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Name: AMBROSE SMITH, Arthur

Birth Date: 5 Oct 1884 Lewisham

First Date: 1912

Profession: Trader

Area: McCrae's Buildings, Nairobi. 1930 Box 287, Nairobi

Married: In Nairobi 30 Sep 1916 Dorothy Clare Bradstock b. 1885 Cambridge, d. 1977 Durban

Children: Ethne Ruth (22 June 1917 Nairobi-1998); Freda (1919)

Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Curtis, Macmillan, Red 22, Gazette

General Information:

Curtis - 'A Voyage in s.s. Bajune, 1919' .... Captain Jim Belfrage, after serving in a number of Clan Line ships, came out from the United Kingdom to Kenya in 1919 to take up the offer of a good job. However, the job vanished while he was en route. He tells the story of the alternative employment he found.  'I met a man called Ambrose Smith who with Mayer of the EA Standard, Conway Harvey, and General Charrington had decided to start up a coastal service on the EA coast and I got the job as manager to start the company. It was called the East African Steam Navigation Company. Mayer, who was the leading light in this coastal venture, had gone down to Mombasa and bought a small twin screw steamer called 'Bajune'. She was really a river craft and had been used by an Italian firm on the Juba River until the British had taken her over to land troops on the German East African coast. She was in the battle of Tanga. ..…..'
Macmillan - 1930 - A. Ambrose Smith, Agent for Lipton Ltd., and J. Buchanan and Co. Ltd. - Lipton's Tea and 'Black and White' whisky - Mr Ambrose Smith has been in East Africa for about 18 years and has had, during that time, very wide experience of its trade and commercial potentialities.
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Nairobi, North Area - Arthur Ambrose Smith - Merchant, Muthaiga and Mrs Dorothy Clare Smith - Muthaiga
Gazette - 19/11/1929 - Wholesale Liquor Licence - A. Ambrose Smith - Imperial Chambers, Nairobi
Gazette - 10/11/1926 - Application for Wholesale Liquor Licence - A. Ambrose Smith - Boma Buildings, Govt. Rd.
Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Arthur Ambrose Smith, Merchant, Kikuyu Rd., Nbi

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