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Name: STAFFORD, David New
Birth Date: 1882 Nottingham
Death Date: 21 Aug 1957 Kampala
First Date: 1914
Profession: Planter
Area: Hoima River Estate
Married: In Bexhill 12 June 1950 Barbara Frances Barracliff Tiernay b. 1 July 1891 Moseley, Worcs., d. 1 Dec 1963 Kloof, Durban
Book Reference: Leader14, Barnes, Gazette
General Information:
Barnes - Kampala European Cemetery - in fond memory of David New Stafford OBE, died 21 August 1957
Gazette - OBE - 11 May 1937
Freemason Entebbe 14 July 1919
Isaac Kalembe Akiiki, Omukama Cwa II Kabaleega: A Life and Legacy 1853-1923 David New Stafford OBE, was a British settler farmer in Bunyoro, who established Hoima River Estates at Dwoli village, Kitoba Sub-County in 1912. The Estates lay on either side of Hoima river, whose source was at Nyarugooli on the foothills of the Wampanga ranges in present-day.
This river valley and the sorrounding villages, especially Dwoli, was a famous agricultural area that fed the population of Bugahya through Kahoora market (located at present-day Mika Eco Resort Hotel/Katasiha Fort).
Using cheap labour in the Estates, Stafford grew and processed mainly tobacco, coffee, cotton, and rubber, which he exported by road from Hoima to Masindi Port in Masindi.
Because of the poor road network, he influenced the British administration to construct the Dwoli-Bulyango road across the Wampanga ranges using akasanju (forced labour). Before the road was motorised, Stafford would use bullocks (animal-pulled carts) to transport his merchandise.
Stafford had various business interests in Uganda, including Kigezi Industries, where, based on the Dwoli experience, set up another nicotine extraction plant near Kabale (Casserwell, 1930; 121). He had high regard for the Bakiga as, unlike the Banyoro, hard working people. So, he took the trouble to recruit them, like he did with the people of West Nile, to Hoima River Estate.
The increase in tobacco production was initially due to the interest shown by the British American Tobacco Company Limited. Later, the European planters became interested in buying, regrading, and conditioning of leaf for export. Stafford was the first to buy in 1931. The Protectorate government bought 12,000 pounds of bales for export to Europe (Dunbar, 1965; 121).
At first, Stafford used the government tobacco factory at Masindi but when export markets had been set up, he built his own rehandling factory at Dwoli while C. A. Margach built his factory at Kinyara. The Margach family had emigrated from Banffshire, Scotland, to South Africa in about 1895 (ibid).
Stafford had agreed to purchase the entire tobacco crop but stood to make losses when the nicotine content of the tobacco produced was lower than he had expected allegedly because of lack of supervision.
In Kabale, Stafford, with another European identified as Moses, experimented with pyrethrum growing in the late 1930s. Encouraged by the Agricultural Department, the duo obtained concessions, on a Temporary Occupation Licence, to set up pyrethrum plantations of 400 acres each.
The legacy of Starfford included the change of the name of the main town in Bunyoro. Though a non-official British, Stafford used Hoima River Estate as his physical address – something that misled the British administrators to conclude that Hoima was the town’s name. Whenever he would go to Entebbe (then the capital city of Uganda) to meet the Governor, Stafford would give Hoima (not Kahoora) as his physical address.
This river valley and the sorrounding villages, especially Dwoli, was a famous agricultural area that fed the population of Bugahya through Kahoora market (located at present-day Mika Eco Resort Hotel/Katasiha Fort).
Using cheap labour in the Estates, Stafford grew and processed mainly tobacco, coffee, cotton, and rubber, which he exported by road from Hoima to Masindi Port in Masindi.
Because of the poor road network, he influenced the British administration to construct the Dwoli-Bulyango road across the Wampanga ranges using akasanju (forced labour). Before the road was motorised, Stafford would use bullocks (animal-pulled carts) to transport his merchandise.
Stafford had various business interests in Uganda, including Kigezi Industries, where, based on the Dwoli experience, set up another nicotine extraction plant near Kabale (Casserwell, 1930; 121). He had high regard for the Bakiga as, unlike the Banyoro, hard working people. So, he took the trouble to recruit them, like he did with the people of West Nile, to Hoima River Estate.
The increase in tobacco production was initially due to the interest shown by the British American Tobacco Company Limited. Later, the European planters became interested in buying, regrading, and conditioning of leaf for export. Stafford was the first to buy in 1931. The Protectorate government bought 12,000 pounds of bales for export to Europe (Dunbar, 1965; 121).
At first, Stafford used the government tobacco factory at Masindi but when export markets had been set up, he built his own rehandling factory at Dwoli while C. A. Margach built his factory at Kinyara. The Margach family had emigrated from Banffshire, Scotland, to South Africa in about 1895 (ibid).
Stafford had agreed to purchase the entire tobacco crop but stood to make losses when the nicotine content of the tobacco produced was lower than he had expected allegedly because of lack of supervision.
In Kabale, Stafford, with another European identified as Moses, experimented with pyrethrum growing in the late 1930s. Encouraged by the Agricultural Department, the duo obtained concessions, on a Temporary Occupation Licence, to set up pyrethrum plantations of 400 acres each.
The legacy of Starfford included the change of the name of the main town in Bunyoro. Though a non-official British, Stafford used Hoima River Estate as his physical address – something that misled the British administrators to conclude that Hoima was the town’s name. Whenever he would go to Entebbe (then the capital city of Uganda) to meet the Governor, Stafford would give Hoima (not Kahoora) as his physical address.