Skip to content ↓

View entry

Back to search results

Name: SHAW, John Clifton

image of individualimage of individual

Birth Date: 1 Nov 1877 Monifieth, Scotland

Death Date: 26 Apr 1937 Nairobi

First Date: 1907

Last Date: 1937

Profession: Manager of the Standard Bank of SA in Nairobi

Area: Eldoret, Nairobi

Married: 1913 Nellie Vera Winter b. 1888, d. 1949 Kenya

Children: James C. (1922-18 June 2014 Karen); Nancy (12 Jan 1915) (Miller); Jean Mary (Kinnison) (1931)

Book Reference: Gillett, Midday Sun, KFA, Eldoret, Golf, Daphne Ewings, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Red 22, Ruiru, Harmony, Barnes, Nicholls, Richardson, Childhood, Red Book 1912, Macmillan, Red 19

General Information:

Midday Sun - [Eldoret] - 'an ox-wagon brought the Standard Bank of South Africa in the shape of a safe, a brass plate and a manager who became a famous figure round about, J.C. Shaw. The safe rolled off the wagon when it was being unloaded and, as it was too heavy to move, the bank was built round it. Mr Shaw used to take his morning bath in a tub behind his counter, and then stroll in his dressing-gown to Eddy's bar, which had opened up across the way, for a quick one in preparation for the day's business. This consisted mainly of dispensing overdrafts whose limit was 100 rupees.
KFA - In 1912 Mr J.C.Shaw, who came up from SA in the same ship as Mr Toogood, opened a branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa. Next door was Eddie's Bar, a place that soon gained fame as a convivial meeting-place for farmers. Mr Shaw proceeding in his pyjamas and dressing-gown from his quarters to Eddie's Bar for a quick one just before the bank opened was a familiar sight in the town. The first man to obtain an overdraft, it was said - possibly the first customer - drew out his 100 rupees (the full amount), stepped round to Eddie's Bar and spent the lot. No credit squeeze operated on the Uasin Gishu in Mr Shaw's day. Once an optimist with no money, no team and no wagons and indeed, no assets beyond hope and resolution, signed a contract with the railway to transport goods with 8 wagons and 8 teams. He took the contract to Mr Shaw as security for a loan and secured an advance with which to buy the wagons and teams.                                    Eldoret - There are a number of stories of how the safe fell through the walls, and here is another; J.C.Shaw, the bank manager, told the office boy to patch the flaking mud, but the Swahili of both was poor, and when Shaw returned he found the wall had disintegrated under the office boy's  repeated onslaughts with buckets of water - and the safe was outside in the mud!
Golf - Drove off from the 1st tee to open Njoro Golf Club in 1925
Daphne Ewings - J.C. Shaw was the popular General Manager of the Standard Bank of S. Africa in Nairobi. There were many amusing stories attributed to him in connection with his dealings with both customers and staff. The following is an example - A young expatriate, who had not been with the Bank too long on first assignment, fell head over heels for a local young lady and approached 'JC' with a view to securing his blessing to marriage and, in such event, the granting of 2 weeks local leave for the honeymoon. JC advocated caution before embarking on such a hazardous enterprise as marriage in one so young and newly arrived in the Colony. He invited the smitten one to reflect further and to return to him after a few days for less heady discussion. This the young man duly did and remained adamant that marriage was the only thing for him. Reluctantly JC agreed to the marriage but considered the exigencies of the service would only permit of one week's leave at the particular time. So the blissfully happy pair took off for the Coast and the white sands of Mombasa. Come Friday at the end of the week a telegram was duly delivered to the General Manager in his office and it proved to be from the newly married man and read - "Its lovely down here, can I have another week please." JC detained the messenger while he dictated and despatched the immediate reply which was - "Its lovely anywhere. Come back at once"                                                              
Red 25 - Hon. Vice-President, Rugby Football Union of Kenya
Red 22 - Justice of the Peace - Eldoret
Red 22 - Vice-President, The Football Association of Kenya - J.C. Shaw
Member of Lodge Harmony - Joined 6/2/11, age 33, Bank Accountant, Nairobi
Nairobi Forest Road Cemetery - John Clifton Shaw, British, age ?, died 26/4/37
Nicholls - Eldoret - As for the Standard Bank, of wattle and daub, it was run by John Clifton Shaw, a Scotsman generous with his credit, who believed that 'You canna far-r-m on a shoestr-r-ring' and lent considerable sums of money to struggling farmers.
Nicholls - Eldoret parties - …. Mrs Shaw, wife of the bank manager and a professional singer, would sing duets with Marjorie Humphries, the daughter of the head of the Central School.
Richardson 1929 - Dinner at New Stanley Hotel - Music at Banquet by Mrs J.C. Shaw, at the piano Mrs A.S. Waller
Childhood - Joan Reid (nee Lumley) - Eldoret - J.C. Shaw was the Bank Manager and he had two daughters, Nancy and Jean. We used to play together and later Nancy was a bridesmaid at my wedding in Nairobi. Eldoret was a great place for music - my mother used to play her piano and Mrs Shaw, who had a lovely voice, used to sing.
Red Book 1912 - J.C. Shaw - Nairobi
Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Plateau South - John Clifton Shaw - Bank Manager, Eldoret
