Southern and East Africa
After the South African War, and at the suggestion of Lord Milner, the British Government sent Birchenough to South Africa as Special Trade Commissioner in 1903 to enquire into prospects for British trade in the country in the aftermath of the war. According to a November 1903 New York Times article, Birchenough was optimistic about the revival of business opportunities for Britain in the country.[18] In South Africa, he also undertook a study of the activities of Britain's main trade rivals, identifying the United States and Germany as being the main competitors in the country. Birchenough also laid out a number of suggestions to be considered to increase the United Kingdom's competitive edge; these and the rest of his report were incorporated into a Blue Book.[19] For this work, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1905 Birthday Honours.[20]
He became a director of the British South Africa Company in 1905 and soon became prominent in the company, being appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1916 Birthday Honours for services to Rhodesia.[21] He became president of the BSAC in 1925 and held the post until his death. He was appointed chairman of the Rhodesia Railway Company and the Mashonaland Railway Company in 1925 after the death of James Rochfort Maguire and retained the position until his own death.[22] He was a Director of the Victoria Falls Power Company and the African Concessions Syndicate.[23] He was also a director of the Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation Ltd under the chairmanship of Ernest Oppenheimer.[24]
Surviving correspondence by Birchenough concerning BSAC affairs with Philip Lyttelton Gell and Alfred Lord Milner is to be found in the papers of the Gell family of Hopton Hall, in the Derbyshire Record Office and in the Alfred Milner, Viscount Milner papers at the Bodleian Library.
In 1924 he was appointed a seat on the East Africa Commission, otherwise known as the Southborough Committee chaired by Francis Hopwood, 1st Baron Southborough. The committee had several tasks including investigating measures to accelerate economic development and coordinate policy and improve health and economic development for the population across several countries in the region. The remit covered Kenya, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Tanganyika.[25]
Birchenough was also chairman of the Beit Railway Trust from 1931 until 1937. In 1932 he presented a grant of £50,000 from the Beit Trust to the fledgling Department of Civil Aviation in Colonial era Zimbabwe. In presenting the grant he stated that the trustees has agreed to set aside this sum for two years commencing in 1933 to improve ground services along the Imperial Airways route in the country. In the same year Imperial Airways (Africa) Ltd had just inaugurated a mail and passenger service to England. By 1935 the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Airways (RANA) was providing a regular mail and passenger service to Mozambique, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia. The Beit Railway Trust, Rhodesia Railway Company and Imperial Airways all had interests in RANA[26] which was itself subsequently incorporated into Central African Airways in 1946.
After his death, Henry Birchenough's ashes were interred in a pillar of the Birchenough Bridge, which had been constructed with the support of the Beit Trust and which spans the Save River in Zimbabwe.
He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1935 Birthday Honours for services to the British South Africa Company and the Beit Trust.[27]
