Lieutenant Colonel Sir Stewart Gore-Browne DSO (3 May 1883 – 4 August 1967), called Chipembele by Zambians, was a soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
[citation needed] When he heard in 1914 that the British South Africa Company which administered Northern Rhodesia was selling land very cheaply to white settlers in the north-east of the country, he travelled there looking for a site which he found at Shiwa Ngandu.
[3] During the First World War, Gore-Browne was sent to the Western Front, where he reached the rank of Lt.-Colonel and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
The Bemba people called him Chipembere ('Rhinoceros', alternative spelling Chipembele), a name which had originally been given to him when he shot a rhinoceros at Shiwa Ngandu, but later they used it to refer to his temper.
Unlike other white politicians, such as his friend Roy Welensky, a trade union leader, Gore-Browne felt no threat from African social and educational advance, and the consequent addition of qualified voters to the electoral roll.
[citation needed] These political views can be seen as relating to his management and development of the Shiwa Ngandu estate, where he was completely dependent on the African people and isolated from white settler society by hundreds of kilometres.
In Britain, he made contact with Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda (the future president of Malawi) and his faith in African abilities was strengthened by visits to Uganda and West Africa in 1946–47.
Gore-Browne was opposed to Welensky's push for amalgamation and resigned in protest from the leadership of the elected members of the legislative council.
For years it had been an oasis for travellers on the Great North Road, a place where hospitality had never been refused; and this little bit of England in Africa never ceased to impress its visitors.
In 1962 after a failed attempt to come back into politics, he went to live quietly at Shiwa with his daughter and son-in-law, Lorna and John Harvey (who managed the estate), and his four grand children, Penelope, Charles, Mark and David.
[citation needed] Gore-Browne spent most of his later years at Shiwa Ngandu, where he replaced citrus crops with cattle.
When, in 1953, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was imposed against the wishes of some local settlers and urban Africans, Gore-Browne opposed it because he felt that it was based on the discredited idea of 'partnership'.
By 1960 he was committed to African majority rule, and was friendly with Kenneth Kaunda, leader of the United National Independence Party.
It was not until 1999 when Gore-Browne's eldest grandson, Charlie, took over the mansion and, together with his wife Jo, they set about the monumental task of restoring the house and turning the huge grounds into a fully-functioning farm once more.