by Christine Nicholls | Apr 8, 2025 | Christine Nicholls
Thomson in Maasailand Recently there have been articles in Old Africa about the Maasai, so it would be interesting to look at early European contacts with those peoples. In 1877 Maasai warriors had prevented Johann Maria Hildebrandt, a German botanist, from travelling...
by Christine Nicholls | Feb 28, 2025 | Christine Nicholls
Billiard Balls, Pianos and Elephants Before the invention of plastics, billiard balls, piano keys, combs and scores of other items were made of ivory. Playing the piano was called ‘tickling the ivories.’ More ivory was used for piano keys than for all other purposes...
by Christine Nicholls | Nov 29, 2024 | Christine Nicholls
The Shooting of little Willie Hall at Nairobi School In 1920 William Harold Hall, an eleven-year-old boy boarding at Nairobi School, was shot dead in the school dormitory by another pupil. This sorry incident was reported to Viscount Milner, Secretary of State for the...
by Christine Nicholls | Oct 7, 2024 | Christine Nicholls
‘Long Lou’ Llewellin and his Hats ‘Long Lou’, a six-foot-four, broad-shouldered man, ‘beloved of ladies and a very Bayard in battle,’ was Gloucestershire-born John Lionel Bretherton Llewellyn Llewellin. He wore an eyeglass and sandals, with often nothing in between...
by Christine Nicholls | Aug 20, 2024 | Christine Nicholls
Charles Joseph Ross ‘Biltong’ Ross was a larger-than-life Kenyan character. Born in Australia on 4 July 1857, he joined the Australian Mounted Police, rounding up gangs of bushrangers. As a young man he travelled to America where he lived with native Americans and...
by Christine Nicholls | Jul 3, 2024 | Christine Nicholls
Margaret Griffiths, a Missionary Wife The women who accompanied their husbands on their early missionary endeavours in East Africa were a stalwart bunch. One such was wife of John Bynner Griffiths, a Methodist missionary at Mazeras. Margaret E. Edwards was born in...
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