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Name: BUCKLEY, William 'Bill'

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Birth Date: 1873 London

Death Date: 25.3.1948 Mombasa

Nationality: British

First Date: 1902

Last Date: 1948

Profession: White Hunter and author. He was a pall bearer at the funeral of Cecil Rhodes. He took up farming and mining in East Africa

Area: EAHB 1905 - Njoro, Box 188 Mombasa

Author: 'Big Game Hunting in East Africa' 1930

Book Reference: Gillett, Adventurers, Breath, EAHB 1905, North, Pioneers, Thurston, UJ, Medals, SKP, Barnes, Chandler, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Red 22

War Service: Intelligence officer in EA Campaign in WW1

General Information:

Adventurers - 'Buckley, one of the original pioneer hunters in the Congo, was also a good all-round hunter who did well at elephant work. He was a great believer in a big bore rifle, and, not satisfied with his .450 Express, he ordered a specially made .600 from London. ....... when it came in a box from London the box contained Bibles - meant for Bishop Buckley of Uganda who received the rifle.'
Pioneer has W.B. Buckley, Mombasa, 1902
Thurston - CO 533, 447/9 - 1934 - W. Buckley: requests reversal of judgement passed against him
Uganda Journal - Vol 24, p. 217 - Ivory Poaching in the Lado Enclave by R.O. Collins - …… At Mahagi, the Belgian officers were notorious for the assistance they gave to hunters. ….. Buckley, a well-known poacher, purchased more than three tons of ivory from Belgian officers
Breath - for many years a professional ivory hunter.
North - 'Mining Expert' (EAS) arr. Mombasa from Bulawayo Nov 1902; Land Grant application, Rift Valley Dec 1904; Fined 1000 Rs at Kampala for infringing the Game Laws by shooting 4 elephants July 1905
Medals - East African Intelligence Department - William Buckley, Warrant Officer Class 2
SKP - 1938 - Society of Kenya Pioneers - over 30 years in Colony - arrived Mombasa 1902
Barnes - Mombasa Cemetery - William Buckley, died 25 Mar 1948 age 74, European Hospital, Broncho-Pneumonia
Chandler - After his Matabele service Buckley tried his hand at trading and prospecting (even returning to England in 1896 to raise capital for a mining company), but by 1902 he had drifted north to Kenya and become an elephant hunter. He was one of those driven entirely by the huge profit a man could make from ivory in those days. He hunted in the Karamoja region of Uganda and in 1904 teamed up with Peter Pearson, another well-known elephant hunter, and began stalking the huge pachyderms all over Uganda. Buckley also hunted elephant in the Congo, Tanganyika and the Franch Colonies of West Africa (he was fluent in French). Buckley was the first prominent European ivory hunter to work the Lado Enclave, making his initial safari there in 1903 …………… the main rush to the Lado didn't take place until 5 or 6 years later, after the death of King Leopold of Belgium. ……… retired to a modest home near Mombasa, where he died in 1948.
Chandler - Buckley's an odd one. His book came out in 1930, and like everything else he did, it seems to have been motivated purely by the desire for financial gain. You can tell that he looked around at his elephant-hunting buddies who had written books, said "Hey, I can do that too," and put pen to paper in the hope of making a quick buck. He comes across as a tough, no-nonsense character, and his treatment of the local Africans was somewhat crude, even by that era's standards. Buckley wrote a passage about a "game" he would play with a servant named Juma that is so degrading it rivals anything Finaughty may have done. Juma had foolishly made the statement that he was Buckley's dog, probably just a cultural device among his people designed to show respect, but from then on Buckley would make Juma bark and beg like a real dog to get fed his scraps of meat. Buckley used to entertain his guests with this act. But you get the sense that Buckley wasn't all bad , a damn good man to have on your side and a tough but honest bloke you could do business with. Boyes wrote that Buckley was popular among his fellow hunters and an excellent guy to have around a campfire, with an inexhaustible supply of stories and tall tales. This doesn't really come across in Buckley's book.
Gazette - 7/5/1929 - Expunged from Coast Register of Voter - Left Area - William Buckley, planter, Valley Estate, Nguuni
Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Coast - William Buckley, Planter, Valley Estate, Nguuni

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