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Name: NORMAN, Christopher L.
Nee: son of Leigh K. Norman
Birth Date: 15 July 1929
Profession: Agricultural Officer, Colonial Service
Area: 'Dunmillin' Farm, Endebess; Tanganyika 1952
Married: Karen Falke
Book Reference: Pembroke, Childhood
School: Pembroke House; Prince of Wales School; Cambridge Univ.; Tropical Agric. Coll. Trinidad
General Information:
Childhood - Elizabeth Richmond née Le Breton - Endebess - From 1939 to 1945 we had an extra member of the family in the shape of Christopher Norman, two years older than David [Le Breton]. His parents went on leave to England in the summer of 1939, and asked my parents to look after him for the summer holidays. While they were in England war broke out and Christopher's father rejoined the army. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and was not released until 1945.
Pembroke no. 168, 1938 Endebess via Kitale (decd.)
Went to S.Africa after 1964, lived in Cramond
David Le Breton: "Christopher Norman was practically my own elder brother for five years 1939 - 1944, when he lived with us at our family home on Mt Elgon.
Leigh Norman was a Kenya settler farmer at Endebess, near Kitale, in the 1930s and presumably the 1920s too. His farm was called Dunmillin, apparently because he had previously been engaged in a sawmill enterprise somewhere else in Kenya. I think he must have served in the First War and was sometimes known as either Captain or perhaps Major Norman. So my father knew him as one of the fellow soldier-settlers in that part of the District. The story is that he had built the house on the farm, in double storey style which was fairly unusual, but when it was almost complete it was realised that he had not provided any staircase to the upper floor. I don't know how that was resolved.
His wife was Mollie Norman, who was a lover of classical music and a talented pianist, which is the main reason why my mother was especially friendly with her, and occasionally they used to do some recitals together. They had two children, Christopher, born 15 July 1929, and Rosamund a couple of years or so younger. . Our two families were close friends. Christopher was sent to the Pembroke House prep-school, near Gilgil. In 1939 the parents decided to "take home leave" back in Britain, but without disrupting Christopher's schooling. So they asked my mother if she would look after Christopher during the two school holidays in April and July - September. Then it turned out that there would be the Second World War starting in September, so the parents could not return to Kenya, so Christopher would have to continue to live with us. Leigh Norman joined up again, and was captured at Dunkirk and spent the rest of the war years in a German POW officers' prison camp.
In 1939 I too was sent away to boarding prep-school, at Kenton College, Nairobi. So every school holiday thereafter I had Christopher to share everything with, and as he was two years older he must have taught me many things and naturally he was usually the leader in whatever childish activities we engaged in. When he left Pembroke House he went to the Prince of Wales School . Then I was sent to England in 1944 so lost contact with him.
His wife was Mollie Norman, who was a lover of classical music and a talented pianist, which is the main reason why my mother was especially friendly with her, and occasionally they used to do some recitals together. They had two children, Christopher, born 15 July 1929, and Rosamund a couple of years or so younger. . Our two families were close friends. Christopher was sent to the Pembroke House prep-school, near Gilgil. In 1939 the parents decided to "take home leave" back in Britain, but without disrupting Christopher's schooling. So they asked my mother if she would look after Christopher during the two school holidays in April and July - September. Then it turned out that there would be the Second World War starting in September, so the parents could not return to Kenya, so Christopher would have to continue to live with us. Leigh Norman joined up again, and was captured at Dunkirk and spent the rest of the war years in a German POW officers' prison camp.
In 1939 I too was sent away to boarding prep-school, at Kenton College, Nairobi. So every school holiday thereafter I had Christopher to share everything with, and as he was two years older he must have taught me many things and naturally he was usually the leader in whatever childish activities we engaged in. When he left Pembroke House he went to the Prince of Wales School . Then I was sent to England in 1944 so lost contact with him.
Christopher went to Cambridge and graduated there and then applied to join the Colonial Service as an Agricultural Officer. After the usual spell at the Tropical Agriculture College in Trinidad he was posted to Tanganyika in 1952. He married Karen Falke, another Kenya resident. A few years later he left Tanganyika to go back to take over the family farm as his father decided to retire from farming and to go back and live in Scotland. Then at the time of Uhuru and the Africanisation of the settled areas he moved to South Africa. "