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Name: LAWRENCE, George Marcus 'Marc' MC (Capt.)

Birth Date: 12.10.1878 Bewdley, Worcestershire

Death Date: 17.1.1964 Nakuru

First Date: 1918

Last Date: 1964

Profession: Trained horses for showjumping

Area: 1930 Equator, 1928 Londiani

Married: In Great Massingham, Norfolk 12 Dec 1915 Ruth Forster b. 6 Nov 1896 Great Massingham, d. 1954 Eldama Ravine, buried in Nakuru West cem.

Children: Joan Elizabeth (Hemsted) (8 June 1918 Norwich); Marcus St. John 'John' (1922)

Book Reference: Red 31, Hut, Tom Lawrence, Rift Valley

War Service: 13th Hussars in Boer War, KAR Mounted Infantry 1917

General Information:

Gazette 6 Dec 1938, Rift Valley Voters List
E-Mail from Tom Lawrence (grandson) - "Originally hailed from Bewdley in Worcestershire where he was born in 1878, as one of 16 siblings from two marriages. He joined up with the 13th Hussars and fought in the Boer War at Relief of Ladysmith amongst other things. He was alleged to have been the first man into Ladysmith reporting 24hrs ahead of the main column. He then managed to get himself attached to the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers and stayed there between 1907 and 1914 before returning to England to be commissioned into the South Notts Hussars, with whom he went to Egypt and Macedonia and with whom he won an MC.  
Went to Kenya first towards the very end of WW I hoping to recruit "native cavalry" for the Western Front as they were running out of sources of troops and was with Berkeley Cole (or possibly Gilbert Colvile) or so the family story goes as yet not verified.
He returned to Europe as the war came to an end.  Emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1922 after being "laid off" from the army when they were cutting back. At the time he was a Captain. They arrived in Cape Town on 1st Feb 1922 with wife and one child, the second being born the day they docked. It was extremely difficult. What livestock my grandfather left was non-existent when he returned. It was the depression and despite that, it was hard enough to sell any produce even if you managed to! Add to that a family tale, that he got the next door neighbour's wife pregnant, they beat a hasty retreat to England again in 1924.
My grandfather was taken with Kenya and came out here sometime in early 1925 looking for a job. He found one supplying firewood for the Eldoret Railway based at Equator, and the family followed arriving on 4th Feb 1926. There he bought a small farm (200 acres) of fairly mediocre land, where he trained horses for show jumping and some race horses (albeit unofficially). His wife ran the farm which was mainly sheep and dairy.  
He was involved in the Lines of Communication during WW II, and was based in Mazeras (?), McKinnon Road, and Eldoret working under a Colonel Jerry Easton.  
He parted company with his wife sometime between 1943 and 1946. It happened whilst my father was away in Burma with the 5th KAR. He was very much involved with Lord Francis Scott and others in starting up the Pony Club of Kenya.  All in all a very horse mad person. There were two cups in Kenya, one for hurdling (which is no longer competed for) and one for the best all round show-jumper in Kenya both of which were called the Marc Lawrence Cup.
Rift Valley - Member of the Rift Valley Sports Club - Jan 1929 - Elected - 27 Jun 1928 - Capt. E.M. Lawrence ?
Attached to 3rd KAR 29 May 1919

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