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Name: SELOUS, Frederick Courteney DSO (Capt.)

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Birth Date: 31.12.1851 Gloucester Road, London

Death Date: 4.1.1917 killed in action at Beho-Beho

First Date: 1909 from SA

Last Date: 1917

Profession: Big-game hunter and naturalist. After 5 adventurous years in EA he was killed in action in GEA when over 60, having insisted on offering his services as a second Lieut.

Married: In Down Hatherley, Glos. 4 Apr 1894 Marie Catherine Gladys Maddy b.1874 Hatherley, d. 17 Oct 1951 Guildford

Children: Frederick Hatherley Bruce (21 Apr 1898 Wargrave-1918); Harold Sherborne (1899 Worplesdon-26 Apr 1954); James (1 Jan 1900 Bloemfontein-1963); Bertrand (6 July-11 July 1915)

Book Reference: Gillett, Taylor, Roosevelt, CWGC, EAS, DSO, Nicholls, North, Chandler

War Service: With KAR in WW1, 25th Battn. Royal Fusiliers

School: Rugby and abroad

General Information:

A statuette in the Natural History Museum in London records his services as a naturalist. There was also a bronze statue of him in the Coryndon Museum, Nairobi.                                                             
Taylor - Like many of the early hunters and traders in what was known as the Far Interior, Selous was rumoured to have had an African mistress. Although this subject proved elusive, a document in the Zimbabwe Archives eventually came to light which showed that before marrying a parson's daughter Selous had indeed had a long relationship with a woman, probably from the court of the Tswana chief Khama, and fathered 2 children by her. Other source material added further human dimensions to the portrait. As a youth Selous was so wild that his parents despaired about his future, and allowed him to go to Africa only in the hope that it would keep him out of trouble with the law. In his early years in Africa, he was not simply a hunter, but a member of a circle of well-educated, Bohemian wanderers.
Roosevelt - the greatest of the world's big-game hunters
CWGC - Captain, 25th Battn. Royal Fusiliers formerly (Pte.) 24th Battn. who died on Thursday, 4th January 1917. Age 65. Son of Frederick Lokes Selous and Ann Holgate Selous; husband of Gladys Maddy Selous, of Heatherside, Worplesdon, Surrey. Born in London. (Buried in Chogowali Military Grave, Beho Beho). Dar es Salaam (Upanga Rd.) Cemetery, GRave Ref: III A 4 (Spec. Mem.)
EAS - 29/1/1903 - Mr F.C. Selous is expected at the coast shortly.
DSO - was in the Rugby School Volunteers in 1868, and was present at a Review by Queen Victoria in Windsor Great Park. Before he was 20 he went to S. Africa, and in Matabeleland obtained from Lobengula the right to shoot elephants. His career as a Big Game Hunter is, of course, well known, and altogether he killed nearly 1,000 head of big game, 33 specimens of which are in the Natural History Museum. …. He spent several years in Mashonaland, helping to map the country, and in 1890 acted as Guide to the British Souh Africa Company's Expedition. In 1892 he returned to England and wrote "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa". In 1893 he took part in the first Matabele War - he was a Guide in the expedition organized by Mr Cecil Rhodes - and during the years that followed was chiefly occupied in shooting and hunting, extending his wanderings even to Asia …………. In 1914 Mr Selous joined a service battalion of the R. Fusiliers; became Lieut. Feb 1915; Capt. Aug 1915. With a draft of his regiment he joined the forces of Gen. Smuts for the campaign in G. East Africa, quickly came under the observation of his Commanding Officer, was mentioned in Despatches, and awarded the DSO. He fell on 4/1/17 while leading the attack on Bhobeho [sic]. Though wounded  he continued to encourage his men in the advance till he fell, shot dead. His elder son, Capt. F.H.B. Selous MC, R.W. Surrey Rgt., att. RFC, was reported missing on 4/1/18 and was later reported killed in action  on that date, aged 19.
London Gazette - 26 Sept 1916 - For conspicuous gallantry, resource and endurance. He has set a magnificent example to all ranks, and the value of his services with his battalion cannot be overestimated.
Nicholls - Legion of Frontiersmen in WW1
Elephant - F.C. Selous was described as "the greatest hunter before God". It is useless to try and sum him up in a few words; J.G. Millais, also a hunter of game all over the world, wrote a book on his life. Selous, though about 60 years of age when the Great War started, moved heaven and earth to get out to the front, and at last the War Office overlooked his age and sent him out to East Africa as a company commander in Driscoll's Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (the 25th). His men worshipped him, for he could, and would, do more than he ever asked of them; I have heard young fellows in the twenties say that Selous could walk them off their feet, despite his age.
To the sorrow of all who knew him he was killed in action at Beho-Beho, south of Morogoro and lies buried in the Game Reserve which has now been named the Selous Reserve in his honour; it is a fitting burial ground for a mighty hunter and a prince among men, whose services to the Empire in the occupation of Matabeleland and again during the Matabele Rebellion were never adequately recognised.

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