newsSusan Paul (1929-2026): Author of Sir Garfield Todd biography dies in Edinburgh at the age of 97
Susan Woodhouse at work on her book about Sir Garfield Todd (Picture: Trevor Grundy)
Susan Paul (née Susan Woodhouse) has died in Edinburgh two days after her 97th birthday on October 10.
She was the widely acclaimed author of the biography of Sir Garfield Todd, the New Zealand-born missionary who became the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia between 1953-1957.
A family spokesman said that her dearest wish was to reach that age and then “head for the heavens”
Friends and admirers at the (Episcopal) St Vincent’s Church in Edinburgh, close to where she lived, say there Susan will receive a warm welcome.
Many Africanists tried to write about Garfield Todd and his achievements as a white liberal leader in Africa.
None of them succeeded as well as Susan Woodhouse whose biography “Garfield Todd – The end of the Liberal Dream in Rhodesia” was published by Weaver Press in Harare, Zimbabwe in 2018.
Susan and the late Canon John Paul were married in 1965.
The couple lived and worked together in Africa, England, finally in Gifford, where she wrote her book about a little- known period of African history before the days all-white rule exploded into war which led to a British-sponsored peace settlement and the creation of a country now called Zimbabwe in April 1980.
-Trevor Grundy