Ernest Lucas Guest Sir Ernest Lucas Guest ( 20 August 1882 – 20 September 1972 ) was a Rhodesian politician , lawyer and soldier . He held senior ministerial positions in the government , most notably as Minister for Air during the Second World War . Guest was born in Grahamstown , Cape Colony . His grandfather had moved the family there , leaving Kidderminster , England , where it had been in the printing business for three generations . He saw active service in the Second Boer War , enlisting despite being underage , and again in the First World War , when he was injured in France . His legal career began while back in Southern Rhodesia between those two wars . He won a case against Sir Charles Coghlan , at the time Premier of Southern Rhodesia , and Coghlan invited him to become a partner in his firm , which became known as Coghlan , Welsh & Guest . On his return from the First World War , Guest took responsibility for the Salisbury practice . He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1928 as a member of Coghlan ' s Rhodesia Party , representing the constituency of Charter , which he held until 1946 . He first became a cabinet minister in Godfrey Huggins ' government , appointed Minister of Mines and Public Works in June 1938 . During the Second World War , Guest was Minister for Air and administered the Rhodesia Air Training Group . After the war he was also Minister of Defence , Minister of Finance and Leader of the House . At the 1946 elections he stood for Salisbury Gardens and held the seat until his retirement from office in 1948 . He married Edith May Jones and had two daughters and twin sons , both of whom were killed in action during the Second World War . At his death , both the High Court and Parliament paid public tributes to him . His continuing legacy is most evident in the Kariba Dam , a project that went ahead with his active support . Early life . Ernest Lucas Guest was born in Grahamstown , Cape Colony ( in modern South Africa ' s Eastern Cape province ) on 20 August 1882 . Guest ' s grandfather had moved the family to South Africa in 1861 from Kidderminster , England , where they had been involved in the printing business for three generations . His grandfather was appointed manager of the " Frontier Times " , printed and published in Grahamstown . The family resided there until 1889 when Ernest ' s father , Herbert Melville Guest , moved them to Klerksdorp , Transvaal , after buying the local newspaper and printing business . Military career . Second Boer War . At the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 , Guest was below the minimum age of 18 for enlist ing . He nevertheless managed to join the First City Volunteers , a Grahamstown regiment in which his father had served . Its task of guarding a bridge over a railway line was unappealing , so he took the opportunity of joining the Eastern Province Light Horse , attached to the Highland Brigade , which was recruiting volunteers who could both ride and shoot . Early in the Brigade ' s advance into the Orange Free State on its way to the relief of Kimberley , Guest got food poisoning and he returned to Grahamstown . After recovering , he joined the Kimberley Mounted Corps and guided two officers from Lichtenburg to Klerksdorp , where they persuaded the Boers to surrender by bluffing that a strong British force was following close behind . The Boers soon retook the town and Guest was captured . He was sent with other prisoners to Pietersburg to be executed but he managed to escape and travelled to Warmbaths . After satisfying the authorities that he had actually been taken prisoner and had not surrendered voluntarily , he returned to his depot at Kimberley . His unit had been disbanded and he was discharged . Guest joined up again , enlisting in Kitchener ' s Fighting Scouts on 2 January 1901 . He was given the rank of Sergeant , chasing Boer commandoes without success . He was recommended for a commission and posted to the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles , whose Colonel decided that Guest was too young to lead a force composed of miners who were considerably older than him . Returning to Klerksdorp , Guest learned that the Bechuanaland Rifles were recruiting experienced officers ; he went to Mafeking and was accepted into the unit , with whom he served until the end of the war . The Rifles were part of a mobile force , the Divisional Scouting Corps , whose function was to round up Boer detachments and to execute Kitchener ' s scorched earth policy , destroying Boer farm buildings and crops , and detaining women and children in concentration camp s . First World War . Great Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 , and as part of the British Empire , Southern Rhodesia was also now at war . The British South Africa Company ( which then administered the territory ) took no steps to aid recruiting for the forces , so many men paid their own fares to England to join up . A number of eligible recruits could not afford to go , so Guest , together with Captain Alwyn Knowles of the Bedfordshire Regiment , who as a reserve officer was awaiting his call - up , organised a private fund to pay their passages . When the recruits arrived in England they were enlisted by Captain ( later Colonel ) John Banks Brady ( who was in 1934 to be elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly as member for Bulawayo North ) to form a Rhodesian platoon in the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps . Guest and Knowles