Winston Joseph Field was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on 6 Jun 1904 and educated at Bromsgrove School. In 1921, Field went to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where he was engaged in tobacco farming in the Marandellas District and he also served in the Rhodesian and British Forces (1940-1945), raising to the rank of Major, 6th Durham Light Infantry.

Field entered politics in 1956, when he became the head of the new Dominion Party; Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi). A year later, Field was elected to the Federal Assembly, where he was Leader of the Opposition (1958-1962) to Sir Roy Welensky's government. Field was MP for Marandellas (Marondera), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (1962-1965) and for the same period was President of the Rhodesia Front Party in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (formerly the Dominion Party). Field led the Party to victory in territorial elections at the end of the year and was made Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1962. After the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi) was dissolved a year later, the right wing of his party revolted against him for failing to press Britain on the issue of independence for the colony. A party congress in Apr 1964 dismissed him from office in favour of his Deputy Prime Minister Ian Smith. Field retired from politics in 1965 and died in Salisbury (Harare) on 17 Mar 1969. Compiled with reference to Who Was Who (volume VI) and Dictionary of African Historical Biography by Mark R. Lipschutz and R. Kent Rasmussen (1986).