Whites in Kenya
Encyclopedia
There is a minor but relatively prominent group of white people in Kenya
, mainly descendants of British settlers from the colonial era.
colonial rule in 1963, realizing that a minority rule in the way of the Rhodesian and South Africa
n apartheid régimes was no longer possible after the Mau-Mau uprising, the majority of white settlers departed within one decade, under a willing-buyer-willing-seller scheme, which was largely financed by secret British subsidies. The remaining small minority of white people
has mostly taken Kenyan citizenship. There were an estimated 30,000 white Kenyan citizens in Kenya as of 2006. There are also British expatriates who may be of any race; according to the BBC, they numbered at about 32,000 that same year.
", where the Cholmondeley (Delamere) family, as one of the few remaining white landowners, still owns over 100,000 acres (400 km²) of farmland in the Rift Valley
. Nowadays, only a small minority of them still are landowners (livestock and game ranchers, horticulturists and farmers), whereas the majority work in the tertiary sector: in finance, import, air transport, and hospitality.
, who has retired, Kenyan white people have virtually completely retreated from Kenyan politics, and are no longer represented in public service and parastatals, from which the last remaining staff from colonial times retired in the 1970s.
The recent homicide case of the white Kenyan dairy and livestock farmer and game rancher Thomas Cholmondeley, a descendant of British
aristocrats
, has brought into question the class bias of the judicial system of the Commonwealth of Nations
country and the resentment of many Kenyans toward what is perceived as white privilege. The book and movie White Mischief
told the tale slightly involving an earlier member of the Cholmondeley family, the fourth Baron Delamere
who was married to Diana Broughton, whose lover was murdered in Nairobi in the 1940s. Her first husband was tried and acquitted. See also Happy Valley set
.
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...
, mainly descendants of British settlers from the colonial era.
History
After the end of the BritishBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
colonial rule in 1963, realizing that a minority rule in the way of the Rhodesian and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n apartheid régimes was no longer possible after the Mau-Mau uprising, the majority of white settlers departed within one decade, under a willing-buyer-willing-seller scheme, which was largely financed by secret British subsidies. The remaining small minority of white people
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
has mostly taken Kenyan citizenship. There were an estimated 30,000 white Kenyan citizens in Kenya as of 2006. There are also British expatriates who may be of any race; according to the BBC, they numbered at about 32,000 that same year.
Socioeconomics
Economically, virtually all white people in Kenya belong to middle and upper middle class. They formerly clustered in the country's highland region, the so-called "White HighlandsWhite Highlands
The term White Highlands describes an area in the central uplands of Kenya, so-called because, during the period of British Colonialism, white immigrants settled there in considerable numbers. The main motivation was to take advantage of the good soils and growing conditions, as well as the cool...
", where the Cholmondeley (Delamere) family, as one of the few remaining white landowners, still owns over 100,000 acres (400 km²) of farmland in the Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
. Nowadays, only a small minority of them still are landowners (livestock and game ranchers, horticulturists and farmers), whereas the majority work in the tertiary sector: in finance, import, air transport, and hospitality.
Societal integration
Apart from isolated individuals such as anthropologist and conservationist Richard LeakeyRichard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey is a politician, paleoanthropologist and conservationist. He is second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, and is the younger brother of Colin Leakey...
, who has retired, Kenyan white people have virtually completely retreated from Kenyan politics, and are no longer represented in public service and parastatals, from which the last remaining staff from colonial times retired in the 1970s.
The recent homicide case of the white Kenyan dairy and livestock farmer and game rancher Thomas Cholmondeley, a descendant of British
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...
aristocrats
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
, has brought into question the class bias of the judicial system of the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
country and the resentment of many Kenyans toward what is perceived as white privilege. The book and movie White Mischief
White Mischief
White Mischief is a 1987 film dramatising the events of the Happy Valley murder case in Kenya in 1941, when Sir Henry "Jock" Delves Broughton was tried for the murder of Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll....
told the tale slightly involving an earlier member of the Cholmondeley family, the fourth Baron Delamere
Baron Delamere
Baron Delamere, of Vale Royal in the County of Chester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1821 for Thomas Cholmondeley, a former Member of Parliament for Cheshire...
who was married to Diana Broughton, whose lover was murdered in Nairobi in the 1940s. Her first husband was tried and acquitted. See also Happy Valley set
Happy 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...
.
