Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
peer. He was one of the first and most influential British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
settlers in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Delamere, the son of Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere
Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere
Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere , styled The Honourable from 1821 until 1855, was a British peer and politician.-Personal:...
, and Augusta Emily Seymour, moved to Kenya in 1901 and acquired large land holdings. Over the years, he became the unofficial leader of the colony’s European community. He was as famous for his tireless labours to establish a working agricultural economy in Africa as he was for childish antics among his European friends when he was at his leisure.
Early years
Delamere left EtonEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
at the age of sixteen with the intention of entering the army, but gave up his military pursuits after acceding to his title at seventeen.
Baron Delamere was an indirect descendant of Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
.
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
Delamere made his first trip to Africa in 1891 to hunt lion in Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
, and returned yearly to resume the hunt. In 1894 he was severely mauled by an attacking lion, and was only saved when his Somali gunbearer Abdullah Ashur leaped on the lion, giving Delamere time to retrieve his rifle. As a result of the attack, Lord Delamere limped for the rest of his life; he also developed a healthy respect for Somalis.
It is believed that on one of these Somaliland hunting trips, Delamere coined the term “white hunter” – the term which came to describe the professional safari hunter in colonial East Africa. Delamere employed a professional hunter named Alan Black and a native Somali hunter to lead the safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
. As the story goes, in order to avoid confusion, the Somali was referred to as the "black hunter," and Black was called the "white hunter."
In 1896, Delamere, with a retinue including a doctor, taxidermist, photographer, and 200 camels, set out to cross the deserts of southern Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
, intending to enter British East Africa from the north. In 1897, he arrived in the lush green highlands of what is now central Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Colonial Kenya
In 1899, Delamere married Lady Florence Anne Cole, daughter of Lowry Egerton Cole, 4th Earl of Enniskillen. The couple soon sought to relocate to the Kenya highlands.Delamere originally applied for a land grant in May 1903 but was denied because the governor of the Protectorate, Sir Charles Eliot, thought the land was too far from any population centre. His next request for 100000 acres (404.7 km²) near Naivasha
Naivasha
Naivasha is a market town in Rift Valley Province, Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi. It is located on the shore of Lake Naivasha and along the Nairobi - Nakuru highway and Uganda Railway.Naivasha is part of the Nakuru District...
was denied because the government felt that settlement by a colonizing farmer might ignite conflicts with the Maasai tribesman who lived on the land. Delamere’s third attempt at land acquisition was successful. He received a 99-year lease on 100000 acres (404.7 km²) of land that would be named “Equator Ranch,” requiring him to pay a £200 annual rent and to spend £5000 on the land over the first five years of occupancy. In 1906, he acquired a large farm in Gilgil
Gilgil
Gilgil, Kenya is a town in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The town is located between Naivasha and Nakuru and along the Nairobi - Nakuru highway. Gilgil has a population of 18,805 . Gilgil is also the centre of the Gilgil division in Nakuru District.- History :During the 1920s - 1940s, some...
division, which would eventually include more than 50,000 acres (210 km²), located between Elementeita railway station, Elmenteita Badlands
Elmenteita Badlands
The Elementeita Badlands, also known as the Otutu Forest or Ututu Forest, is a lava flow in Kenya that covers approximately . The area was previously covered in thick dryland forest characterized by cedar trees, , and Leleshwa bushes...
and Mbaruk Railway station . This ranch he named Soysambu. Together, these vast possessions made Delamere one of Kenya's "largemen" - the local name for the handful of colonists with the greatest land holdings.
Farming
Among Kenya’s white settlers, Delamere was famous for his utter devotion to developing Kenyan agriculture. For many years his only homes in Kenya were native-style mud and grass huts, which his wife decorated with their fine English furnishings. For twenty years, Delamere farmed his colossal land by trial, error and dogged effort, experimenting endlessly with crops and livestock, and accruing an invaluable stockpile of knowledge that would later serve as the foundation for the agricultural economy of the colony.By 1905, Delamere was a pioneer of the East African dairy industry. He was also a pioneer at crossbreeding animals, beginning with sheep and chicken, then moving to cattle; most of his imported animals, however, succumbed to diseases such as foot and mouth and Red water disease. Delamere purchased Ryeland Rams from England to mate with 11,000 Maasai ewes, and in 1904, imported 500 pure-bred merino
Merino
The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...
ewes from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Four-fifths of the merino
Merino
The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...
ewes quickly died, and the remaining stock were moved to Delamere’s Soysambu farm, as well as the remaining stock of 1500 imported cattle that suffered from pleuro-pneumonia.
Eventually, Delamere decided to grow wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. This too, was plagued by disease, specifically Rust (fungus)
Rust (fungus)
Rusts are plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi of the order Pucciniales. About 7800 species are known. Rusts can affect a variety of plants; leaves, stems, fruits and seeds. Rust is most commonly seen as coloured powder, composed off tiny aeciospores which land on vegetation producing...
. By 1909, Delamere was out of money, resting his last hopes on a 1200 acres (4.9 km²) wheat crop that eventually failed. He was quoted by author Elspeth Huxley
Elspeth Huxley
Elspeth Joscelin Huxley CBE was a polymath, writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government advisor. She wrote 30 books; but she is best known for her lyrical books The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard which were based on her experiences growing up...
as commenting drily, “I started to grow wheat in East Africa to prove that though I lived on the equator, I was not in an equatorial country.” Delamere eventually created a “wheat laboratory” on his farm, employing scientists to manufacture hardy wheat varieties for the Kenyan highlands. To supplement his income, he even tried raising ostriches for their feathers, importing incubators from Europe; this venture also failed with the advent of the motor car and the decline in fashion of feathered hats. Delamere was the first European to start a maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
farm, Florida Farm in the Rongai Valley, and established the first flour mill in Kenya. By 1914, his efforts finally began to generate a profit.
