Papers of Frank Basil Canning-Cooke

Papers relating to the Northern Rhodesia Chamber of Mines, African advancement and the Royal Rhodesia Regiment.

Frank Basil Canning-Cooke was born in Glamorgan in 1906 and educated at Shrewsbury School. In 1924 he was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery (Territorial Army) as Second Lieutenant, 83rd Brigade, and served as a Trooper in the Rangoon Light Horses (1929-1930), the South Provinces Mounted Rifles (1931-1934), and the Calcutta Light Horses (1935-1936), all as part of the auxiliary force in India. From 1936-1939 Canning-Cooke served as a Lieutenant, Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, Royal Artillery, and in 1939 was appointed Lieutenant in the 138th Field Regiment Royal Artillery. He attained the rank of Major (1941), Lieutenant Colonel (1943), Lieutenant Colonel in the Northern Rhodesian Territorial Force (1955), and was appointed an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Rhodesia Regiment (1960) and the Zambia Rifles (1964).

The collection has been arranged according to Canning-Cooke's military career and his later involvement in the Northern Rhodesia Chamber of Mines.

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Collection level description created by Marion Lowman, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room and a handlist is also available for this collection.

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.