were summoned to the Defence Department and told to stop recruiting . The Administration had decided to raise a regiment in Rhodesia , and Guest joined the Salisbury battalion of the 1st Rhodesian Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant . < ref name = " WO372 / 8 " > The National Archives ( TNA ) : Public Record Office ( PRO ) WO 372 / 8 / 176444 Medal Card of Guest , Ernest Lucas , 1914 – 1920 < / ref > The battalion was sent to South Africa to assist in suppressing the 1914 Maritz Rebellion by Boers opposed to fighting for Britain . It was not , however , deployed against the Rebellion and when it ended the battalion was sent , with the Imperial Light Horse , to reinforce the South African troops in the South - West Africa Campaign in German South - West Africa , present - day Namibia . They landed at Lambert ' s Bay on Christmas morning 1914 , but made no contact with the enemy until they were sent to Swakopmund . When the campaign came to an end , the battalion returned to Salisbury . Guest then travelled to England and sought a commission , joining the South Lancashire Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant in September 1916 . He was later promoted to Captain . He went with his battalion to France where they were posted to the 59th Division , then in the line . The sector they occupied was not very active , but shelling and sniping from both sides were carried out fairly regularly . It was not long before Guest was wounded , and then he fell victim to an irritating and persistent skin complaint which was common in the trenches and did not respond to treatment . He was evacuated to England and after a brief period in hospital was sent to the Imperial Hydro at St Annes , where he was told that he would not be fit to return to his unit for six months . Through a contact at the War Office , Guest had his name added to a list of officers available for special employment , and was selected to undertake a propaganda tour of the United States , delivering 160 lectures to approximately 282 , 000 people in total . He was then sent to France to promote the benefits of Southern Rhodesia to the large number of soldiers who had become unsettled and wished to emigrate . Guest then returned to Rhodesia with his family , who had spent most of the war in England . Other members of the Guest family also served in the First World War . Ivor Guest , Ernest ' s eldest brother , was a lieutenant in the Witwatersrand Rifles in the South - West Africa Campaign . After the regiment was disbanded at the end of the campaign , he was commissioned as a machine gun officer in the Second Cape Corps for service in East Africa ; he was killed in action in November 1917 at the Battle of Mahiwa while checking the advance of a vastly superior enemy force . His gun crew had become casualties and he was handling the gun himself when he was killed . Guest ' s two younger brothers also served in the Transvaal Scottish . The elder of them , Duke , was later commissioned in the South African Scottish and served in France . He was gassed and after a long stay in hospital was declared unfit for further service and remained in England until the end of the war . Legal career . Admission to the Rhodesian Court . At the start of the Second Boer War , Guest had left school without any educational qualifications . Nevertheless , he managed to start his legal career when a Klerksdorp solicitor , Maurice Rood , offered him a job drawing up claims for compensation by farmers whose properties had been destroyed or damaged by the British forces . The claims were to be submitted to the " Compensation Committee " , on which Guest ' s father served . When the committee ceased to function Rood suggested that Guest become articled to him . The need to matriculate was an obstacle . He used a family connection with St Andrew ' s College , Grahamstown , to attend as a day boy and passed his matriculation . He duly applied to the Supreme Court for admission as an attorney in the Transvaal , was accepted and took the oath . He was offered a post with the leading firm of attorneys in Klerksdorp , but a clause in his articles prohibited Guest from practising in competition with Rood ' s firm for some years without the latter ' s permission . Guest became acquainted with Fred Hopley , who had recently been practising in Bulawayo . He informed Guest that a solicitor in Bulawayo , Louis Champion , wanted someone to take over his practice for six months while he was away on a shooting trip . Guest ' s application was accepted by return of post and he was asked to report early in July 1910 . Champion ' s practice , as Deputy Sheriff , consisted mainly of debt - collecting and lending money to doubtful borrowers at a high rate of interest . Guest prepared his petition for admission to the Rhodesian Court and briefed counsel to represent him before the Chief Justice , Sir Joseph Vintcent . The Judge dispensed with the requirement to apply first for admission in the Cape Colony and admitted him as an attorney of the High Court of Southern Rhodesia . A few days after Guest ' s arrival a young man arrived to practise in Bulawayo as an advocate , Robert Hudson . So began a friendship that was to endure for the rest of Hudson ' s life and through many vicissitudes – in the legal profession , on active service in the First World War , and during the years when they were both members of the Cabinet . Hudson , who for some years was Minister of Justice , became Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia . Coghlan , Welsh & Guest . Bryce Hendrie , whose office was next door to Louis Champion ' s , had been appointed Commanding Officer of the Rhodesian contingent to attend the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911 . Before his departure to England , he offered Guest the management of his practice during his absence . Hendrie ' s brother was an estate agent and put all his property transfers through the firm , so Guest gained much valuable experience , especially in conveyancing , through a number of cases in the High Court , in the Magistrate ' s Court and in the Court of the Mining Commissioner . Guest came up against Sir Charles Coghlan , the senior partner of Coghlan and Welsh , in a case before the Court of the Mining Commissioner . Coghlan represented a mining company , which had pegged some gold claims on Guest ' s client ' s farm . The Commissioner gave judgment in favour of Guest , who had been instructed to oppose their registration . Following this case , although initially irritated by Guest , Coghlan invited him to join his firm in Salisbury , which Guest did in January 1912 . The Salisbury office had been opened by Mr A B Tancred . His passing away provided the opportunity for Guest to join the firm as a partner . For a while , the firm was known as Coghlan , Welsh , Townsend and Guest , when Townsend , one of the 1820 Settlers in the Eastern Cape , joined the firm in Salisbury . It reverted to Coghlan , Welsh and Guest , when Townsend died a little time later . On his return to Rhodesia after the First World War , Guest took over the Salisbury practice from Sir Charles , who returned to Bulawayo . Politics . Early career . After the First World War , Guest became involved in municipal affairs . He served on a committee to help returning soldiers adjust to civilian life . He was elected to the Salisbury Town Council , and during his second term was appointed Deputy Mayor . For the best part of a year , he acted as Mayor during the Mayor ' s absence in the United States . Guest was one of several prominent citizens who were members of the Rhodesian Union Association , advocating joining the Union of South Africa in the 1922 government referendum ; the alternative option was " responsible government " , under which Southern Rhodesia would become a self - governing colony of Britain in its own right . The electorate returned a vote for the latter proposition , and in October 1923 Coghlan became the first Premier of Southern Rhodesia . Although Guest was on the opposite side to Coghlan the statesman was impressed by his capabilities , and when he drew up a list of those he would like to see stand for election to the next Legislative Assembly , just before his death , he put Guest ' s name at the head of it . Guest first stood for Charter , representing the Rhodesia Party at the 1928 elections . Despite the constituency being largely Afrikaans , he won the seat , defeating the incumbent Charles Edward Gilfillan of the Progressive Party with a majority of 283 votes to 211 . He held Charter until 1946 , being re - elected in 1933 , 1934 ( unopposed ) and 1939 . At the 1946 elections he stood for Salisbury Gardens and won , remaining there until his retirement from politics in 1948 . Cabinet Minister . At the 1933 elections , Sir Charles Coghlan ' s Rhodesia Party was defeated by the Reform Party of Godfrey Huggins . Guest was a key advocate of accepting the merger of the two parties under the new name of the United Party and Huggins appointed him to his Cabinet in 1938 . Guest was Minister of Mines and Public Works , from 1 June 1938 to 1 February 1944 . The Electricity Supply Commission came under his portfolio . It had responsibility for ensuring that the generation of electricity kept pace with the ever · growing needs of mining , farming and secondary industry . When Guest became Minister the Commission was constructing a thermal power station at Umsweswe , but kept running short of money . The Minister of Finance , Jacob Smit , was reluctant to grant further funds but would support a hydro - electric scheme . Guest proposed Kariba as a source of hydro - electric power and Smit provided the money for further investigation . Guest arranged with a civil engineer named Jeffares , who had earlier surveyed the route of the proposed Sinoia / Kafue railway and knew the country around Kariba , to survey the area , select a site for a power station and submit a report . When he eventually did so , Guest appointed a committee of engineers to examine the proposal . They reported favourably but did not recommend that the scheme be proceeded with immediately . Nor was the Cabinet particularly impressed , and the idea was strongly criticised by the Opposition in Parliament . The outbreak of the Second World War caused the project to be shelved but after the war the project was revived as a joint scheme to serve the two Rhodesias . Second World War . At a special sitting of Parliament on 28 August 1939 , Rhodesia determined to stand by Great Britain in the event that war should break out , as was expected . Of a white population of just 65 , 000 , only 10 , 000 were fit and available for active service . It was decided not to create a full Rhodesian formation : if it were wiped out , the colony ' s future prosperity would be put at risk . Instead mostly small groups of Rhodesians were distributed throughout the British Army , Navy and Air Force . In the Defence Report of 1939 , it was stated that forces would be trained