by Christine Nicholls | Aug 22, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
Mayence Ellen Bent, the founder of the New Stanley Hotel (now the Stanley Ramada) in Nairobi, had a most interesting early life. She was born in the district of St Pancras, London, on 17 April 1868, the daughter of Walter Bentley Woodbury and Marie Olmeijer. Her own...
by Christine Nicholls | Jul 24, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
Sammy Jacobs (1887-1951) In my blogs of 2 January and 25 January 2012 I talked about the arrival of Jewish families in Kenya. One person I mentioned was Solomon (Sammy) Jacobs, proprietor of the Dustpan emporium in Nairobi before the First World War. Recently his...
by Christine Nicholls | Jun 24, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
At a lunch attended by Kenyan oldies last week, talk turned to the early settlers in Eldoret. Why were there so many South African Boers there? The first to come were the Van Breda brothers, who built a grass hut on the Uasin Gishu plateau in 1903 and started to grow...
by Christine Nicholls | May 21, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
I came across a letter written by Mrs Brian Shaw, of Sotik, in the early days of white settlement in Kenya. The hardships the settlers faced were enormous. When Brian Shaw developed acute appendicitis a doctor and nurse had to come from Nakuru, while friends and...
by Christine Nicholls | Apr 25, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
Surely it is time for another showing of the TV series of Elspeth Huxley’s book, The Flame Trees of Thika? Filming took place in Kenya in eighteen weeks before Christmas, 1980, with Hayley Mills playing Tilly, Elspeth’s mother, and Holly Aird as Elspeth. The filming...
by Christine Nicholls | Mar 21, 2013 | Christine Nicholls
The EAWL, which of course still flourishes in Kenya, was begun in 1917. Above is the College of Arms Grant of Arms in 1974. We had the annual general meeting of the East Africa Women’s League (UK branch) on Tuesday 19 March, at the Victory Services Club in London. The...
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