East Africa & Rhodesia - 26/3/53 - Mr F.J. Pursell, who became general manager in Kenya of the Magadi Soda Co. Ltd., when Mr W.H. Billington retired to this country in 1948, will, I learn, retire in a few days, handing over to Mr Charles Shotton, who has been at Magadi since 1930. Mr Pursell, his senior in that respect by 2 years, went out originally as assistant engineer. He was too young to serve in the 1914-18 war, but as soon as he was able he joined the Inns of Court OTC.

In Kenya he has been a member of the Industrial Research Board since its inception, and a member of the council of the East African Association of Engineers, and he is well known in commercial, engineering, and golfing circles. He has been a Justice of the Peace in Masailand.

Mr Shotton, by profession a chemist, and the son of a Doncaster doctor, first joined the company as a research worker in the Cheshire headquarters. He has been production manager at Lake Magadi for some years, and, like his friend Mr Pursell, is a keen golfer. Mr Pursell will remain a director of the Magadi Company, of which Mr A.E.J. Gawler is chairman.

Started Magadi Golf Club in 1931 out of very unpromising material, and the conditions at Magadi are such that the course can be looked on more as a means of exercise than of golf. Captain in 1932.