Editing Union of South Africa (section)

===Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia===

In 1922 the colony of [[Southern Rhodesia]] had a chance (but ultimately rejected) to join the Union through a [[Southern Rhodesia government referendum, 1922|referendum]]. The referendum resulted from the fact that by 1920 [[British South Africa Company]] rule in Southern Rhodesia was no longer practical with many favouring some form of '[[responsible government]]'. Some favoured responsible government within Southern Rhodesia while others (especially in [[Matabeleland]]) favoured membership of the Union of South Africa. Politician [[Charles Coghlan (politician)|Sir Charles Coghlan]] claimed that such membership with the Union would make Southern Rhodesia the "[[Ulster]] of South Africa".<ref>{{cite book | first =Keith | last =Jeffrey | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WUTpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA196 | title =An Irish Empire?: Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire| publisher = Manchester University Press | year = 1996 | isbn =	0719038731 | page =196 }}</ref>

Prior to the referendum, representatives of Southern Rhodesia visited Cape Town where the Prime Minister of South Africa, [[Jan Smuts]], eventually offered terms he considered reasonable and which the United Kingdom government found acceptable. Although opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option (and none tried to interfere in the referendum), when the referendum was held the results saw 59.4% in favour of responsible government for a separate colony and 40.6% in favour of joining the Union of South Africa.{{cn|date=March 2025}}