Early
years
Ian Douglas Smith
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Early
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Ian Smith a Racist? - An excellent article by Graham Davis of 'The Australian'
Ian Douglas Smith was born on the 8th April 1919 at Selukwe in Rhodesia. His father was Scottish and his mother was brought up in Keswick, (England) in the lake district. His father left school early and Smiths uncle came out to Rhodesia at the turn of the century. Ian's father then left for Rhodesia when his brother told him how beautiful it was. He was a man of strong principal and standards, Ian describes him as
'A man of very strong principles and standards although he wasn't by any means as a strict or domineering type and had a great deal of kindness in his heart'
Smith describes himself as someone who,
'Had an independent state of mind and I couldn't tolerate injustice or unfairness'
Ian got involved in several incidents or 'mix ups' (as he describes) becuase he stopped a bully inflicting punishment on someone weaker - even when (he notes) he was smaller than the bully! During his younger years he loved sports and he cites other interest as photography and woodworking. Clearly he also loved sports and mentions rugby, cricket, athletics, swimming, tennis, boxing and shooting among some of the disciplines he enjoyed.
He also enjoyed 'dances' - there were no parties in those days and these dances took place in the local drill hall. Ian often acted as a chivalrous 'bouncer' and he ejected a number of drunken youths from some of these dances. He attended Chaplin School in Bulawayo and at this time of his life he, above anything, wanted to be a farmer.He was educated at Selukwe High School and enjoyed mainly sports but especially rugby.
He later went on to study Economics at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Here he found a new sport - rowing - and ended up representing the University.