Macmillan 1930 - One morning a big burly man with a very strong personality that was destined to effect great influence in Kenya arrived at Mr Mundell's store [in Eldoret]. Calling authoritatively for a table and a chair he establishes himself on the little verandah and proclaimed with eclat that the local branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. Was there and then opened. That enterprising and resourceful individual was Mr J. C. Shaw the well-known and extremely popular manager of the Standard Bank at Nairobi who succeeded after very great difficulties in being the first to open for his bank the first Bank at Eldoret. A safe was of course in accordance with the best traditions of orthodox banking and one was eventually procured but while Mr Shaw and Mr Mundell were supervising its installation in a section of the store it slipped out of their control and fell through the fragile wall. A cable was later received from the Head Office of the Bank approving the lease of the premises provided the windows were iron barred!
Red Book 1919 - District Committees - Uasin Gishu - J.C. Shaw
KFA - Delegate to the Maize Conference of 1923 [photo].
Golf - On Committee of Nairobi Golf Club in 1925.
KAD 1922 - Vice-President, Football Association of Kenya
Gazette - 6/2/1924 - Voters Register - Nairobi South - John Clifton Shaw, Banker, The Hill and Mrs Nellie Vera Shaw, Married, The Hill
Old Africa - 19-2-15 - Christine Nicholls - The Standard Bank of South Africa was at this time expanding into other territories, and it decided to establish branches in Nairobi and Mombasa in January 1911, under the direction of J J Toogood. There was further East African expansion and a branch was opened in Eldoret, in 1912. The Bank appointed a young man formerly resident in South Africa to open the Eldoret branch. He was John Clifton Shaw, a Scotsman of thirty-four years of age, who had gone to East Africa in 1907. His background was one of considerable affluence and he was probably well educated. Born in Monifieth (now a suburb of Dundee), Scotland, on 1 November 1877, he grew up in the family of a rich jute spinner and manufacturer employing 348 people in his jute factories (Temple Mills in North Tay Street and Annfield Works , Hawkhill).
This entrepreneur, J C Shaw’s father, was James Shaw, of 12 Constitution Terrace, a man who had made a profitable marriage to Barbara Baxter, whose family joined James in his enterprises, now named Shaw, Baxter & Moon. The pair had four sons and two daughters, and John Clifton was their youngest child. It seems that misfortune then befell the family, because by 1891, when John Clifton was fourteen, his father James seems to have died and his mother was bringing up the family alone. It may have been his desire to help the family financially that led John Clifton to go to South Africa, or he may have gone to fight in the Boer War. He first appears in East Africa in 1907, accompanied by a nineteen-year-old Nellie Vera, who used the surname Shaw, though her name was Winter. The pair had met in Mafeking, whither they returned in 1913 to get married on 27 November.
Shaw had to build a bank in Eldoret, but the only building materials readily available were mud and wattle. The story goes that a safe was brought to Eldoret on a wagon and duly unloaded. But then it proved too heavy to move so the bank was built round it, of mud with a corrugated iron roof. It was rather a flimsy structure but at least it had a brass plate sent from South Africa, proudly attached to a veranda post. The Shaws lived in a round hut behind the bank. The building was next door to Eddy’s bar, colloquially known as ‘the Rat Pit’ and run by Herbert Wreford Smith and John McNab Mundell.
There are many stories about J C Shaw. One is that he had his morning bath behind the counter daily, and that he would go next door in his slippers and pyjamas for a quick one before opening for business. Actually, he may merely have gone there for his breakfast. Apparently he was generous with credit, saying in his Scottish accent: ‘You canna farrrm on a shoestrrring.’ He lent considerable sums of money to struggling farmers, but if the announcements in the Kenya Gazette of liens on the estates of the deceased are anything to go by, the bank did not lose money. Shaw was well respected in the community of 900 (in 1911), and he busied himself in local affairs, becoming a JP, sitting on the committee of the Eldoret European School (KG 17 July 1918) and becoming the presiding officer for Plateau South at polling stations after the franchise was extended in 1919.
He had a daughter on 12 January 1915, proudly announced in the weekly journal South Africa. The Standard Bank of South Africa agreed to his transfer to Nairobi in 1920. It may be that Shaw was thinking of his children’s schooling (he had at least one other daughter), or that the promotion to manager of the Nairobi branch was more lucrative. He continued to play a part in public affairs, until his death on 26 April 1937 and burial in Forest Road cemetery. His wife Nellie stayed in Kenya until her death on 30 June 1949. She was well known for her culinary skills and at charitable functions her cake stall quickly sold out. The Shaws were most influential in the early development of Eldoret. Without the bank’s generosity, farming and commerce in the region could have been a very different story. Under Shaw’s aegis Eldoret grew to become a prosperous town.
His wife was an excellent cook. At any charitable function her cake stall was quickly sold out.

Back to search results