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Name: RANDALL, John Henry (Senior)

Birth Date: 1 Sep 1857 Peddle District, Eastern Cape

Death Date: 21 July 1937 Nanyuki

First Date: 1910

Profession: Arrived Kenya in 1910 - left and came back and settled in 1916. Farmer

Area: Nanyuki; Ivanhoe Estate Kiambu 1925

Married: 1. In Bathurst, Eastern Cape 15 Oct 1879 Susannah Elliott b. 1859 Bathurst, d.1892 Free State, S. Africa 2. Maria Elizabeth Strydom b. 1870 Heilbron, Free State, d. 20 Feb 1949 Nanyuki

Children: 1. Susannah Elliott (1880-1901); Florence Gertruida (1882-1901); Alma Rogers (1886); Myrtle Evelyn (Selby) (1884-10 Apr 1963); John Leslie (1890 bur. Nakuru); Clifford Henry (1892) 2. Margaret (1895-1970); Alfred Cecil (1899-1976); Albert Lewis (1906-1981); Ida Maria (1901-1950); William Donald (1903-1984); Ethel Della (1908-1995); Jessie Nona (1918-2003); Maurice Basil (1910-2002); Olive Florence (1913 Ngobit-1960); John Henry (1916 Naro Moru-1996)

Book Reference: Sitrep 2, EAWL - Cynthia Baudry, KAD, Hut, Pioneers, Gazette, Leader14, Barnes

School: mre children of 2. Margaret Randall (1895-1970); Roger

General Information:

Red 22 - J.H. Randall, Ivanhoe, Kiambu
Hut - 1912 Pilgrims' Rest, Royal Intelligence C. WW2
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Aberdare Voters List expunged
Gazette - 5/8/1925 - Voters Register - Kenya Province - John Henry Randall, Farmer PO Nanyuki and Maria Elizabeth Randall, PO Nanyuki
Barnes - Nanyuki Cemetery - Maria Elizabeth Randall - d. 20-2-1949 Nanyuki Cemetery - Plot A1 - J.H. Randall, Plot A2 - M.E. Randall. J H Randall / born 1st September 1857 / died 21st July 1937 / rock of ages. Mrs Maria Elizabeth Randall / passed to rest / 20.2.1949
One of the original '500' men in the Kenya Regt. in 1937. (KR 233).
Pioneers - The Randall Clan - Bill Randall - My father, the late J.H. Randall, first visited British East Africa in 1910. He decided to sell his property and move there with his flocks and family. The advance party, consisting of my late brother Leslie, together with Mr Gush and Alton Forrester, arrived in Mombasa in 1911, bringing stud Merino sheep and horses. Unfortunately they stayed too long at Nakuru and lost a lot of the sheep. Father and Mother together with 7 of the children arrived in December 1912 with wagons and gear and the rest of the Forrester family. I was 11 years old.
As we were the first Europeans to travel from Gilgil to Mount Kenya by ox-wagon, we had to make a track. I seemed either to be leading a stubborn horse or cutting thorn trees with an axe that was too heavy. Unfortunately the safari was marred by the death of Mr Gush from blackwater fever. I believe my sister, Olive, and brother, John, were the first Europeans to be born in the district. It was quite impossible for the children to get to school in Nairobi, so back we went to South Africa in 1916, leaving Leslie to look after the stock and Cliff to fight in German East Africa, as it was then called.
In 1918 my parents had had enough of South Africa so we all returned to Kenya. In 1920 Cliff was granted a Soldier Settler farm, Cedarville. My father bought the adjoining farm later owned by Jim Trench. From the late 1920s until my father's death in 1937 the Randall clan were all, except for 2 sisters living in Nairobi, living in the Nanyuki district - Father, Mother, 8 brothers and 4 of the sisters. Today, alas, only those left in the cemetery remain in the district.
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Nyeri - J.H. Randall (British) Settler
Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Kikuyu - John Henry Randall, Farmer, Kiambu
Facebook 25/2/2016 - Joan Gasson - Knew both of them {JH & Joy}. Unfortunately the marriage ended in divorce and John later married Oonagh Donelly daughter of the owner of Donelly's Motors in Nanyuki. John and Oonagh came to Australia and both have now passed on. John was a farmer in Nanyuki.
Hut has Lt.-Col. J.H. Randall 1949 Gilgil

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