Category: Southern Rhodesia

The British South Africa Company (BSAC) developed an interest in tobacco production for colonial economic growth. Originally, the Company concluded that this tobacco had no export value since its flavour was alien to British consumers. Consequently, British settler farmers began to cultivate ‘superior’ varieties of Tabacum (flue-cured, Turkish, and fire-cured).…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Tobacco

In 1905, Percy W Skerrett, opened a branch of Lennon Limited in Salisbury . He remained in charge of the branch until 1922 when he left Lennon Ltd to open his own pharmacies in Nyasaland called The Nyasaland Pharmacies. References Chemist and Druggist: The Newsweekly for Pharmacy, Volume 106 1927

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Lennon Limited (Salisbury)

Banket was named after the geological formation of gold-bearing rock on the Johannesburg reef called a “banket”. Early prospectors in Rhodesia thought they had discovered a second similar reef and christened the place with the same name. However, the conglomerate was not gold-bearing, although gold and chrome was later discovered.…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Banket

Darwendale is a small town in southern Mashonaland. The village grew from a farm, owned by Otto Christian Zimmerman, which was pegged out in the 1890s to grow tobacco. In the 1920s, chromium mines were opened along the Great Dyke in the Lomagundi district both north and south of town.…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Darwendale

Gloria Cycle Works was located on Abercorn Street, Bulawayo. The wholesale and retail cycle merchant was established in 1907 by Abram Radowsky. It was one of the oldest businesses in the country specialising in cycles and accessories. References Rhodesia and Eastern Africa: Historical and Descriptive Commercial and Industrial Facts, Figures,…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Gloria Cycle Works

The Pioneer Column, a military volunteer force of settlers organised by Cecil Rhodes, founded Salisbury on 12 September 1890 as a fort. They originally named the city Fort Salisbury after The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, the then British prime minister, and it subsequently became known simply as Salisbury. On the 3 May 1935,…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Salisbury (Municipality)

The town of Bulawayo was declared a municipality on 26 October 1897 and was administered by a mayor and municipal council. On 4 November 1943, Bulawayo achieved city status and the Municipal Council of Bulawayo became the City Council of Bulawayo. Commerce & Industry A F Philip & Co Ltd…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Bulawayo (Municipality)

Johnson & Fletcher Ltd was established in July 1897 by Harold Clarkson Fletcher and George Johnson. The head office was located in Bulawayo and opened as a consulting and general engineering business, supplying parts and equipment to gold mining companies. Additional branches were opened in Salisbury (1899), Beira (1904) and…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Johnson & Fletcher Ltd (Bulawayo)

The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. There are five subspecies that are recognized as being valid. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the nominotypical subspecies, and the largest one, found in Southern and East Africa. The African buffalo is more closely related to other buffalo species…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer)

In the early 1900s, the only maize grown in Rhodesia was the small, multi-coloured grain grown by the natives. Within ten years, Europeans began farming maize. Most maize was grown in Mashonaland. By the mid 1950s, maize accounted for 15.1 per cent of the country’s agricultural produce. Stamps & Postal…

View More Southern Rhodesia Philately: Maize