoirs of the British South Africa Police, 1966–1981 and a Colonial Upbringing in Northern Rhodesia, by John Shaw.

Northern Rhodesia, or Zambia as it is now called, was a territory in south central Africa which was originally 'opened up', so to speak, by early British settlers in 1911. Initially it was administered under charter of the British South African Company (BSAC) and became known as Northern Rhodesia when North-Western Rhodesia was amalgamated with North-Eastern Rhodesia. Although it had features of a charter colony the territory's treaties and charter gave it protectorate status. From 1924 it was administered by the British Colonial Office as an official British Protectorate with its capital in Livingstone. In 1935 Lusaka, being more centrally situated, assumed the role of Zambia's capital city. Initially, the drawcard for early settlers was the discovery of vast fields of copper ore in the Broken Hill area, but in the early 1930s these were overtaken by the discovery of rich copper ore deposits in an area to the south of the Congo border. Northern Rhodesia's wealth depended on the extraction of copper and this resulted in large mining towns springing up along the copper-rich reef or belt from which the area derived its name, the Copperbelt. In 1953 Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Southern Rhodesia became known as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and shared several common important services, i.e. the Central African Power Corporation (which controlled the Kariba hydro-electric installation), the railways and the airways. In the mid-1950s African nationalists in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland began opposing the formation of the Federation and put pressure on Britain to obtain their independence. In 1956 politically inspired riots and strikes brought the mines to a standstill and the Governor declared a State of Emergency. In January 1964 after the British Government decided to approve the secession of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia from the Federation, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ceased to exist. Northern Rhodesia was declared independent on 24 October 1964 and the territory became known as Zambia.

In the beginning

My grandfather, John Shaw, or Gramp Shaw, as I refer to him, was born in Hull, England, on 29 August 1892, of middle class parents. At the outbreak of World War I he joined the East Yorkshire Regiment and at the time of his engagement he was studying divinity at Leeds University. His battalion was first posted to the Suez Canal area where he soon contacted malaria. Later his unit was sent directly to the Western Front where they took part in the Battle of the Somme. In 1917 he was still a private but received a commission in the field. He opted to become a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. It was then that he was sent to the Royal Naval College for a portion of his training. He eventually qualified as a pilot flying the Sopwith Camel, a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft. After the war he came out to Africa where he took advantage of facilities that were available for ex-servicemen to acquire farms in the Vubwe River region of the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia. My grandmother, Vera Walker, came out from Witney in Oxfordshire in 1921 and nearly two years later, my father was born in Fort Jameson on 9 October 1923. John William Shaw, as he was named, was only the second white baby to be born at this farming centre, the first being 'Happy' Cowham, who later became a colleague of my father's in the Northern Rhodesia Police. After doing very well with tobacco on his 2,500 acre farm, my grandfather, along with many others, fell victim to the Great Depression and was declared bankrupt in the early part of 1928. [...]

This is an excerpt from My Memoirs of the British South Africa Police, by John Shaw.

Title: My Memoirs of the British South Africa Police, 1966–1981
Subtitle: And a Colonial Upbringing in Northern Rhodesia.
Author: John Shaw
Genre: War memoires
Publisher: 30 Degrees South Publishers (Pty) Ltd. and Helion Company Ltd.
Pinetown, South Africa and West Midlands, England 2015
ISBN 9781910294987 / ISBN 978-1-910294-98-7 United Kingdom
ISBN 9781928211716 / ISBN 978-1-928211-71-6 South Africa
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 256 pages, numerous b/w photos, 1 map