Boyles - 'Markham was one of the great adventurers, a Boys' Own heroine who seemed to relish every passing challenge, and whose life reflected the incestuous nature of Kenyan society, where everyone seems to know everyone else - one way or another. The daughter of a horse trainer named Charles Clutterbuck, Markham was born in England in 1902. At the age of 4 she was taken to Kenya, where she was raised in the bush - on a farm down the road from Delamere's Equator Ranch - and given only a rough education, mostly by her father. The first Lady Delamere became her surrogate mother, and Lord Delamere loomed large in her childhood as a man of "legendary" generosity but also possessed of a "wholly unjustified" temper. "Delamere looked and sometimes acted like Puck," Markham later wrote, "but those who had the temerity to scratch him found a nature more Draconian than whimsical underneath." At 16 she married a local farmer; divorce followed, and by the time she was 18, her father had gone bankrupt. When Clutterbuck left for Peru, she stayed behind and began training horses on her own. In 1927, when she was 24 years old, she married Mansfield "Monte" Markham, a rich member of local society, and quickly moved up the ladder until her 1928 triumph, a liaison with the visiting Duke of Gloucester ("Any fair lady was fair game to him", she told a documentary film crew "and he certainly hunted me"). One important result of the liaison may have been the son named Gervais Markham, who was born in '29 (Monte Markham threatened to name Gloucester as a party to his divorce suit; after the threat was dropped, however, Beryl Markham was given a small annuity by Buckingham Palace). A prodigious smoker and drinker, the tall, thin and graceful Markham vied with Karen Blixen for Denys Finch Hatton's affection - and won. In fact, Markham was to have flown with Finch Hatton in his Gypsy Moth on his fateful flight to scout elephants near Voi, and was only dissuaded from going by Tom Black, her revered flying instructor. Finch Hatton's death affected her deeply at the time,  ........ (more pp. 32/33)  

Bendel - Beryl came to Njoro at the age of four and grew up with horses as her main interest. As a girl she groomed and rode exercise on Camiscan, which as a stallion, had an enormous influence on Kenya breeding. Her father was a great trainer and when he left Kenya, he trained in Peru and SA with outstanding success. It was at this point that Beryl decided to start training horses herself. Her first big success in Kenya was in 1926. It was with the filly Wise Child, which had been beaten by Restless ijn the EA Derby because of tendon trouble. With care and patience, she nursed the filly back to fitness and at the Nairobi July meeting of 1926, Wise Child beat Restless by 4 lengths in the Kenya St. Leger. In the following years, Beryl went from strength to strength, training such horses as Cambrian, which won the Derby, Kenya Gold Cup, Governor's Conference Cup and the Civil Service Gold Cup. Her father returned from SA in 1928 to train her husband's horses and that season, they won 16 races. Beryl continued until 1931, when her other great love, flying, took her away from the turf for 25 years. In 1936, she became the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic from England to North America. She flew a Percival Vega Gull, equipped with a de Havilland Gypsy engine. Beryl landed on Cape Breton Island more than 21 hours after take-off and became a national heroine overnight. She later settled in California, where she lived for 15 years, but did not own or train horses. Beryl returned to Kenya in 1956 and took off where she had left, with continuing success. This began when she trained Niagara, Title Deed and Sea Lord for Mrs L.A. Spiers and became leading trainer 5 years in succession. Her first winner after her return was Title Deed who won 13 races over 6 seasons. It was the grey filly Niagara, Beryl Markham's own horse, who proved she was still a great trainer. Difficult to train because of knee trouble, she was even so, a really high class mare. She won the Champagne Stakes as a two year old and as a three-year-old won her only four races - the Kenya Guineas, Derby, St. Leger and the Delamere Gold Vase. She ran twice as a four-year-old and won the Civil Service Gold Cup. In 1962, Beryl again trained the winner of the Derby with Speed Trial, ridden by Arthur Orchardson. This horse was considered by the trainer the best she ever trained, until he went wrong. She had further successes in the Derby starting the following season with Cutlass, ridden by Buster Parnell and again the next year with Lone Eagle, also ridden by Buster. She made it 4 in a row when in 1964, Athi won, ridden by Roy Arnold. After this incredible sequence there was a gap of 6 years, and then she was back with a bang. In season 1971-72, she trained Heron to win the Triple Crown for Mr & Mrs Aldo Soprani. The horse was ridden by Brian Jones in all three races. Buster Parnell, who has ridden winners in 17 countries, rated Beryl the best trainer he had seen anywhere.                                                              

