Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere

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Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere KCMG (born April 28, 1870 in Vale Royal , Great Britain , † November 13, 1931 in Loresho , Kenya ) was a British peer . He was one of the first and most influential British colonists in British East Africa (from 1920 crown colony Kenya).

Early years

Hugh Cholmondeley, the third Baron Delamere, son of Augusta Emily Seymour and Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere was during the reign of Queen Victoria in the county of Cheshire born. He was an indirect descendant of Robert WalpoleSir Robert Walpole , the first Prime Minister of Great Britain . Nothing is known about his childhood. He left Eton College at the age of 16 with the intention of joining the British Army , but abandoned those pursuits after becoming the new Baron Delamere at the age of 17 .

Vale Royal Great House , former seat of the Barons of Delamere - sold 1947

He inherited a sizable estate in northern England , including land owned by the Cholmondeley family since 1615 - 7,000  acres (28 km²) - and the ancestral home at Vale Royal, Cheshire.

He made his first trip to Africa in 1891 to hunt lions in British Somaliland . From then on he returned to hunting annually. He was seriously injured by an attacking lion in 1894. He narrowly got away with his life as his Somali servant, Abdullah Ashur, who carried his gunbearer , intervened. Ashur jumped on the lion, giving him time to fire his weapon. As a result of this attack, Delamere hobbled for the rest of his life and developed a healthy respect for the Somalis.

It is believed that during one of these lion hunts in Somaliland he coined the term White Hunter - the term used to describe professional safari hunters in colonial East Africa . In this context, he employed the professional hunter Alan Black and a local Somali hunter on the safaris . To avoid confusion, he referred to the Somali as Black Hunter and Black as White Hunter.

When he was back in Somaliland in 1896, he set out with an entourage - including a doctor, taxidermist, photographer and 200  camels - with the intention of crossing the desert in southern Somaliland and reaching British East Africa from the north. In 1897 they reached the green highlands in what is now central Kenya.

British East Africa / Crown Colony Kenya

Beginning

In 1899 he married Lady Florence Anne Cole , an Anglo-Irish aristocrat from a prominent Ulster family. She was the daughter of Lowry Cole, 4th Earl of Enniskillen , a peer whose ancestral home was Florence Court in southwest County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland . The couple soon tried to move to the area in British East Africa now known as the White Highlands in Kenya. Lord Delamere originally applied for land allocation by the British Crown in May 1903, but the Governor of the Protectorate , Sir Charles Eliot , refused on the grounds that the land was too far from any population center. His next request for 100,000 acres (400 km²) near what is now Naivasha was also denied because the government believed that the settlement by a colonial farmer could lead to conflict with the Maasai who lived in the countryside. The third attempt to acquire property was successful. He received a 99-year lease on 100,000 acres (400 km²). The land was called the Equator Ranch . It was agreed that he would pay £ 200  annually in lease and invest £ 5,000 in the land for the first five years. Lord Delamere acquired a large farm in the Gilgil Division in 1906 , which covered more than 50,000 acres (210 km²) and was located between the Elmenteita Railway Station, the Elmenteita Badlands and the Mbaruk Railway Station. He called this country Soysambu. Together, these huge holdings made it one of Kenya's largemen - the local name for the handful of colonists with the largest holdings of land.

Agriculture

Lord Delamere was known among the white colonists of Kenya for his utter devotion to agriculture. For many years he lived in simple, native style huts made of mud and grass, which his wife furnished with her British and Irish furniture. For twenty years he worked his vast estates through trial, error and hard work. He conducted endless experiments with grain and cattle. In the course of time he acquired an invaluable knowledge of the country.

In 1905 he was still a pioneer in the dairy industry in East Africa and in the field of crossbreeding. He started with sheep and chickens. Then he went on to cattle. Most of the animals he introduced soon succumbed to diseases such as foot and mouth disease or babesiosis . In this context, Delamere bought Ryeland rams from England in order to cross them with 11,000 Maasai ewes. In 1904 he imported 500 pure-bred merino ewes from New Zealand . Four fifths of the merino sheep died quickly. The remainder of the herd was taken to his Soysambu ranch, along with the remainder of the 1,500 imported cattle that did not fall victim to lung disease .

