Allan Ross Welsh

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Sir Allan Ross Welsh

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| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|CMG}}

| image = Sir Allan Ross Welsh.jpg

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| caption = Sir Allan Ross Welsh, 1937

| order =

| office = 2nd Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

| term_start = 11 March 1935

| term_end = 18 March 1952

| predecessor = Lionel Cripps

| successor = Tom Ian Findlay Wilson

| office2 = Member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Bulawayo North

| term_start2 = 18 November 1927

| term_end2 = 14 April 1939

| alongside2 = {{unbulleted list|Robert James Hudson {{small|(1927–1933)}}|John Banks Brady {{small|(1933–1935)}}}}

| predecessor2 = Sir Charles Coghlan

| successor2 = Hugh Beadle

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|07|08|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Bedford, Cape Colony (now South Africa)

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1957|1875}}

| death_place = Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)

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| spouse = Lady Maude Marianne Welsh

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| profession = lawyer, politician

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| awards = Knight Bachelor, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix

}}

Sir Allan Ross Welsh {{post-nominals|CMG}} (8 July 1875 – 1957) was a Rhodesian lawyer and politician. He was Speaker of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly from 1935 to 1952.

Early life and family

Welsh was born in Bedford, Cape Colony to Alexander Robert Welsh, a Presbyterian clergyman from Scotland, and Bertha Solomon, the first woman barrister in South Africa and the first woman member of the South African Parliament.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=19}} He was educated at Dale College in King William's Town. He passed his final law exams in 1896 and was admitted to the Cape Supreme Court as an attorney and notary.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=19}}

In 1901, Welsh married Maude Marianne Smit, daughter of N.H. Smit JP of Seymour, Cape Province,{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage|year=1963|publisher=Kelly's Directories|pages=1305}} and had three daughters.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=19}}

Legal career

In 1897, Welsh went to work as a clerk in the firm of Solomon and Thomson, founded by his uncle Sir Edward Philip Solomon, in Johannesburg.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=19}} Two years later he joined the firm of Frames and Grimmer in Bulawayo as managing clerk.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=18-19}} Charles Coghlan arrived in Bulawayo in 1900 and the firm became Frames and Coghlan. However, in 1902 Frames left for Johannesburg and dissolved the partnership with Coghlan. Welsh became a partner of the firm on 1 January 1903 and they practised as Coghlan and Welsh.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=18}}{{cite journal|title=none|journal=South African Law Journal|year=1950|volume=67|pages=451|publisher=Juta}}

In 1907, the firm opened an office in Salisbury with Bernard Tancred as partner and the firm changed name to Coghlan, Welsh and Tancred. When Tancred died in 1911, Coghlan invited Ernest Lucas Guest to join as partner and the firm changed to Coghlan, Welsh and Guest.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=18}}

Politics

File:Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly, 1948.jpg in 1948. Allan Ross Welsh is in the centre of the front row in his robes]]

Welsh was elected in 1927 to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly as the member for Bulawayo North, replacing Sir Charles Coghlan, who had died in office, and was re-elected several times until 1935.{{cite web|title=CZECHOSLOVAK HONORARY CONSULATES IN S. RHODESIA|url=http://www.mzv.cz/harare/en/bilateral_relations/historical_ties/index_2.html|work=History of Czechoslovak Consulates in Former Rhodesia|publisher=Embassy of the Czech Republic in Harare|access-date=26 November 2012}} He succeeded Lionel Cripps as Speaker of the Assembly in 1935 and served until 1952.{{sfn|Gale|1974|p=53}}{{London Gazette|issue=39555|date=30 May 1952|page=3011|supp=y}} Cripps was not a member of the House and Welsh did not contest any further elections after 1935.{{cite book|title=Handbook to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland|year=1960|publisher=Cassell|editor=William Vernon Brelsford}}

Business activities

Welsh was a director of Rhodesia Sugar Refinery, Ltd and of Knitting and Clothing Factory.{{cite journal|title=none|journal=Beerman's Financial Year Book of Southern Africa|year=1953}}

Honours

He was knighted in July 1943 as a Knight Bachelor{{London Gazette|issue=36096|date=16 July 1943|page=3232}} and in 1952, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and also granted permission to retain the title The Honourable, having served more than three years as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia.{{London Gazette|issue=39540|date=13 May 1952|page=2595}}

He was also appointed Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by King Paul of Greece in 1950, in recognition of services rendered during the Second World War.{{London Gazette|issue=39011|date=5 September 1950|page=4485}}

Death and legacy

Welsh died in Bulawayo aged 82.{{cite journal|title=none|journal=East Africa and Rhodesia|year=1957|volume=34|pages=48}} He was photographed by the Bassano studio in London in 1937 and the prints reside with the National Portrait Gallery, London.[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp90861/sir-allan-ross-welsh Sir Allan Ross Welsh at the National Portrait Gallery]

References

=Bibliography=

{{cite book|last=Gale|first=William Daniel|title=History of Coghlan, Welsh & Guest|year=1974|asin=B0006D17V2}}
{{cite book|last=Gann|first=Lewis H.|title=A History of Southern Rhodesia: Early Days to 1934|year=1965|publisher=Chatto & Windus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E310AAAAMAAJ}}
{{cite book|last=Schulze|first=Heinrich|title=South Africa's Cricketing Lawyers|year=1999|publisher=Interdoc Consultants|isbn=9780620250498|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZxFAQAAIAAJ}}