Skip to content ↓

View entry

Back to search results

Name: HUGHES-RIDGE, William (Lieut.-Col.)

Birth Date: 4 Dec 1880 Stafford

Death Date: 1 Jan 1924 Grimsby

First Date: 1919

Profession: Manager, BEADOC

Area: Kericho

Married: In Limerick 28 Apr 1909 Maud Mary McCarthy b. 1886 Limerick, d. 20.3.1971 Winchcombe

Children: Maureen Veronique (21 Mar 1910 Northampton-1994)

Book Reference: Hut

War Service: 5th Manchester

General Information:

Hut - 1919 BEADOC - 1st General Manager, ex Dentist
Hut - A scheme, involving the placing of some 55 disabled or wounded 'ex-officers and men of the Public School type' on 25,000 acres of land in Kenya was first submitted to the Colonial Office by Lt-Col Hughes Ridge in December 1918. The fundamental basis of the scheme was that 'Flax grown in East Africa is not a speculation, it is a certainty'. Hughes Ridge estimated that Beadoc would be able to clear and plant 5000 acres of flax within 18 months of starting. The £87,000 in revenue this would produce would enable Beadoc to pay off all the capital invested in it. This capital, which Hughes Ridge estimated at £50,000 would be provided by the British Government, while the Colony's government would provide Beadoc's land. The scheme appeared to offer something for everyone. …………………..
The British Colonial Office and the Ministry of Pensions, however, which were to supply Government approval and Government funds for Beadoc, were both hesitant. Partly this was due to the demand for Government financing, but mainly it was due to the distrust of the scheme's organiser. Lt-Col Hughes Ridge was a sometime dentist whose expertise in flax was based on his work as a Chief crop supervisor with the British Flax Production Branch. He had left a none too savoury reputation behind him, after he had been dismissed for being 'slack and casual', with little real knowledge of growing flax. Hughes Ridge however neatly side-stepped both objections by revising his scheme. Beadoc was recast as a friendly society consisting of 75 wounded or disabled ex-officers. Each would contribute £500 in share capital and loan stock. The sole financial contribution of the Imperial Government would be training grants and increased pensions for the ex-officers to enable them to survive until returns were made on flax. Hughes Ridge was able to secure the subscriptions of 37 ex officers at a meeting in London in June 1919, and with men, money, and a scheme all provided, the Colonial Office gave its official approval in September 1919. 55 ex-officers passed a Government selection board. …………………………..
The agricultural expert whom Hughes Ridge had imported, at a high salary, was a soil expert and of little value in flax production. Hughes Ridge himself proved as 'slack and casual' in Kenya as he had been in Britain, and awarded himself a salary of £1000 a year. In the event Hughes Ridge did not last long in the new surroundings. Major Trevor Hill arrived at Beadoc in 1920 with the second party of members. In the first general meeting after his appearance, Hughes Ridge was dismissed and Trevor Hill was appointed general manager. Hughes Ridge returned to Britain, owing Beadoc £1500 and leaving Beadoc's finances 'in a hopeless muddle'.

Back to search results