Background
Roger Tancred Robert Hawkins was born in Letchworth, England on 25 April 1915. He was the son of Harry Bradford Tancred Hawkins.
Roger Tancred Robert Hawkins was born in Letchworth, England on 25 April 1915. He was the son of Harry Bradford Tancred Hawkins.
After his family emigrated to Rhodesia in 1926, he was educated at Barton Grange School, Bulawayo and then sent back to England. He completed his schooling at Bedford Modern School and graduated at King’s College, University of London.
As a mining expert he rose to become the director of several companies and entered politics by winning the Charter seat in Parliament in November 1964. Six years later he made his mark in cabinet by setting out modernisation schemes for the train services, introducing diesel engines in substantial numbers and planning the phase-out of steam by 1980. As a forward-looking man he prepared for the next step too—the transition to electrification.
He took a strong segregationist line in ruling out any necessity to have Africans on the board of Rhodesian Railways. His biggest headache was the financial deficit of Rhodesian Railways following the closure of the Rhodesia- Zambia border in January 1973 and the consequent cut-off of freight dues from carrying Zambian copper.
English-born businessman who did not turn to politics until he was in his 50th year. After making his name as a mining expert he was brought into the cabinet to succeed Brigadier Andrew Dunlop. Not a man of great political ambition but a solid supporter of indefinite white rule.