and organised not only for internal security and defence but also to defend British interests in service outside its borders . Empire Air Training Scheme . As early as 1936 , an air training scheme was inaugurated at Cranborne , near Salisbury , where the civilian flying school instructed pilots . Facilities were later extended to Bulawayo . In August 1937 , Squadron Leader G . A Powell and Flight Lieutenant V . E . Maxwell were seconded from the RAF to oversee service training . In September 1939 , the Rhodesian Air Training Group , under the direction of Air Vice Marshal ( later Sir ) Charles Warburton Meredith , took in 500 recruits at Cranborne . An offer was made to British Air Ministry to run a flying school and to train personnel to man three squadrons , which was duly accepted . The Southern Rhodesia Air Force effectively ceased to exist after its last training course was completed on 6 April 1940 . Its three squadrons became 44 , 237 and 266 Squadrons , Royal Air Force , bearing the name of Rhodesia . The Rhodesian Air Training Group invited the public to submit design proposals for the Squadrons ' crests . Rhodesia Air Training Group . Meanwhile , preparations were underway in Rhodesia to expand facilities for the training of pilots . In January 1940 the government announced the creation of a Department of Air , completely separate from that of Defence . Guest was appointed Minister of Air , a post he held from 28 March 1940 to 6 May 1946 . He inaugurated and administered what became the second largest Empire Air Training Scheme , beginning with the establishment of three units at Salisbury , Bulawayo and Gwelo , each comprising a preliminary and an advanced training school . Rhodesia was the last of the Commonwealth countries to enter the Empire Air Training Scheme and the first to turn out fully qualified pilots . No . 25 Elementary Flying Training School at Belvedere Air Station , Salisbury , was the first school to be opened , on 25 May 1940 by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke - Popham . It was followed by a Service School at Cranborne . In Bulawayo , an Elementary School was established at Sauerdale , although due to the unsuitability of the ground surface , it was moved to Induna , with a Service School at Kumalo . Gwelo had an Elementary School at Guinea Fowl and a Service School at Thornhill . The Elementary Schools were equipped with Tiger Moths and the Service Schools , single - engine Harvards and twin - engine Airspeed Oxfords . At Moffat , the first gunners passed out in September 1941 from the only Bombing and Gunnery School in Southern Rhodesia . The trainees came mainly from Britain but also from Australia , Canada , South Africa , New Zealand , USA , Yugoslavia , Greece , France , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Kenya , Uganda , Tanganyika , Fiji and Malta . In total 8 , 500 British aircrew were trained in Southern Rhodesia during the War . 237 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron . No . 1 Squadron , Southern Rhodesia Air Force , was among the units posted to East African Force in Kenya in September 1939 to undertake the role of army co - operation , including reconnaissance and air - photography work , as well as dive - bombing operations and ground - strafing , and conducting artillery shoots . On 22 April 1940 , the squadron was renamed No . 237 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron , Royal Air Force and took the Latin motto " Primum Agmen in Caelo " ( " The Vanguard in the Sky " ) , being Rhodesia ' s first in the field . In September 1940 , 237 Squadron was relieved by units of the South Arican Air Force and redeployed in Sudan , where the Operations Record for the last three months of 1940 showed it was involved in reconnaissance , dive - bombing and pamphlet - dropping . At the start of 1941 , the Squadron was re - equipped with less antiquated aircraft . The Hardys were replaced by Westland Lysander II army co - operation planes as well as Gloster Gladiator fighter biplanes . 237 Squadron moved out of East Africa after the defeat of the Italians in May 1941 . They had seen active service in Kenya , Sudan , Eritrea and Abyssinia . The Squadron was involved in the Western Desert Campaign against Rommel . After a lull in the summer of 1941 , it took heavy casualties in the closing months inflicted on it by Me109F and Macchis . It was withdrawn to the Canal Zone in February 1942 after five months in the Western Desert . The Squadron ' s crest was presented to it by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder on 30 March 1942 . 266 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron . 266 Squadron , RAF , was formed at RAF Sutton Bridge on 30 October 1939 . The majority of the Squadron were Rhodesian , with the exception of a few groundstaff and the commanding officer . Equipped with Spitfire s , it was the Rhodesian fighter squadron and it took as its motto a Sindebele word " Hlabezulu " ( " Stabber of Skies " ) . It first went into action over Dunkirk on 2 June 1940 . By June 1941 , the Squadron , led by Sqn Ldr T . B . de la P . Beresford , was stationed at RAF Wittering , near Peterborough . Its duties included patrolling , escorting convoys , offensive sweeps of northern France and the Belgian and Dutch coasts , as well as escorting bombing raids over France and the Rhine . In January 1942 , the Squadron received Hawker Typhoon s and later in the month moved to Duxford . 44 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron . 