Friends of Joy Adamson

Nellie - (1936) - accompanied Nellie and H.B. Sharpe on a safari to the NFD - partly plant hunting.   

Midday Sun - Lady Muriel was still tall, dark and slim though I did not think her bright brown eyes were tragic. She was an expert gardener of the kind who values plants more for their rarity than for their splendour, and might dismiss a bed of dahlias as merely showy while enthusing over some tiny little cactus that bloomed once in seven years. She dressed in bold flowered chintzes except when riding, which she did every afternoon - rather dull rides, I thought, among coffee bushes planted in straight lines. The coffee plantation came almost up to the veranda and was shaded by grevillea trees that made the house dark, as did mosquito netting over every window to keep insects at bay..

Dr Jex-Blake had left Harley Street to practice as a heart specialist in Nairobi. A tall, grave-mannered, precisely-spoken man, like his wife an expert botanist, he had little small talk and so was rather alarming, although at heart good-natured and kind. When out of doors he always wore dark glasses, as he believed that sunstroke came through the eyes, and that hats were therefore unnecessary.     (Lady Muriel served as a nurse with Dolly Miles - Tich Miles's sister - in WW1 in Serbia and the Caucasus),  

Red 25 - Lady Muriel Jex Blake, President, Kenya Horticultural Society

East Africa & Rhodesia - 22/8/57 - Dr. Arthur John Jex-Blake, MA, MD, BCH, MRCS, FRCP, of Kyuna, Nairobi, who has died in Kenya at the age of 84, was the second son of the late Very Rev. T.W. Jex-Blake DD, Dean of Wells, and at one time headmaster of Rugby. Jex-Blake was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, and he then qualified in medicine at St. George's Hospital, London. Soon afterwards a travelling fellowship granted by his university enabled him to visit Denmark, Austria, and the United States for post-graduate studies. Later he began private practice in the West End of London, and he held hospital appointments. At St. George's he won a great reputation as a clinician and teacher, and he wrote several medical books and was in one year Goulstonian lecturer at the Royal College of Physiicians. In 1920 he married Lady Muriel Herbert, daughter of the 14th Earl of Pembroke, and soon afterwards they went to Kenya to grow coffee. She was an ardent gardener and botanist, and her husband edited "Gardening in East Africa", a book on which he lavished great care. One of his sisters was principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and another was mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. His wife died in 1951. There is one daughter of the marriage.

Carman - General practitioners in Nairobi - There was one consulting physician, Dr. A.J. Jex-Blake, the son of a headmaster of Rugby, who had married Lady Muriel Herbert, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke, Jex-Blake had been on the staff of the Brompton Chest Hospital in London, but was advised for health reasons to live in a warmer climate. He bought a small coffee farm just on the fringe of Nairobi and was a most valuable member of the medical fraternity.

Racing - Owner of 'Solali' - 1929 - Lady Muriel Jex-Blake

Racing - Owner of 'The Dotterel' - 1929 - Lady Muriel Jex-Blake

Racing - Owner of 'The Grebe' - 1930 - Lady M. Jex-Blake

Nairobi City Park Burial Register - Arthur Jex Blake, age 64, died 14/8/1957

Foster - son of a Headmaster of Rugby School

Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Arthur John Jex-Blake, Physician, Box 45, Kyuna, Nbi and Lady Muriel Katherine Jex-Blake, Married woman, Box 45, Kyuna, Nbi

Gazette 4 Nov 1952 wife's probate