Robert Clarkson Tredgold

Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold CMG (2 June 1899 – 8 April 1977) was a British barrister and judge who held a number of political posts in Rhodesia.

He was born in Bulawayo to Clarkson Henry Tredgold, the Attorney-General of Rhodesia, and Emily Ruth (née Moffat), and was the grandson of the missionary John Moffat. He attended Rondebosch Boys' School in Cape Town, South Africa.

He held the posts of Minister of Defence in Rhodesia during World War II, Federal Chief Justice, acting Governor-General of Rhodesia from 21 November 1953 to 26 November 1954, and acting Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 24 January 1957 to February 1957; he later resigned in protest from his Central African Federation (CAF) position, criticizing the repressive actions authorized by Sir Edgar Whitehead against black nationalist opposition to minority white rule in Nyasaland, Lusaka and Northern Rhodesia.

Sir Robert Tredgold was named Privy Counsellor in 1957. He retired to Marondera with his second wife, Lady Margaret Tredgold. He published the book The Rhodesia That Was My Life in 1968.

Family

A widower in 1974, Tredgold married his second wife, Mrs. Margaret Helen Phear (née Baines; 1910-2012), a widow and mother of three children, originally from Aliwal North, South Africa. Together the couple researched the folklore of Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) and published children's books based on them. They also researched edible plants, culminating in Food Plants of Zimbabwe, which she completed after his death and published in 1986.

A devout Roman Catholic, Lady Margaret died in 2012 at age 102 in England, where she had relocated in 2004 due to the Mugabe government's policies. She was predeceased by one son, and survived by a second son and her daughter, with whom she lived in England.

Honours

Robert Clarkson Tredgold was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1943 New Year Honours. He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1951 New Year's Honours.