Hendrick Petrus - Kenya Regiment 4296

Boet de Bruin - Very little is known about his adult life in South Africa before going to Kenya. However he did work as a typesetter for a newspaper in Craddock and possibly in Belfast. ……… Theunis Petrus [brother] immigrated to Kenya with H.P. after T.P. married aunt Ellie. He told the story of buying bread in every part that they stopped and transferred the gold coins into the fresh loaf to smuggle into Kenya. There H.P. had several jobs, such as constructing roads in the Thika area where he met a man called Bill Retief who remained a lifelong friend. He also took overseas clients out on safari, shooting elephants where they were creating problems round Mount Kenya. It was in this period that he met our mother, Louisa Susanna Cathrina Greyling. Grandpa, Abraham Carel Greyling, had gone to Kenya in the early 1920s with his whole family. There were 4 Greyling girls Louisa, Hester, Aletta and Ena. There were also 6 sons of which Hottie, the eldest, was the closest to the de Bruin family. ………. The safari business, which entailed being away for 3 months at a time, was obviously not a suitable arrangement for the newly married couple and H.P. looked for a more stable occupation. He found it with Colonel Murray on Marania Estates on the NW slopes of Mount Kenya. While they were staying there Hendrik, Abraham and I were born. Hendrik on 19 November 1926, Abraham in 1928 and I [Boet] on 6 August 1930 (I think my date was an inspired guess as it was never registered). Abraham died in infancy of what was thought then as pneumonia but both Anna and Johanna (a nurse) said it was more likely meningitis. In 1933 H.P. left Marania Estates and bought a plot in Nanyuki. Colonel Murray had given him merino sheep, presumably as a bonus or in lieu of salary. ….. He and his brother-in-law Hottie also did blacksmith work for other people. He had also acquired a 3 ton International truck and was doing local transport. The 1930s were depression years and finding jobs became more difficult. After the birth of Hester and Louisa, Mrs de Bruin died of a streptococci infection which made life very difficult for Hendrik. In 1935 the plot of land in Nanyuki was sold and Hendrik bought a tract of land of 2500 acres at Ol Kalou ….. Built a mud and wattle house …….. Hendrik put up a sawmill and supplied timber to Nairobi for the construction industry. An Indian saw doctor ran the mille and he did the transport to Ol Kalou station to rail the timber to Nairobi

Nakuru North cemetery - Hendrik Petros De Bruin, born 29/12/1898, died 23/9/1960

Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Aberdare Voters List