Carman - '…… the African locations had been served by general medical dispensaries which being under the aegis of the Health Office had been placed under my supervision. They were really run by a Health Sister named Rebecca Sharp [CN - this must have been her nickname, following the character in Thackeray's book 'Vanity Fair'] who was universally known as 'Becky', though I never ventured to call her anything but Miss Sharp to her face. Becky went her rounds on a small two-stroke motor cycle to which the Africans gave the onomatopoeic name of 'pic-a-pic'. One of the chief functions of these dispensaries was the control and treatment of venereal disease and I devoted one afternoon a week to the diagnosis and therapy of these conditions.

There were several African brothels in the town, but the police turned a blind eye on them on the understanding that the women were under regular medical supervision. This was carried out by Becky Sharp with my help. One 'Madame' who ran a thriving institution used to bring her young ladies to the clinic in a string of private rickshaws and while they were being examined in an inner room by Becky I used to pass the time by engaging their mistress, a Nubian of ample proportions, in idle conversation. ……….

During the recent war and since, the African brothels had been regularly visited by European men and Becky Sharp was struck as I was by the fact that none of the women ever seemed to become pregnant or to give birth to half-caste children. Half-castes are notoriously common both in South Africa and India, but during my 35 years in Kenya I only remember seeing two and one of them was the fruit of a legitimate marriage between an Englishman and an African woman. Miss Sharp was quite sure that the African women with whom she came into contact, and these were certainly to be numbered in hundreds, had the secret either of a highly efficient method of contraception or of a powerful, safe abortifacient. She made many efforts to penetrate this secret, but all in vain until one of her patients who was a free-lance prostitute fell ill with double pneumonia. Becky nursed her so sedulously that she reached and passed her crisis and one afternoon she told Becky that to show her gratitude she would reveal the secret of the means whereby African women avoided unwanted pregnancies. When Becky went to her hut to see her next day she found her dead in bed with a wet towel tied over her nose and mouth. In her feeble condition this had been enough to kill her, so whoever had overheard the previous day's conversation had made very sure that the jealously guarded secret should remain unrevealed. Needless to say the murderer, or more probably the murderess was never brought to book.

Dominion - Medical Department - Nursing Sister - 1930

Gazette 16/4/1919 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Nursing Sister - 4/4/1919

KAD 1922 - Nurse, Sanitation Division, Medical Dept.

Red 31 - Sister, Health Office, Nbi.

Blue Book 1939 appt nursing sister 14.2.1919