by Christine Nicholls | Mar 27, 2017 | Christine Nicholls
The Rise and Decline of Cotton Growing in Kenya Some pioneer settlers thought cotton might succeed in East Africa. So the British East Africa Corporation Ltd was established in 1906 with the aim of spreading the work of the British Cotton Growing Association, a body...
by Shel Arensen | Feb 20, 2017 | Christine Nicholls
Stories of Workers on a White Farm Elspeth Huxley recorded some stories of the workers on the farm of her mother, Nellie Grant, which give a fascinating insight into the history of Kenya. The Grants’ first farm was near Thika and then they moved to a farm at Njoro....
by Christine Nicholls | Jan 20, 2017 | Christine Nicholls
How Farm Workers Came to Settler Farms We can get an idea of the motivation of African farm workers if we look at some specific cases. Nellie Grant (Elspeth Huxley’s mother) went to Kenya in 1912 and farmed coffee at Thika. After the First World War she heard she had...
by Christine Nicholls | Dec 18, 2016 | Christine Nicholls
The Jewells and Mombasa Hospital Last month I talked about the Mombasa Hospital. From 1920 onwards Norman Jewell was in charge of the establishment, and his letters and diaries show us what medical hazards were faced by Mombasa’s inhabitants in the 1920s. Jewell had...
by Christine Nicholls | Nov 22, 2016 | Christine Nicholls, Uncategorized
Mombasa Hospital’s Early Days When the Imperial British East Africa Company began to trade in East Africa in the early 1890s, there was a need for a hospital for Europeans, prone to fall sick so easily in a country with an unfamiliar climate, where malaria was...
by Shel Arensen | Nov 2, 2016 | Shel Arensen
Where Antelope Roam Reviewed by Rachel Woodworth A book review ought to start, more than likely, with the book. But my review can’t begin there. It begins with the man. The man who wrote the book, who gathered days and moments, adventures and seasons, who recalled...
by Christine Nicholls | Oct 24, 2016 | Christine Nicholls
The Wrens in Mombasa in World War II The Mombasa of today is so different from the Mombasa of the Second World War that it is worth having a look at what the town was like previously. One of the best people to describe it is an officer in the Wrens who was posted to...
by Christine Nicholls | Sep 19, 2016 | Christine Nicholls
Who was Freddy Ward? The name Freddie or Freddy Ward crops up so repeatedly in the early land dealings of East African settlers that it is worth finding out about the man behind the name. Like many of the early white settlers, Hamilton Frederick Ward fought in the...
by Christine Nicholls | Aug 13, 2016 | Christine Nicholls
The Sandbach Bakers and Kenya’s first Dairy One of the first white settlers to be given land in Nairobi was Frederick Baker. He was granted 1,600 acres in Muthaiga by John Ainsworth, the Sub-Commissioner, on condition that he supplied Nairobi with dairy products. Who...
by Christine Nicholls | Jul 22, 2016 | Christine Nicholls
Mombasa’s Law Courts On 30 August 1984 the new Law Courts were opened in Mombasa, but where had justice been dispensed beforehand? A British court, presided over by an English barrister, had been established in a godown near the old harbour in Mombasa in 1890,...
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