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Name: HASLAM, Arthur Joseph (Vet. Capt.)

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Birth Date: 27.11.1863 Halifax

Death Date: 23.7.1898 speared to death near Kabete by Kikuyu, buried at Fort Smith

Nationality: British

First Date: 1895

Last Date: 1898

Profession: Officer in Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Attached to Railway as Veterinary Officer

Area: Tombstone to his memory erected at Fort Smith

Married: ?Sarah Steinthal b. 1836 Oldham

Book Reference: Gillett, Ainsworth, Genesis, Permanent Way, John Rawlins, North, Playne, Barnes, Mills Railway

War Service: Royal Army Veterinary Corps

School: BA, MD, FRCVS

General Information:

Ainsworth - Shortly after the departure of the expedition Capt. Haslam, who was somewhere in Kikuyu, heard of it and endeavoured to join up with it. He entered Muluka with a few of his men but he appears to have been attacked and to have attempted to withdraw. Haslam was killed but his men escaped. They informed me (Ainsworth) that Haslam had a .303 rifle but no ammunition as he had fired all he had at a rhinoceros before entering Muluka. When he was killed Haslam was not carrying his rifle. He had handed it to one of his men who escaped and brought it to Machakos where on examination it was found to be quite clean. On receipt of the news of Haslam's death I sent a wire to the officer in command of the Uganda Rifles, then at Fort Smith, to despatch a strong detachment to get in touch with Cooper and try to locate Haslam's body. The body, frightfully mutilated, was later found by Capt. Cooper, who interred it with military honours. The expedition was successful, taking over 200 head of cattle, a large number of goats and 161 prisoners. ............. Capt. Haslam of the Army veterinary Corps arrived towards the middle of 1897 to advise and deal with an outbreak of rinderpest.          
Genesis - 'When our camp was in the vicinity of Kibwezi, a missionary brought us the sad news of the death of Capt. Haslam, our Veterinary Officer, who was killed by Wakikuyu near Mount Donio Sabuk. There had been trouble in a part of the Kikuyu country, and the natives mistaking Capt. Haslam's safari for a Punitive Expedition sent against them, took the camp by surprise and murdered him. A tombstone was erected to his memory at Fort Smith, bearing the inscription "In memory of Capt. A.J. Haslam, Army Veterinary Dept., Killed by Wakikuyu 1898".'
Permanent Way - '... was seconded from the Railway Transport Dept. to institute measures to check the rinderpest epidemic. Having done all he could in Ukamba, Haslam moved on to Kikuyu to institute similar measures. He then went to Nairobi, where he formed a camp and set up a series of inoculation experiments. Instead of concentrating on this work, Haslam unfortunately decided to join a punitive expedition against the WaKikuyu of Maluka, who had murdered some natives sent out by the Railway to buy foodstuffs. He allowed the expedition to start without him and, whilst trying to catch up with it, he and some of his porters were attacked and killed by a band of WaKikuyu.
North - b. 27/11/1863; Uganda Railway/EAP arr. EA 1897 - Royal Army Veterinary Corps; Transport & Vet Officer; Railhead, Taru Camp April 1897; Railhead Tsavo Dec 1897; Seconded to EAP Dec 1897, moved to Fort Smith to study cattle disease; Visiting Zanzibar 13/4/1898; d. 19/7/1898, killed by Kikuyu near Kabete
Playne - Transport Officer on Railway during construction
Barnes - Fort Smith - In memory of / Captain A J HASLAM / Army Veterinary Department / BA. MD. FRCVS. / Killed by the Wakikuyu 23rd July 1898 aged 34 years / Erected by his friends on the staff of the Uganda Railway
P.W. In charge of Transport Dept.
Photo of gravestone at Fort Smith - Capt. A.J. Haslam - Army Veterinary Dept., BA MD FRCVS, Killed by the Wakikuyu 23rd July 1898 aged 34.
Mills Railway - a railwayman was killed by Kikuyu; the only instance during the construction of the line of a senior officer dying at the hands of men. He was Veterinary Captain A.J. Haslam who was engaged to take charge of the animal transport used to carry supplies to survey and earthworks parties ahead of the rails. Haslam arrived in East Africa in 1897, via Durban, where he bought 200 mules for the Railway and travelled with them to Mombasa. Early in 1898, he was engaged principally between Nairobi and Limuru, where a detailed survey was being carried on and the line staked out.
.….….….…. A Railway Survey party near Kikuyu had sent some of its members to buy food from nearby Kikuyu farmers. For some reason a quarrel broke out and several of the railway party were killed. An armed posse was raised and set off in pursuit of the murderers, who retreated north east towards Thika.