Eventually he decided to grow wheat. This project was also plagued by diseases, especially rust fungi . In 1909 he was practically penniless. His last hope was for a 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) wheat crop which was not fulfilled. The author Elspeth Huxley commented dryly:

"I started to grow wheat in East Africa to prove that though I lived on the equator, I was not in an equatorial country."

Lord Delamere eventually built a wheat seed laboratory on his farm. He employed scientists to produce resilient wheat varieties for the Kenyan highlands. In order to supplement his income, he even tried to breed ostriches for their feathers. For this he imported incubators from Europe. That endeavor failed with the advent of automobiles and the decline of feather hats in fashion. Lord Delamere was the first European to start growing corn in the Rongai Valley and built the first flour mill in Kenya. In 1914 his ventures finally began to generate profit.

Happy Valley set

He took an active role in the settlement of East Africa. He promised each new colonist 640 acres (2.6 km²). 200 people finally responded to his call. In this context he persuaded some of his friends under the British landed gentry to buy large estates in British East Africa and to live there. He is awarded the co-founding of the so-called Happy Valley set , a clique of wealthy British colonists whose pleasure-hungry habits eventually culminated in drug use and wives swapping. He is said to have ridden on his horse into the dining room of the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi and jumped over the tables. He was also known for hitting golf balls on the roof of Muthaiga Country Club , the meeting place for Nairobi's white elite, and then climbing on to retrieve them.

When the First World War broke out , he was on the road for the British secret service on the Maasai border to monitor the movements of German units in German East Africa . During this time he received many high-ranking official visitors to his home, including then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill . He was also the first president of the East African Turf Club .

government

Lord Delamere embodied many of the contradictions of the dedicated East African colonist. He was personally fond of many Africans and particularly enjoyed the company of the Maasai. In doing so, he easily tolerated their habit of stealing his cattle for their own herds. On the other hand, he fought hard to maintain British supremacy in the colony. In this context he wrote the following in 1927:

"The extension of European civilization was in itself a desirable thing. The British race ... was superior to heterogeneous African races only now emerging from centuries of relative barbarism ... the opening up of new areas by means of genuine colonization was to the advantage to the world. "

Richard Meinertzhagen quoted Lord Delamere as follows:

"I am going to prove to you all that this is a white man's country."

He sat on the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. In 1907 he became president of the Colonists' Association. Errol Trzebinski wrote the following about him:

"Delamere was the Rhodes of Kenya and the settlers followed him both politically and spiritually."

Another contemporary and former colonist wrote more or less the same thing:

"(His) ascendancy over the settlers of Kenya has been enjoyed long enough for him to expect all men - and women - to do his bidding, and do it promptly. He is their Moses. For 25 years he has been their guide. "

Beryl Markham , flight pilot and author, was close to Lord Delamere and his wife. She described him as follows:

“Delamere had two great loves - East Africa and the Masai People. ... Delamere's character had as many facets as cut stone, but each facet shone with individual brightness. His generosity is legendary, but so is his sometimes wholly unjustified anger. ... To him nothing was more important than the agricultural and political future of British East Africa - and so, he was a serious man. Yet his gaiety and occasional abandonment to the spirit of fun, which I have often witnessed, could hardly be equalled except by an ebullient schoolboy. "

His efforts to direct Kenyan economic and racial policies - which often went against the Colonial Office's pro-Africa intentions - were supported by influential friends back home in Britain. Delamere and other colonists recently exerted a strong influence on Kenyan politics. In response, the British government adopted the Devonshire White Paper in 1923 , which officially stated that the needs of Africans in Kenya were paramount than the needs of whites.

legacy

Lord Delamere died in November 1931 at the age of 61. He was survived by his second wife, former Lady Charles Markham, née Gwladys Helen Beckett , daughter of Rupert Eveleyn Beckett. His widow, Gwladys, became the first female mayor of Nairobi . In the 1987 film White Mischief , which was about a murder in Kenya in 1941, Susan Fleetwood took on her role.

His son Thomas inherited his title from his first marriage. He also left an outstanding bank loan of £ 500,000.

The Sixth Avenue in Nairobi, he was in honor Delamere Avenue called. An eight  foot statue of him was also erected across from the New Stanley Hotel.

When Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963, many white colonists chose to sell their farms and leave the country instead of submitting to African authorities. The Delamere family, headed by Thomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere at the time, chose instead to stay and take Kenyan citizenship. The traces of Delameres colonial work have been removed. Delamere Avenue was renamed Kenyatta Avenue after the first President of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta . The statue of Delamere has been moved to the Soysambu family estate, where it faces the mountains. She is known today as Delamere's Nose or The Sleeping Warrior . Among the Maasai, with whom Delamere was the first European to develop a strong relationship, his family is now often viewed as the thief of their land. After his death, the Times reported that he was one of only a few Europeans who found it important to learn the Maasai language.

One of the restaurants at the Norfolk Hotel Nairobi was known as Lord Delamere Terrace for decades .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. - Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere
  2. ^ Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere of Vale Royal on thepeerage.com , accessed September 15, 2016.
  3. ^ Haydn, Joseph: The Book of Dignities , Longmans, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1851, pp. 527 and 565
  4. ↑ Best, Nicholas: Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya, 1979, p. 39
  5. ^ Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere of Vale Royal on thepeerage.com , accessed September 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ Pakenham, Compton: Kenya as a White Man's Country; The Story of Lord Delamere and a Colony That Has Peculiarly Interesting Racial and Social Problems , The New York Times, July 7, 1935
  7. ↑ Lady Delamere Dies in Africa , The New York Times, May 19, 1914
  8. ↑ a b c Bull, Bartle: Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure, 1992, p. 188
  9. ^ Herne, Brian: White Hunters: The Golden Age of Safaris, Henry Holt & Co., 1999, pp. 6f
  10. ↑ a b c Lord Delamere: Pioneer and Leader in Kenya, The Times (London), November 14, 1931
  11. ↑ Best, Nicholas: Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya, 1979, p. 41
  12. ^ Bull, Bartle: Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure, 1992, p. 191
  13. ↑ a b c Best, Nicholas: Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya, 1979, p. 43
  14. ^ Huxley, Elspeth: Settlers of Kenya, 1975, pp. 29f
  15. ↑ a b Kamau, John: Who was Lord Delamere?
  16. ↑ Huxley, Elspeth: Settlers of Kenya, 1975, pp. 25-27
  17. ↑ Best, Nicholas: Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya, 1979, p. 45
  18. ^ Church, Archibald: East Africa: A New Dominion, 1970, pp. 287 f.
  19. ^ Huxley, Elspeth: Settlers of Kenya, 1975, p. 30
  20. ^ Hughes, Anthony John: East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Penguin, 1969, p. 275
  21. ^ A b Barton, Fiona: The Curse of White Mischief, The Daily Mail, September 23, 2006
  22. ↑ Thurman, Judith. Isak Dinesen: Life of a Storyteller, MacMillan, 1999, p. 123
  23. ^ Herne, Brian: White Hunters: The Golden Age of African Safaris, Henry Holt & Co., 1999, p. 99
  24. ↑ Herne, Brian: White Hunters: The Golden Age of African Safaris, Henry Holt & Co., 1999, pp. 21-33
  25. ↑ Bull, Bartle: Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure, 1992, pp. 189-191
  26. ↑ Thurman, Judith: Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, MacMillan, 1999, p. 180
  27. ^ Trzebinski, Errol: The Kenya Pioneers, WW Norton, 1986, p. 129
  28. ^ Berman, Bruce: Control & Crisis in Colonial Kenya: The Dialectic of Domination, James Currey 1990, p. 140
  29. ^ Trzebinski, Errol: The Kenya Pioneers, WW Norton, 1986, p. 23
  30. ^ Hughes, Anthony John: East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Penguin, 1969, p. 275
  31. ^ Markham, Beryl: West With The Night, North Point Press, San Francisco, 1983, pp. 71–71
  32. ^ Maxon, Robert: Struggle for Kenya: The Loss and Reassertion of Imperial Initiative, 1912-1923, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1993, pp. 13f
  33. ↑ Lord Delamere Dies On His African Ranch - Leader in Deoelopment of Kenya Colony - Was Pioneer in Big Game Hunting Expeditions , The New York Times, November 14, 1931
  34. ^ Gwladys Lady Delamere , The New York Times, February 23, 1943
  35. ^ Lamb, David: Traveling in Style: Our Hearts Are in the Highlands , Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1988
predecessor Office successor
Hugh Cholmondeley Baron Delamere
1887-1931 		Thomas Cholmondeley
personal data
SURNAME Cholmondeley, Hugh, 3rd Baron Delamere
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer and colonist in British East Africa
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Vale Royal , UK
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1931
Place of death Loresho , Kenya