44 Squadron , RAF , stationed at Waddington , south of Lincoln , was renamed 44 ( Rhodesia ) Squadron in September 1941 , and took as its motto " Fulmina Regis Justa " ( " The King ' s thunderbolts are righteous " ) . The bomber Squadron , equipped with Hampdens , took part in raids on Berlin and many other targets , as well as mine - laying in sea traffic lanes . It was also in September 1941 that the Squadron received the proto - type Lancaster bomber , the first squadron of the RAF to receive the new aircraft . On a visit to the Squadron in December , Guest and Meredith were taken on a flight in the new plane . Although the order was given in December to cease operations in the Hampdens , it was not until 3 March 1942 that the Lancaster was put on active service on its first battle mission for the entire RAF . The Squadron , with its Lancasters , was given key targets to bomb : on 17 April 1942 , six Lancasters from 44 Squadron alongside six from 97 Squadron , bombed the MAN diesel engine factory , which produced more than half of the German U - boats , as well as engines for ships , tanks and transport vehicles . The success – at a cost of five planes and crew to 44 Squadron – earned the thanks of the Prime Minister himself . The Squadron was further involved in the obliteration of Rostock on 8 May and took part in the 1 , 000 - aircraft attack on Cologne on 30 May . After the war . From 1944 , Guest was Leader of the House until he retired from political office in 1948 . He retained his wartime role as Air Minister and Rhodesia capitalised on her experience to form her own highly efficient Air Force . He also tackled the problem of young airmen returning to civilian life , training aircrews for civilian duty as well as helping young men complete their academic education . He continued as Minister of Defence and Air from 7 June 1946 to 15 September 1948 . He chaired the South African Air Transport Council in its deliberations in 1947 regarding air traffic control and the establishment of control centres at Nairobi , Salisbury and Johannesburg , as well as communications and the future needs of air transport in southern Africa . During this time , he was also Minister of Internal Affairs from 1944 to 1946 and briefly Minister of Finance from 7 May 1946 to 26 September 1946 . He acted as Prime Minister at various times in 1947 and 1948 during the absence of Huggins and acted for other ministers on a number of occasions . Family . Ernest Guest married Edith May , daughter of Thomas Jones of Singapore . The couple met in Johannesburg , where she had been brought up by an uncle . They had two daughters and twin sons . Both their sons were killed in action in the Second World War . His second daughter , Maureen Edith Pilling , enlisted in the Women ' s Auxiliary Air Force ( WAAF ) soon after the outbreak of the Second World War and was eventually promoted to Flight Officer in July 1944 . Posted to Cairo and Palestine , she married a Squadron Leader in the RAF and then remained in Cairo until the end of the war . Ernest Melville Charles Guest ( 1920 – 4 October 1943 ) was commissioned as Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force on 9 October 1939 and eventually promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 9 October 1941 . He was initially posted to 206 Squadron in England , flying anti - submarine missions , then to 200 Squadron in West Africa before being transferred to 61 Air School at George in the Western Cape as a navigation instructor . He transferred back to England and soon after was killed in action . A fortnight later , his son , Melville Richard John Guest , was born . He received three Mentions in Despatches and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1942 . John Desmond Thomas Guest ( 1920 – 21 November 1941 ) , Melville ' s twin brother , turned down a Rhodes Scholarship at Trinity College , Oxford as the war broke out and enlisted in England instead , commissioned Second Lieutenant in the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps in June 1940 . He served in the Abyssinian campaign and then in the Western Desert , where he was killed in a bayonet charge at the Battle of Sidi Rezegh on 21 November 1941 . Honours . Guest was appointed OBE in 1938 and KBE ( Civil Division ) in the 1944 New Year Honours List " for public services , especially in inauguration of Empire Air Training Scheme . " He was also appointed CVO by King George VI during the Royal Family ' s visit to Rhodesia in April 1947 , and CMG in 1949 New Years Honours List . He was granted the right in December 1948 to retain the title Honourable , having served for more than three years as a member of the Executive Council of Southern Rhodesia . The University of Witwatersrand , South Africa , recognised him with an Honorary Degree in 1953 , Doctor of Laws . Death . Sir Ernest Lucas Guest died on 20 September 1972 at the age of 90 , in Salisbury , Rhodesia . A special sitting of both divisions of the High Court was convened to pay tribute to Guest on 27 September 1972 . In Parliament , a motion of condolence was moved on 14 November 1972 by Jack Howman , Minister of Foreign Affairs , Defence and Public Services – and a partner in Coghlan , Welsh & Guest – as Acting Leader of the House . Legacy . The construction of Kariba Dam was of enormous value to the development of both Rhodesia and the Zambian Copperbelt , and led to the creation of what was at the time the largest manmade lake in Africa south of the Sahara .