Clifford Dupont

Clifford Dupont
Clifford Dupont as President of Rhodesia
President of Rhodesia
In office
16 April 1970 – 31 December 1975
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byHimself (Acting)
Succeeded byHenry Everard (Acting)
President of Rhodesia
In office
2 March 1970 – 16 April 1970
Acting
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byHimself as Officer Administering the Government
Succeeded byHimself as President
Officer Administrating the Government
In office
16 December 1965 – 2 March 1970
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byHimself (Acting)
Succeeded byHimself as President (Acting)
Officer Administrating the Government
In office
17 November 1965 – 16 December 1965
Acting
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byVacant (before 11 November 1965 Sir Humphrey Gibbs as Governor of Rhodesia[a])
Succeeded byHimself as Officer Administering the Government
2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia
In office
21 August 1964 – 17 November 1965
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byIan Smith
Succeeded byJohn Wrathall
Personal details
Born6 December 1905
London, England
Died28 June 1978 (aged 72)
Salisbury, Rhodesia
Political partyRhodesian Front
Spouse(s)
Barbie Dunport
(m. 1933; div. 1942)

Betty Wood
(m. 1946; died 1957)

Armenell Mary Betty Bennet
(m. 1963)
ChildrenHilary
Graham
Stephen
Alma materClare College, Cambridge
ProfessionSolicitor
AwardsLegion of Merit GCLM Independence Decoration ID
  1. ^ Gibbs still claimed the abolished position of Governor after 11 November 1965 until 24 June 1969.

Clifford Walter Dupont GCLM ID (6 December 1905 – 28 June 1978) was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government (from 1965 until 1970) and president (from 1970 to 1975). Born in London and qualifying as a solicitor, Dupont served during the Second World War as an officer of the British Royal Artillery in North Africa before first visiting Southern Rhodesia in 1947. He returned a year later, started a ranch and emigrated full-time during the early 1950s, by which time the country had become a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

When Rhodesia's government under Ian Smith issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965, Dupont, as Deputy Prime Minister, was the second to sign. Smith attempted to have Dupont named as Governor-General in place of the British-appointed Governor, Humphrey Gibbs, but failing this instead made him Officer Administering the Government.[1] He held this post until 1970, when he became President following the declaration of a republic. After suffering from ill health during this last appointment, he retired at 1976 and died in 1978.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gibbs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).