Researching Hugh Beadle

Born and raised in the Southern Rhodesian capital Salisbury, Beadle read law in the Union of South Africa and in Great Britain before commencing practice in Bulawayo in 1931. He became a member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Godfrey Huggins's ruling United Party in 1939. Appointed Huggins's Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1940, he retained that role until 1946, when he became Minister of Internal Affairs and Justice; the Education and Health portfolios were added two years later. He retired from politics in 1950 to become a Judge of the High Court of Southern Rhodesia. In 1961, he was knighted and appointed Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia; three years later he became president of the High Court's new Appellate Division and a member of the British Privy Council.

Beadle held the Rhodesian Front, the governing party from 1962, in low regard, dismissing its Justice Minister Desmond Lardner-Burke as a "small time country solicitor". As independence talks between Britain and Southern Rhodesia gravitated towards stalemate, Beadle repeatedly attempted to arrange a compromise. He continued these efforts after UDI, and brought Harold Wilson and Smith together for talks aboard . The summit failed; Wilson afterwards castigated Beadle for not persuading Smith to settle.

Beadle's de jure recognition of the post-UDI government in Rhodesia in 1968 outraged the Wilson administration and drew accusations from the British Prime Minister and others that he had furtively supported UDI all along. His true motives remain the subject of speculation. After Smith declared a republic in 1970, Beadle continued as Chief Justice; he was almost removed from the Imperial Privy Council, but kept his place following Wilson's 1970 electoral defeat soon after. Beadle retired in April 1977 and thereafter sat as an acting judge in special trials for terrorist offences.