Wilfrid Denis Walker (29 December 1933 – 8 January 2024) was a

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n politician who was a cabinet minister in Rhodesia from 1974 to 1979. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1982 following conflict with the government of

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

and expectation that he would be arrested. He was known for his

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

activities,

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

and was also company secretary, director and treasurer of the

International Monarchist League The International Monarchist League (known until the mid-1990s as the Monarchist League) is an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Monarchy, monarchical system of government and Monarchism, the principle of monarchy ...

and its UK subsidiary, the Constitutional Monarchy Association.

Early life

Having grown up in

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

and

Chingford Chingford is a suburban town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walt ...

, London, Walker was called up for

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many war ...

in 1952. Although he was to be posted to fight in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, this was cancelled before he departed. He was discharged in 1954. Walker went on to become a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

missionary in southern Africa, including time in the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

s of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He left the mission service and later settled in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

, acquiring Rhodesian citizenship after the

Unilateral Declaration of Independence A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) or "unilateral secession" is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the ...

in 1965.

Political career in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe

In the Rhodesia general election of 1974, he gained the seat of Bulawayo North as a

Rhodesian Front The Rhodesian Front (RF) was a conservative political party in Southern Rhodesia, subsequently known as Rhodesia. Formed in March 1962 by white Rhodesians opposed to decolonisation and majority rule, it won that December's general election and s ...

candidate, polling 93.4% of the vote among the electorate. He was re-elected in the 1977 and 1979 elections. Walker served as

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

from 1977 in

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

's government and also held office under

Abel Muzorewa Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa (14 April 1925 – 8 April 2010), also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement t ...

. In January 1979, he was appointed

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, serving alongside

Kayisa Ndiweni Khayisa Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni (1913–2010) was a chief in Zimbabwe. He was hugely respected in Matabeleland and a revered figure among his people in Ntabazinduna.. He became a chief of the Matebele people of Ntabazinduna and Mbembezi in 1939. He ...

until the Government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was established in June 1979, after which he held office as a Deputy Minister. Following the end of

white minority rule In political science, minoritarianism (or minorityism) is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority group of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that population's decision making, with legislative power or j ...

and the creation of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, he remained as an MP, but came under pressure from the new government of

. He was to have been arrested (on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the government) on 10 December 1981, together with the MP for Bulawayo South, but had already left the country. When he returned in January 1982, he briefly re-attended Parliament before learning that the Mugabe government had stationed police around the building to arrest him on sight, Walker fled the country and returned to Britain.

Return to Britain

On 10 February 1982, Walker delivered a letter to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

at 10 Downing Street highlighting the political situation in Zimbabwe. On 29 September 1986, Walker was the guest-of-honour at a

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) was a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also had links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unio ...

Foreign Affairs Committee Dinner at Bailey's Hotel, Gloucester Road,

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, chaired by Richard Stallabrass, who had previously served in Rhodesia. He subsequently joined the club and joined the Executive Council as membership secretary in 1990. He also chaired the

.''The Monarchist League Newsletter'', Spring, 1990, p.4

Other activities

Walker was a trustee of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Relief Fund, a charity that describes itself as assisting "Zimbabwe Rhodesians throughout the world". Walker was introduced as an Ordinary Member onto the Grand Council of the International Monarchist League on 14 March 1990 by Gregory Lauder-Frost (seconded by Lord Sudeley). He administered the International Monarchist League, the Monday Club, and other business activities from an office at

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

, Hertfordshire, and resided in the town until his death in January 2024. Walker was married to Jill Walker (who was born in Rhodesia) and had one son, Trevor Wilfrid. Denis Walker died on 8 January 2024, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Denis 1933 births 2024 deaths British anti-communists British emigrants to Rhodesia British Methodist missionaries British monarchists Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe Members of the Parliament of Rhodesia Methodist missionaries in Zimbabwe Rhodesian Front politicians Rhodesian Methodists Education ministers of Rhodesia Interior ministers of Rhodesia Government ministers of Rhodesia Zimbabwean exiles Zimbabwean Methodists Zimbabwean politicians