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Name: FERGUSSON, Charles Hamilton

Nee: 5th son of Sir James Ranken Fergusson and his 3rd wife Alice Fanny

Birth Date: 9 Aug 1894 West Linton, Peeblesshire

Death Date: 1 Jan 1953 Ol Kalou, murdered by Mau Mau

First Date: 1929

Last Date: 1953

Profession: Farmer

Area: Ol Kalou, 1931 Eldonyo, Gilgil

Book Reference: Best, Golf, Campbell, Sundown, Ione, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Burke, Fox Davies

War Service: Lt. Northants Regt.

General Information:

Murdered by Mau Mau on New Year's Day 1953. 
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Rift Valley Voters List
Best - Since the Emergency, Richard Bingley had begun spending the night at Fergusson's farm for their mutual protection. Their regular routine was already established. At the end of a long working day they would  have a bath and then follow the widespread Kenya custom of sitting down to dinner in pyjamas and dressing gown. This particular evening, both men had taken off the uncomfortable revolvers they wore all day and had left the weapons on their armchairs when Fergusson's houseboy announced dinner. On entering the dining room to serve the second course, the houseboy suddenly stepped aside to admit a gang of 15 panga-slashing Mau Mau. The two whites ran for their guns, but were chopped down before they had gone more than a few yards. Both bodies were then badly mutilated, because it was essential for each of the 15 gang members to take a full share in the crime by adding cuts of his own to the general carnage.
Ione - Charles Hamilton Fergusson and Richard Bingley were killed. They were murdered as they sat at dinner. Fergusson, a tall, grey-haired man of 53, lived at Charleston Farm, Ol Kalou, in the Thomson's Falls area. Situated in the loveliest part of the Wanjohi Valley with a 1500 ft. escarpment rising above it, Charleston Farm lies at the foot of the Aberdares ..... Fergusson was one of Kenya's pioneer settlers, having emigrated from Great Britain at the beginning of the century. He had lived in the area for over 30 years, and was extremely partial to the African. Richard Bingley, Fergusson's nearest neighbour, a tall, handsome young man, had lived in Kenya nearly all his life. He had inherited his farm 2 years earlier on his 21st birthday. Since the Emergency he had been going over to Fergusson's house in the evenings to dine and sleep. ...... Bingley jumped up, but the gang were already on him. Fergusson, who tried to get a gun out of his dressing-gown pocket, had his hand hacked right off. When his body was found, his head, mutilated and partly destroyed, was almost severed from his body. Bingley's wounds were equally severe.
East Africa & Rhodesia - 24/4/52 - Mr C.H. Ferguson is president for the ensuing year of the Ol Kalou Farmers' Association in Kenya.
Golf - Played for Gilgil against Royal Nairobi GC  in 1935. Captain of Gilgil Golf Club in 1929.
Hut has C.H. Ferguson
Gazette 18 Feb 1947 C.H. Ferguson on Gilgil Town Committee

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