Southern Rhodesia governor (1924-'70)

Zimbabwe historical flags

Last modified: 2005-07-16 by bruce berry
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• Southern Rhodesia - Governor (1924-1951)
• Southern Rhodesia - Governor (1951-1965)
• Southern Rhodesia - Governor (1951-1970) - variant
• Governor's "house-hold" flag

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Southern Rhodesia - Governor (1924-1951)

In most of the British colonies the flags used by the Sovereign's representative usually followed the same general design. In Southern Rhodesia, the Governor was appointed by the Crown and acted as the local head of state, receiving instructions from the British Government.  The Governor was also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and as such, in theory at least, exercised considerable influence over the running of the colony and its government.  In practice, however, the Governor's main function was to maintain a satisfactory relationship between the British and Southern Rhodesian Governments and acted in an advisory capacity most of the time.

In Southern Rhodesia the Governor initially flew a Union Flag with a white roundel in the centre charged with the shield from the colony's arms granted on 11 August 1924, namely "Vert, a Pick Or, on a Chief Argent a Lion Passant Gules between two Thistles leaved and slipped proper".
The lion and thistles were taken from the Arms of Cecil John Rhodes, whose British South Africa Company had been responsible for the initial colonisation of the territory and the gold pick symbolised mining.
Unique among the flags of the Governors