Devlin Commission of Enquiry, Nyasaland

Statements, evidence, notebooks of Mr. Thomas Oslaf Kellock, etc.

These papers were donated by one of the lawyers who took part in the Commission hearings,Mr (now Judge) Thomas Oslaf Kellock. The files and notebooks include statements, evidence and Mr. Kellock's notes. Evidence was submitted by, amongst others, Dr. Hastings Banda, Joshua Nkomo, Henry Chipembere, Kanyama Chiume and other Congress leaders; much of the documentation in this group relates to their submissions. There are also: correspondence, speeches and memoranda by Dr. Hastings Banda; press cuttings; documents taken by the police from the Nyasaland African Congress office; reports; printed political ephemera.

The Commission of Enquiry, under the chairmanship of Lord Devlin, was appointed in 1959, after African opposition to the Central African Federation culminated in widespread disturbances in Rhodesia and Nyasaland. A state of emergency had been declared and 600 members of the Nyasaland African Congress detained. The Commission's findings were extremely unfavourable to the Nyasaland Government, and its report helped to convince the British Government of the unacceptability of the Federation to the African majority.

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Originally published by Access to Archives - A2A. The data in this finding aid is in the copyright of the place of deposit.