Michael Hill Blackwood CBE (13 May 1917 – 1 February 2005) was a lawyer and politician who spent most of his working life in colonial Nyasaland and in Malawi in the early years of its independence.
In 1940, Blackwood joined the Royal Artillery and saw service, first in Madagascar, and from 1944 to 1946 in India and Burma, with the 11th (East Africa) Division, composed of troops from Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland, Tanganyika and Northern Rhodesia.
[3] When demobilised in 1946, Blackwood moved to Blantyre, Nyasaland, joining the law firm of Wilson and Morgan there as an assistant solicitor, later becoming a partner.
[9] However, once Nyasaland had achieved majority rule under a Malawi Congress Party administration, he dropped his opposition to independence and cooperated with the new order.
He was appointed a member of Executive Council in 1956, serving from then until internal self-government under a Malawi Congress Party majority was achieved in 1961.