Markham - Grew up on her father's farm at Molo .... her mother left Kenya in 1906 with her brother Dickie and did not return for 17 years. ........... A governess - Miss Le May, Bo Fawcus' fiancee, beat Beryl ......... Beryl formed a strong relationship with Florence Delamere ......... sent to the European school in Nairobi, then Miss Seccombe's school in Nakuru. .......... married at age 16 to Jock Purves. This was a disaster - he drank too much and she quickly tired of him. ...... started taking lovers - relieved Tom Delamere of his virginity!, Boy Long, .......... In 1921 she started training horses and was very successful. ...... fell in love with Denys Finch-Hatton ....... Left Jock in 1922 ........ 1924 she became pregnant and had an abortion in London ....... back to Kenya in June 1924 and lived with Frank Greswolde-Williams, then Gerry Alexander .......... married Mansfield Markham in 1927 after a whirlwind romance ......... 1928 - affair with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Gloucester on their visit to Kenya, went on safari with the Duke on the Athi plains with Bunny Allen .......... in 1929 she went to England to have her baby and see the Duke of Gloucester - gave birth to Gervase ...... by mid May the Duke was more or less living openly with her and drinking excessively .... the Markhams confronted the Duke and threatened to cite him in divorce ..….. He settled  £15,000 on Beryl to provide an annuity of £500 per annum for life ............ Beryl started flying and was taught by Tom Campbell Black. ...... Returned to Kenya in 1930 and renewed relationship with Denys Finch-Hatton. After Denys was killed she renewed the relationship with Tom Campbell Black and flying became her passion ......... associated with the flying crowd at Nyeri and she had numerous lovers ..... In 1934 John Carberry bet her she would not fly the Atlantic East to West against the wind ....... after flying elephant spotting for Bror Blixen and becoming one of his lovers she had an on/off affair with Boy Long. .......... then to London to prepare for her Atlantic flight and during this time she appeared to be John Carberry's girlfriend. ............. September 1936 she flies the Atlantic ........ after her feting in New York she returned to England and in 1937 she visited California and met Raoul Schumacher. ..... her annuity had to be paid in the Stirling area so she chose Bermuda and in 1942 she divorced Mansfield and married Schumacher. ...... she drifted through lovers in California and Hollywood and in 1950 she returned to Kenya empty handed. ........ eventually after time spent at Nanyuki and more lovers she started training horses again. Again she was successful ..... in 1964 she went to South Africa with Enid, Lady Kenmare. This was not a success and, after a short stay in Rhodesia, she was back in Kenya for good in 1969 .......... There was a lot of opposition to her returning to work and horse training, particularly from Sir Ferdinand Cavendish-Bentinck, but she overcame these obstacles and carried on training, again successfully. ............In her final years she occupied a series of guest houses in Karen, living hand-to-mouth Fleming - During difficult times when half the EAA pilots were down with fever, Beryl Markham used to help out. She was a fine pilot and had great courage and endurance. I knew several other women pilots of fame, and with the exception of Jean Batten, I think Beryl was the finest woman pilot in the British Empire. Beryl was a striking girl: tall, thin, with a lovely figure, and she usually wore navy blue slacks and a shirt. She had a mop of rust-blonde hair and a thin aquiline face. She was very sunburnt and used little cosmetics. I never saw her looking tired or the "worse for wear", even at the end of a ten-hour flight, or on a dawn take-off after a party the night before. She always looked fresh and cheerful. She was a kenya girl, and spent her childhood on a farm where some of the best horses in Kenya were bred. She had her own little aeroplane, and worked as a free-lance air taxi in various ways; from carrying sick men from outposts to Nairobi hospital to spotting game for hunters. Her navigation was also uncanny, as she could find her way to any spot in the vast open country of East Africa. Amy had courage and endurance, but her airmanship and landings were not faultless, in fact at times were not too good. But Beryl flew beautifully. I never saw her make a poor landing, even in really filthy weather, on bad aerodromes, or at night. She and I were never particularly friendly, but I saw a lot of her during those last 8 months before I left Kenya ……

Racing - Owner of 'Cambrian' by 'Camsiscan' - 'Welsh Lass' - 1929

Racing - Owner of 'Grosvenor' - 1930

Racing - Owner of 'Clemency' by 'Camsiscan' - 'Charity II' - 1930 - Winner of the Governors Conference Cup in 1930

Racing - Owner of 'Dilemma' 1930 - Winner of the Civil Service Gold Cup in 1930

Chandler - Two page entry

Top trainer 5 times, won Kenya Derby 6 times