Roy Welensky - Youth

Youth

Welensky was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. His father was of Lithuanian Jewish origin, hailing from a village near Wilno in then Russian-ruled Lithuania, who settled in Southern Rhodesia after first emigrating to the United States and then South Africa, while his mother was a ninth-generation Afrikaner who was of Dutch ethnicity. Welensky's mother died when he was 11, being treated by Godfrey Huggins, a doctor who was later to become the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia.

Although not of British ancestry, Welensky was intensely pro-British, a distinctive sentiment among Rhodesians. John Connell, in his foreword to Welensky's book 4000 Days, states, "Welensky, who had not a drop of British blood in his veins, shared this pride and loyalty to the full."

After leaving school at the age of 14, Welensky found employment with Rhodesia Railways as a fireman, while putting his physical strength to work as a boxer. He rose through the ranks of Rhodesia Railways to become a railroad engineer and became involved in the trade union movement, becoming leader of the powerful European Railway Workers Union.

While working on the railways, he became the professional heavyweight boxing champion of Rhodesia at 19 and held the position until he was 21. During this time, Welensky met his first wife, Elizabeth Henderson, who was working at a cafe in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia at the time. They married after a two-year courtship.