Richard Seymour Hall papers

Includes Dick Hall's correspondence with Kenneth Kaunda, David Astor, Tiny Rowland, Donald Trelford, David Owen MP, Derek Ingram, Robert Stephens, A. B. Mutemba; correspondence as editor of the Times of Zambia, c1965-1968; interviews, speeches, poetry by Kenneth Kaunda; subjects include the press in Africa; Northern Rhodesia / Zambia politics, mining industry, flying doctor service, copperbelt disturbances, education, press, public relations campaigns, development, aid from Britain 1960s; Rhodesia including Unilateral Declaration of Independence, guerilla war, education, sanctions, pro-Rhodesia propaganda, relations with the Commonwealth and the British government, 1960s; Barotseland politics, 1960s; "The Observer", c1964-c1986; Biafra, 1968-1971; politics in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, c1960s-c1980s; Congo mercenaries, 1967, report on the mission to Bukavu, October–November 1967, A. Haworth, Medical Superintendent, Chainama Hills Hospital; Nigerian politics, 1980s-1990s including allegations of oil fraud; Umaru Dikko, c1985; Africa and China, c1960-c1968; draft articles; research correspondence, papers for books; Africa Analysis correspondence, papers, c1982-1994; Lonhro and Africa, 1960s; profiles of Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, 1960s; minutes, papers of Anglo-Rhodesian Society, c1967-c1968; papers by Joe Slovo, Patrick Keatley, Edward Mondlane at student conference, 1968 March; handwritten notes for conference speech by the Chairman of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East and Central Africa PAFMECA, c1962, in the Congo; survey of comparative change in public opinion, 1964-66, Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam, Kampala, Marco Surveys, June 1966; address by the chairman, Sir Roland Prain to the shareholders of the Rhodesian Selection Trust Limited, 1963 May; transcript, The Frost Programme, "Is southern Africa heading for racial war?" 1967 November; Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) by Frank Macharious Chitambala, 1962; correspondence file on World Security Trust, 1964-1977.

Publications include The Case for Rhodesian Independence by Brigadier Andrew Skeen, c1967; Housewives Today (1967 July, 1968 July, The British Housewives League); Zambia and the Strains of UDI, reprinted from The World Today, December 1967; The Domino Theory of the Rhodesian Lobby by Vernon McKay in Africa Report, June 1967; The South African Observer 1967 February, "The United Nations Instrument of Global Subversion"; Marriage and the Family, report of the annual conference of the Rhodesia Council of Social Service, September 1961; Report on the development of a university in Northern Rhodesia, [Government Printer, Lusaka, 1963]; Prospects for the Education of Africans in Rhodesia, talks held in London with Rhodesian officials, 1965; No Hide-Out, leaflet, Ministry of Information, Immigration and Tourism, Salisbury Rhodesia, October 1966; The United Nations in Central Africa, 1961-2 [Government Printer, Salisbury, 1978]; La Comite National de L'A I.A. by Frans Bontinck (1976); 10 Thoughts on Humanism by Kenneth Kaunda (undated); Erosion of the rule of law in South Africa (International Commission of Jurists, 1968).

Richard Hall lived and travelled throughout Africa and Indian Ocean as a journalist and historian. Born in East Sussex, he spent part of his boyhood in Australia, before returning to England in the early 1930's. He was educated at Hastings Grammar School, served in a destroyer in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, then went to Keble College, Oxford where he obtained an honours degree in English. After working in London on the Daily Mail, he lived for thirteen years in Africa, where he was co-founder and editor of the Central Africa Mail, and later was editor of the Times of Zambia. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's he remained at the centre of the de-colonisation process in Zambia. In 1967 he returned to the UK, but continued to be in close contact with African political affairs. He became the Commonwealth correspondent of the Observer, and a columnist on the Financial Times. In 1986, he founded the financial and political bulletin Africa Analysis. He wrote a number of books on Africa politics. He also produced a number of biographies and histories, ranging from the early Victorian explorers Sam and Florence Baker and Henry Morton Stanley, to the modem merchant-adventurer Tiny Rowland. Richard Hall lived in Oxfordshire for the last 15 years of his life, where he completed his last major book, Empires of the Monsoon. A wide-ranging history of the Indian ocean, focussing on the waves of foreign influence along the East African coast from the earliest Arab traders to the end of the colonial period. He remained active as a writer until his death in 1997. Richard Hall married twice, first to Barbara Hall, a successful journalist and author in her own right and respected crossword compiler and puzzles editor for the Sunday Times. His second marriage was to Carol Cattley, whom he met whilst working at the Observer. Richard Hall had 5 sons from his first marriage.

Open for research although at least a working day's notice should be given. Access to some files might be restricted by data protection legislation.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by Library staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

Richard Hall's writings on Rhodesia, 1964-1965, are also held at the Library (reference ICS 26).