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Name: RAMPLEY, William Joseph 'Dave' (Rev. Canon)
Birth Date: 1882 Babraham
Death Date: 18 Sep 1959 Naivasha
First Date: 1913 Kangundo Muisimi
Last Date: 1959
Profession: CMS missionary, for some years in Wakamba district & later worked in Kikuyu Reserve. Expert in Kikuyu language & did a great deal of translation work. Later carried on missionary work in Tororo, Uganda. Nursing Stuart Watt when he died.
Area: 1925 Fort Hall, 1930 Kabare, Sagana, retired to eldest daughter's farm at Naivasha - she had married Dr Reginald Bunny
Married: In Hounslow 15 June 1905 Suzannah Mary Rose b. 7 July 1881 Hounslow, d. 3 Jan 1971 Chelmsford
Children: Mary Rose (1907 Brentford) (Bunny); Ruth (1909 Crawley Down) (m. G.B. Wright of Ngora)
Book Reference: Gillett, Watt, Tignor, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Red 22, Gazette, Foster, Chogoria
War Service: EA Carrier Corps
General Information:
Gazette 15 Dec 1959 probate
During the Mau Mau Emergency both he and his daughter, because of their great fluency in the Kikuyu language, were able to give tremendous help to the authorities.
EA & Rhodesia - 22/10/59 - The Rev. Canon William Joseph Rampley has died in East Africa in his sleep at the age of 77. Born in Babraham, Cambridgeshire, he was educated in Thetford, Norfolk and London, and in 1905 married Miss Susannah Mary Rose. In 1913 he was one of five missionaries to go to East Africa under the late C.T. Studd, and England cricketer, for the Africa Inland Mission; it amused him to recall that in the first cricket match played in Nairobi after their arrival he scored more runs than Studd.
During the 1914-18 war Rampley served in "German East" in the East African Carrier Corps, and on demobilization joined the Church Missionary Society. He studied at the London College of Divinity, was ordained in 1920, and was engaged in pastoral work in Kenya until 1932, when he was appointed vicar of St. John's, Highbury, London.
In 1935 he returned to the CMS for service in Uganda, and in 1943 he was appointed a canon in the Upper Nile diocese. He retired to the United Kingdom late in 1948, but soon returned to Kenya to live at Naivasha. He spoke four African languages well, was at one time a crack rifle shot, and he was the author of "The Golden Cloud of Witness" and "Matthew Wellington: Sole Surviving Link with Livingstone".
Rampley had special knowledge of the Kikuyu, and a couple of years after the outbreak of the Mau Mau Rebellion he was closely concerned in the formation by a group of loyal Kikuyu of the Torchbearer Society. They well realised the risk they were taking, and nine of the early members had soon been hacked to pieces with bush knives by Mau Mau terrorists. Soon afterwards an attempt was made to poison Rampley. Mrs Rampley and their two daughters are still in East Africa. One is married to Dr. R.S. Bunny and the other to Dr. G.B. Wright.
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Machakos - W. Rampley, AI Mission, Kagunda, Machakos ?
Chogoria - A convention was held at Chogoria in September 1926. This was led by the Revd William Rampley and his family from the CMS station at Kabare near Embu. Mrs Rampley held special services for the women and the two young Miss Rampleys for the children.
Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Ukamba Area - William Joseph Rampley - Missionary, Fort Hall
Gazette 24 Nov 1959 probate
Gazette 30 Mar 1972 wife's probate
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