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Name: SMITH, Eric Sydney Percy

Birth Date: ?1879 Mount Abe, India

Death Date: 1939

Profession: Captured first bongo

Area: Nanyuki

Married: Daw Phwa Tint (not married); Myra Wheeler (not married)

Author: Wendy Law-Yone, A Daughter's Memoir of Burma

Book Reference: Rundgren, Laroque, Chandler

School: Sandhurst 1897

General Information:

Rundgren - Eric Rundgren was grateful to Smith who took him to meet Mrs Wheeler, his rich American friend, at her 700 acre estate outside Nanyuki on the slopes of Mt. Kenya. The place was called Mwinga, and it opened Rundgren's eyes to some of the sophisticated facts of life. Percy Smith had come with Mrs Wheeler from India, bringing with them a magnificent tent, an elaborate affair with a verandah, cedar flooring, lined throughout with yellow silk and draped with Persian carpets and rare tapestries. With Mrs Wheeler was her attractive daughter, Hannah Prince, whom Rundgren adored at a distance. And there were two pet cheetahs which added a touch of almost barbaric splendour. Rundgren took to going to Mwinga for week-ends. Later it was for the whole of his annual month's leave. Mrs Wheeler was relaxed, gay and broad-minded. Mrs Wheeler asked Rundgren to work for her full time as her estate and business manager. Percy Smith died suddenly in England leaving Mrs Wheeler heart-broken. She quickly lost interest in the place and she and her daughter left.
Rundgren - the first man to catch a bongo. A retired Indian Army colonel.
Came from India and Burma Took up farm at Ol Likia, Nanyuki. Caught bongo in 1932 - sent to New York Zoo. Percy was killed in a fight.

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