Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky, KCMG PC Kt JP was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia to an Afrikaner mother and a Lithuanian Jewish father, he moved to Northern Rhodesia, became involved with the trade unions, and entered the colonial legislative council in 1938. There, he campaigned for the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Although unsuccessful, he succeeded in the formation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, a state within the British Empire that sought to retain predominant power for the White minority while moving in a progressive political direction, in contrast to South Africa under the apartheid system.
Becoming Prime Minister of the Federation in 1956, Welensky opposed British moves towards black majority rule, and used force to suppress politically motivated violence in the territories. After the advent of Black majority rule in two of the Federation's three territories, it collapsed in 1963. Welensky retired to Salisbury, where he re-entered politics and attempted to stop Rhodesia from unilaterally declaring itself independent.