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Name: RAYNES-SIMPSON, Dorothy, Mrs

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Birth Date: South Africa

Profession: Farmer

Area: Mweiga

Book Reference: Best, Precarious, Ione, Hut

General Information:

Best - Mrs Kitty Hesselberger and Mrs Dorothy Raynes Simpson had finished supper and were listening to the wireless when their houseboy and a gang of Mau Mau burst into the drawing room. Mrs Raynes Simpson always kept her pistol on the arm of her chair facing the door, and she used it to drop the leading Kikuyu dead at her feet with his panga upraised to strike her. Her second shot was aimed at the man attacking Kitty Hesselberger, but killed her boxer dog instead. By now Mrs Hesselberger had got hold of her shotgun and between them the two women managed to beat back the gang down the corridor towards the kitchen. Then they returned to the drawing room to seek out a terrorist who had bolted himself into the bathroom next door. When he declined to come out, they fired their weapons through the thin wooden wall, whereupon he forced an exit through the window, shedding a trail of blood as he went. The rest of the gang had already fled, leaving three dead men behind.
Precarious - Mrs Rayne Simpson and Mrs Kitty Hesselburger, who live on a farm together 8 miles N.W. of Mweiga ........ They shot dead 3 of a gang of 4 and wounded the 4th. .......... They then had a cup of tea! 
Ione - Mrs Raynes Simpson and Mrs Hesselberger sat listening to the wireless. They had often rehearsed their plan of action should they ever be attacked. On 6th January 1953 they were able to give a very crediatble performance. It was 9 o'clock, the hour when many of the murders have been committed. They had finished dinner and had just turned on the wireless to hear the news; their houseboy was bringing in a glass of water, when Mrs Hesselberger noticed something peculiar in the boy's demeanour. He seemed to be hurrying, which is not in the nature of the African; he hung his head and appeared to be trembling: Mrs Hesselberger was about to speak to him, when Mrs Raynes Simpson, who was sitting in an armchair facing the door, cried out: "Here they come." She jumped up, gripped the revolver that was lying on the arm of her chair and, backing against the wall, fired. The African leaping on her dropped dead. Another African was attacking Mrs Hesselberger, whose revolver was out of reach. He was holding her down in her chair with one hand, and raising his panga with the other, when Mrs Raynes Simpson turned and took another shot. Unfortunately she missed the man and shot her Boxer, who had joined in the affray. But the shots and the sight of his dead comrade must have unnerved the other man for he fled.
Mrs Raynes Simpson aimed at another member of the gang, but hit the wall; her pistol jammed, but before the men were aware of her predicament, they had all taken flight. Hearing a sound in the dark corridor Mrs Hesselberger, who had already seized her gun, shot down into the darkness until there was silence. They had returned to the lounge to reload their guns when they heard sounds issuing from the bathroom. The two women fired through the timbered wall, one with an automatic, the other with a shotgun. When all was quiet, they opened the door and found the bathroom empty, but a trail of blood led to the window through which one of the gang had made his escape. The whole episode had been so swift and sudden that when they got back to the lounge the news was still on. Turning off the wireless, they fired danger signals and sat down to wait for the police. ....... the MBE with which the Queen decorated them was a very popular award. .... one dead African behind the door, another outside the kitchen. The cook was dead in the passage and the houseboy was wounded.

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