Happy Valley set
Delamere was active in recruiting settlers to East Africa, promising new colonists 640 acres (2.6 km²), with 200 people eventually responding. He persuaded some of his friends among the English landed gentry to buy large estates like his own and take up life in Kenya; he is credited with helping to found the so-called Happy Valley setHappy Valley set
The Happy Valley set was a group of privileged British colonials living in the Happy Valley region of the Wanjohi Valley,near the Aberdare mountain range, in the colonies of Kenya and Uganda during the 1920s - 1940s...
, a clique of well-off British colonials whose pleasure-seeking habits eventually degenerated into drug-taking and wife-swapping. The story is often told of Delamere riding his horse into the dining room of Nairobi’s Norfolk Hotel and jumping over the tables. He was also known to knock golf balls onto the roof of the Muthaiga Country Club
Muthaiga Country Club
The Muthaiga Country Club is a club in Nairobi, Kenya. It is located in the suburb of Muthaiga, about 15 minutes drive from the city center.The Muthaiga Country Club opened on New Year's Eve in 1913, and became a gathering place for the elite society of British East Africa, which later became the...
, the pink stucco gathering-place for Nairobi's white elite, and then climb up to retrieve them.
At the outbreak of WWI, Delamere was placed in charge of Intelligence on the Maasai border, monitoring the movements of German units in present day Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Delamere entertained many high-ranking official visitors to Kenya, including then Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. He was also the first president of the East African Turf Club.
Government
Delamere embodied the many contradictions of the committed East African settler. He was personally fond of many Africans, and particularly enjoyed the company of the Maasai (even gently tolerating their habit of pilfering his cattle for their own herds), but fought fiercely to maintain British supremacy in the colony. "The extension of European civilization was in itself a desirable thing," he wrote in 1927. "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 colonisation was to the advantage to the world."Richard Meinertzhagen
Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Henry Meinertzhagen CBE DSO was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist.- Background and youth :Meinertzhagen was born into a socially connected, wealthy British family...
(himself a complex figure of Africa's colonial days) quoted Delamere as proclaiming, “I am going to prove to you all that this is a white man’s country.”
These views held great sway among the settlers because, as their founding father, Delamere was their undisputed if unofficial leader and, in some measure, spokesman for 30 years. He was a member of the Legislative Council, the Executive Council, and in 1907, became president of the Colonists’ Association. Errol Trzebinski
Errol Trzebinski
Errol Trzebinski is an author of books on prominent individuals in the history of colonial Kenya including Silence Will Speak: A Study of the Life of Denys Finch Hatton and His Relationship With Karen Blixen ; The Kenya Pioneers: The Frontiersmen of an Adopted Land ; The Lives of Beryl Markham: Out...
, who wrote a number of books on Kenya’s colonial elite, wrote of him: “Delamere was the Rhodes of Kenya and the settlers followed him both politically and spiritually.” Another contemporary and former colonist said more or less the same: “(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
Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer. During the pioneer days of aviation, she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west...
, the aviator and author, was close with Delamere and his wife, who served for a few years as Markham's surrogate mother. She summed Delamere up thus: "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."
Delamere's efforts to steer Kenyan economic and racial policy – which often contravened the more pro-African intentions of the Colonial Office – were assisted by his powerful friends at home in England. Delamere and other settlers were so successful in affecting Kenya’s politics that, in 1923, the British government responded with the Devonshire White Paper, which declared officially that in Kenya, the concerns of Africans were "paramount," even when they conflicted with the needs of whites.
Legacy
Delamere died in November 1931 at age 61. He was survived by his second wife, formerly Lady Charles Markham (née Gwladys Helen Beckett, daughter of Hon. Rupert Eveleyn Beckett). He was succeeded in the barony by his son from his first marriage, ThomasThomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere
Thomas Pitt Hamilton Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere , styled The Honourable from birth until 1931, was a British peer.-Personal:...
. At his death, he left Kenya's agricultural economy healthy enough to develop into one of the most stable economies in Africa. He also left unpaid bank loans totalling £500,000.
Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
's Third Avenue was named Delamere Avenue to commemorate his place in the development of the colony, and an eight-foot bronze statue of the 3rd Baron was erected at the street's head, across from the New Stanley Hotel. His widow, Gwladys, became the first woman mayor of Nairobi.
When Kenya achieved independence in 1963, many white settlers opted to sell their farms and leave the country rather than submit to African rule. Delamere's family, by then headed by his son Thomas, the 4th hereditary baron, elected to remain and accept Kenyan citizenship. Other traces of Delamere's colonial “reign” were not permitted to linger. Delamere Avenue was renamed as Kenyatta Avenue, after Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....
, and the statue of Delamere was relocated to the family's Soysambu estate, where it faces out toward the mountain known locally as "Delamere's Nose" or "The Sleeping Warrior." Among the Maasai, with whom Delamere was the first to establish a strong European connection, his family is now frequently reviled as those who “stole” the Maasai's land; but at his death, The Times reported that this complicated man had been amongst the very few Europeans who had made it a point to learn the Maasai language.
One of the restaurants inside the Nairobi Norfolk Hotel has been known as the Lord Delamere Terrace for decades.
Selected works
- 1926 -- Kenya. Correspondence with the government of Kenya relating to Lord Delamere's acquisition of land in Kenya ... London: H.M. Stationery Office. OCLC 12325519
- 1927 -- Kenya elections : Lord Delamere's speech to his constituents. Nairobi: reprinted from the East African standard (January 1927). OCLC 85028232
External links
- National Portrait Gallery, London: NPG x127531 (photograph), Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere by Bassano (26 September 1930).