At Nairobi, Haslam heard of these events, abandoned his work and, with a few men, a rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition tried to overtake the posse. He was unsuccessful and when, after at least 2 days on the road, he reached Muruka, 8 miles north of Thika, he (according to Ainsworth) "entered the village but seems to have tried to withdraw". There was an altercation and Haslam was killed but his men escaped and one of them reached Machakos, where he reported to Ainsworth. Haslam's rifle was handed in but not the ammunition; according to the witness, Haslam had come across a rhinoceros and fired all 150 rounds at it, an unlikely tale at best and extremely improbable because the rifle gave no evidence of having been fired. Ainsworth concluded that this part of the story was fabricated as an excuse for losing the ammunition.
Haslam's body was recovered and taken to Fort Smith for burial, and there is another discrepancy. The Railway records state that he was killed on 17 July, but his gravestone bears the date 23 July; there seems to be nothing to account for this anomaly.
[the marriage recorded in Ancestry Family Tree seems doubtful - no record can be found by CSN]
FindaGrave He attended medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland (New Veterinary College) graduating with high honors in April 1884. He joined the Army Veterinary Department in February 1885 and one short month later found himself in Suakin and seems to have been attached to the Suakin Field Force then operating under the command of General Sir Gerald Graham, VC. During his time in the Sudan Haslam found time to publish several articles concerning the health and care of camels which appeared in publications that included the British Veterinary Journal (July 1885 and Vol. XXII, 1886). Remained with the British garrison in Suakin after the withdrawal of the Field Force until 11 March 1887 when proceeded to India. He appears not to have qualified for either the Egypt Medal or the usually associated Khedive’s Star.
While in India Haslam again wrote medical articles, this time on various equine maladies. He returned to England on extended leave on 20 November 1889, returning to the subcontinent on 9 July 1891. In September 1892, Haslam was attached to the Isazai Field Force during the punitive expedition led by Brig-General AG Hammond. Little fighting occurred during the march against rebellious North West Frontier tribes. No medals or clasps where issued for this expedition. Haslam remained in India until 28 November 1893.
On 1 June 1897 Haslam was seconded to the Uganda Railway Service as transport officer. He proceeded to Natal, South Africa to purchase mules of the Uganda Railway and while there he took part in a conference held to discuss the outbreak of rinderpest that was raging through the colony. Temporarily assigned to the East African Protectorate at the personal request of the Consul General in Zanzibar he lent his expertise in preventing the spread of several cattle born epidemics that had spread into Masailand.
In July 1898 Captain Haslam seems to have attempted to join a small local expedition that had set out earlier to punish several Wakikuyu villages who had been raiding for cattle. Accompanied by three armed men and a number of bearers, Haslam’s small group was attacked by a larger Wakikuyu force near Dongo Sabuk on 28 July. His bearers fled and the four armed men were quickly killed after a brief fight. Haslam seems to have fallen with a spear thrust to the back. His much-mutilated body was found four days later by Captain Cooper and Dr.White. Captain Alfred Joseph Haslam was buried at a small, now almost forgotten cemetery near Fort Smith, near what is now Kabete, Kenya. Today only two other nearby graves still exist there, that of William Alfred Harrison who was killed by a loin in October of 1898 and that of Captain Robert Henry Nelson (d. 1892) who had previously traveled with Henry Morton Stanley. Both Haslam and Harrison rest beneath identical tombs (now partially buried) which were raised by the Uganda Railway Service.
Haslam’s death may, in fact, have been partly due to his being a veterinarian. In his book The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson: How an Irish Lion Hunter Led the Jewish Legion to Victory, author Denis Brian tells how Col. Patterson (of the lions of Tsavo fame) knew Captain Haslam and believed the Wakikuyu may have killed him after observing him dissecting dead cattle and suspecting him of practicing witchcraft.
Haslam never seems to have been married or had any children.
Veterinary-Lieutenant – 4 February 1885
Seconded for Service in Uganda – 1 June 1897
Veterinary-Captain – 4 February 1895

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