Background
David was born on April 19, 1922, son of a farmer at Corran just outside Clachan at the mouth of Loch Tarbert in Argyllshire, United Kingdom.
David was born on April 19, 1922, son of a farmer at Corran just outside Clachan at the mouth of Loch Tarbert in Argyllshire, United Kingdom.
Christened without the middle name “Colville”, he was educated in Scotland.
He emigrated to Rhodesia in 1947 and took to the land. Beginning as a farm manager he worked his way up to a partnership in a farming company, Smith and Wheeler, which became a big money-making concern. Chairman of the Cotton Marketing Company for several years, he became chairman of the Farmers’ Cooperatives in Salisbury in 1965. A director of various companies, he also joined the board of the Netherlands Bank of Rhodesia.
As MP for Marandellas he was brought straight into the cabinet in charge of Agriculture in 1968. At first his main headache was the depression of the tobacco growers as a result of economic sanctions against Rhodesia. But his biggest problem came in January 1973 with the crisis over prolonged drought. Although he could do little about substantial crop losses he was efficient in setting up an emergency committee to organise relief for livestock farmers.
His political creed was crystallised in a comment at the Salisbury Agricultural Show on September 1, 1972: “Our assumption of independence was designed to protect future generations from the philosophies of those whose record of failure can be seen all over Africa and who arc completely isolated by distance, economic status and experience from the realities of our developing country.” On September 22, 1972, he was elected deputy president of the Rhodesian Front.