Lived/living in Kenya
- George AdamsonGeorge AdamsonGeorge Adamson , also known as the "Baba ya Simba" , was a British wildlife conservationist and author...
– conservationist - Joy AdamsonJoy AdamsonJoy Adamson was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa...
– conservationist - Michael AsherMichael AsherMichael Max Asher is a conceptual artist, described by The New York Times as "among the patron saints of the Conceptual Art phylum known as Institutional Critique, an often esoteric dissection of the assumptions that govern how we perceive art." Rather than designing new art objects, Asher...
- author & explorer - Esmond Bradley MartinEsmond Bradley MartinEsmond Bradley Martin was a conservationist who fought for the preservation of the rhinoceros and against the illegal trade of rhino horns....
- conservationist - Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley – land-owner, convicted of manslaughter
- Ian DuncanIan DuncanIan Duncan is one of Kenya's most successful rally drivers. He was Kenyan Rally Champion six times , and achieved outright victory in a World Rally Championship round when he won the 42nd Trustbank Safari Rally in 1994...
– rally driver - Jason DunfordJason DunfordJason Edward Dunford is a swimmer from Kenya. He is predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter. He has won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, Universiade, All-Africa Games and African Championships, and reached finals at Olympics, World Championships and Short Course World Championships....
– swimmer - David DunfordDavid DunfordDavid Harvey Dunford is a swimmer from Kenya who specializes in sprint freestyle. He is an African champion, Commonwealth Games finalist and the second Kenyan swimmer in history to qualify for the Olympics Games...
– swimmer - Aidan HartleyAidan HartleyAidan Hartley is a Kenyan journalist.Hartley was born in Nairobi in 1965. From age 7-12 he attended Ravenswood School, a boarding school near Tiverton in Devon, England...
– news correspondent - Mark N. HopkinsMark N. HopkinsMark N. Hopkins is an English-American filmmaker, who is best known for his award-winning film Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, the first uncensored look at Médecins Sans Frontières....
– filmmaker - Kuki Gallman –(Italian) author
- Geoffrey William GriffinGeoffrey William GriffinDr. Geoffrey William Griffin was the founding director of Starehe Boys' Centre and School. He founded the school in November, 1959 with the help of the late Geoffrey Geturo and Joseph Gikubu, the current senior deputy director of the school; he directed the school from its founding to the end of...
– educator - Ewart GroganEwart GroganEwart Scott Grogan was a British explorer, politician, and entrepreneur. He was the first person to walk the length of Africa, following a path from Cape Town to Cairo.-Biography:...
– explorer, entrepreneur and pre-independence politician - Louis LeakeyLouis LeakeyLouis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a British archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there...
– archaeologist and naturalist - Mary LeakeyMary LeakeyMary Leakey was a British archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island and also a noted robust Australopithecine called Zinjanthropus at Olduvai. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge,...
- archaeologist - Meave LeakeyMeave LeakeyMeave G. Leakey is together with her husband Richard Leakey one of the most renowned contemporary paleontologists. She studies the origin of mankind in Africa.-Flat-Faced Man of Kenya:...
– paleontologist - Richard LeakeyRichard LeakeyRichard Erskine Frere Leakey is a politician, paleoanthropologist and conservationist. He is second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, and is the younger brother of Colin Leakey...
- paleontologist, archaeologist and conservationist - Philip LeakeyPhilip LeakeyPhilip Leakey was educated at Leighton Park School and is a former member of the Kenyan Parliament. He represented the KANU party led by then president Daniel Arap Moi. He was an MP of Langata Constituency from 1979 and served as a cabinet minister for a short stint...
– politician - Louise LeakeyLouise LeakeyLouise Leakey is a Kenyan paleontologist. She does research and field work related to human fossils in Eastern Africa. She first became actively involved in fossil discoveries in 1977, at the age of six, when she became the youngest person to find hominid fossils...
– artist, writer and archaeologist - Beryl MarkhamBeryl MarkhamBeryl 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...
– author, pilot, horse trainer and adventurer - Emmanuel de MerodeEmmanuel de MerodePrince Emmanuel de Mérode is the Director of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .-Background:...
(Belgian) - anthropologist, conservationist, pilot - Peter PoolePeter PoolePeter Poole was a British-born Kenyan engineer and shop owner. He is the only white in Kenya executed for killing an indigenous African person ....
- executed for murder - Joan RootJoan RootJoan Root was a Kenyan-born conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker....
- conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker - Alan RootAlan RootAlan Root is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker who worked on nature documentary series' such as Survival.He was married to fellow filmmaker Joan Root, who was a Kenyan-born conservationist and ecological activist...
- conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker - Daphne SheldrickDaphne SheldrickDame Daphne Sheldrick, DBE is a Kenyan author, conservationist and expert in animal husbandry, particularly the raising and reintegrating of orphaned elephants into the wild for over 30 years....
- conservationist - Saba Douglas-HamiltonSaba Douglas-HamiltonSaba Iassa Douglas-Hamilton is a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and television presenter.-Early life:Born on a farm near Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, she is the daughter of zoologist, Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Oria Douglas-Hamilton née Rocco. Saba means "seven" in Swahili...
- wildlife conservationist
Born or raised in Kenya
- Neil AggettNeil AggettNeil Aggett was a white South African trade union leader and labour activist who died whilst in detention after being arrested by the South African Security Police.-Life and Death:...
(emigrated to South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
) – anti-apartheid activist - Michael BearMichael BearMichael John Bear, born at Brentwood, Essex on 23 February 1934 and died at Torquay, Devon on 7 April 2000, played first-class cricket as a left-handed batsman for Essex between 1954 and 1968...
(emigrated to UK) - 683rd Lord Mayor of the City of London - Arap BethkeArap BethkeRicardo Arap Bethke Galdames is a Mexican actor.-Biography:He was born to a German father and a Chilean mother, but grew up in Mexico.He is most remembered for his role of "Chacho" in the telenovela Clase 406...
(emigrated to MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
) - actor - Jamie DalrympleJamie DalrympleJames William Murray "Jamie" Dalrymple is a Kenyan-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler....
(emigrated to UK) - cricket player, all-rounder who played for England. - Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
(emigrated to UK) - ethologist, evolutionary biologist, writer - Chris FroomeChris FroomeChris Froome is a professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTour team .Born in Kenya, Froome moved with his family to South Africa as a teenager, and although he began his career registered with the Kenyan cycling federation, since spring 2008 has ridden under a British licence on the...
(emigrated to UK) – road racing cyclist - Elizabeth FurseElizabeth FurseElizabeth Furse is a small business owner and faculty member of Portland State University. She was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999, representing Oregon's 1st congressional district...
(emigrated to (USA) - U.S. Congresswoman - Peter HainPeter HainPeter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
(emigrated to UK)– Labour party politician - Tania Harcourt-CoozeTania Harcourt-CoozeTania Rosamund Harcourt-Cooze is an English model and actress. -Biography:The daughter of Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St Mary, a Major in the Coldstream Guards, and his first wife Everild Tania Hambrough, she is directly related to the poet Samuel Taylor...
(emigrated to UK)– model - Elspeth HuxleyElspeth HuxleyElspeth 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...
(emigrated to UK) - polymath, writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government advisor - Melissa Auf der MaurMelissa Auf der MaurMelissa Auf der Maur is a Canadian rock musician from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her career has included 5 years as bassist with the band Hole and she later toured with The Smashing Pumpkins for their 2000 tour. Her second solo album, Out of Our Minds, was released on March 30, 2010. She is also a...
(emigrated to CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - Musician - Colin LeakeyColin LeakeyColin Louis Avern Leakey is a leading plant scientist in the United Kingdom, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge and of the Institute of Biology, and a world authority on beans.-Background:...
(emigrated to UK) – botanist - Edmund Morris (emigrated to USA) - writer
- Derek PringleDerek PringleDerek Raymond Pringle is an English former Test and ODI cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.He was educated at Felsted School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.-Life and career:...
(emigrated to UK) - cricket player, played for England. - Simon ShawSimon ShawSimon Dalton Shaw MBE is an English rugby union player who plays at lock for Toulon and England.-Biography:...
(emigrated to UK) - rugby union player who plays at lock for Wasps, England and The British and Irish Lions. - Jules SylvesterJules SylvesterJules Sylvester is a snake wrangler who works in film and television. He was born in England and raised in Kenya where he was first introduced to snake catching at age 16. He has appeared in numerous television shows including a series of appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and his own...
(emigrated to USA) - animal wrangler, TV presenter - Roger WhittakerRoger WhittakerRoger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
(emigrated to UK) - folk musician - Shane Fielding (emigrated to AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) - marathon runner