Lawrence Vambe MBE (1917–2019) was a Zimbabwean writer and journalist.[1]

Early life

Vambe was born in the village of Chishawasha in what was then Southern Rhodesia. His father, Joseph, was a peasant farmer; his mother died when he was a baby due to the influenza epidemic. He was then raised by Jesuit missionaries.[1]

Education

He attended Kutama College, the same school as Robert Mugabe,[2] before embarking on teacher training in South Africa at South African Native College, which became University of Fort Hare.[1]

Journalism career

He quit teaching after five years, and decided to become a journalist. He joined African newspapers where he rose through the ranks to become editor-in-chief.[3] Besides an illustrious journalism career, Vambe also developed a reputation as an important black intellectual who significantly contributed to the struggle against colonialism in Rhodesia.[4][5] He published two books, An Ill-Fated People: Zimbabwe Before and After Rhodes (1972)[6][7] and From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe (1976).[8] This made him one of the pioneering Black writers from Zimbabwe.[9] He was awarded the MBE in 1959. In the 1980s he was one of the founders of the Britain-Zimbabwe Society, an organisation which continues to this day.[10]

Personal life

He was married to Cathleen Rolands with whom he had three daughters and one son. After they divorced, he remarried Kay Boyer and had two daughters, and that also ended in divorce. His daughter Elizabeth, from his first marriage, married Stephen Pollock, 3rd Viscount Hanworth.[11][12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pollock, Stephen (2019-10-25). "Lawrence Vambe obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  2. ↑ "Lawrence Vambe : Mugabe Schoolmate, Journalist and Editor Who Championed Black Rights Dies Aged 102 at London Care Home". theZimbabweNewsLive. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  3. ↑ "The Chartered Institute of Journalists – He died in a London nursing home at the grand age of 102 but journalist Lawrence Vambe had been at the cutting edge of championing black rights in his native Zimbabwe". Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  4. ↑ "Journalist and editor who championed black rights". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  5. ↑ Vambe, Lawrence C. (1963-01-15), [Letter from Lawrence C Vambe to Federal Prime Minister], JSTOR al.sff.document.ranger00057
  6. ↑ Afejuku, Tony E. (1988). "Autobiography or History? Lawrence Vambe's "An Ill-Fated People"". Research in African Literatures. 19 (4): 508–519. ISSN 0034-5210. JSTOR 3819800.
  7. ↑ Vambe, Lawrence (1972). An Ill-fated People: Zimbabwe Before and After Rhodes. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-434-82540-0.
  8. ↑ Vambe, Lawrence (1976). From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-434-82541-7.
  9. ↑ "Pioneering Zimbabwean author dies – Commonwealth Journalists Association (UK Branch)". Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  10. ↑ "At 100, Vambe's spirit remains young". The Standard. 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  11. ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1770
  12. ↑ "Lawrence Vambe obituary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
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