Lionel Cripps, CMG (11 October 1863 – 3 February 1950), was the first Speaker of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.
Born in Simla, India, and educated in England, he was the son of a General in the Bengal Staff Corps.
In 1890, Cripps served as a trooper in A Troop of the Pioneer Column that occupied Mashonaland before prospecting in the Mazoe district and eventually settling near Umtali to farm tobacco.
[2] There he represented farmers in the region as head of a "vigilance committee", raising their grievances with Cecil Rhodes and demanding political rights within Rhodesia.
In 1903, Cripps helped established and led the influential Rhodesian Agricultural Union (RAU), a body representing settler farmers.