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Name: FEY, Ernest 'Skipper' (Capt.)

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Photo Source: East African Standard 28 Apr 1934 for Golden Wedding

Nee: son of Thomas and Mary Fey

Birth Date: 1859 Petersfield, bapt 25 Dec.

Death Date: 1929 Kenya

First Date: 1906

Last Date: 1929

Profession: Former sea captain of the Rockfeller Oil Line; farmed Njabini Estate, Kinangop, where he was one of the first settlers in that district

Area: Njabini Estate, Kinangop Hut - claimed mineral rights before survey

Married: In Victoria, Australia 17 Apr 1884 Eleanor Mary Blaker b. Nov 1857 Wellington, N. Zealand, d. 1936 Kenya

Children: Leonard James 'Jim' (1890 Ringwood, Melbourne-1928); Eleanor Mary 'Nell' (1885 Melbourne) (Nightingale); Norah Kate (8 Oct 1886 Melbourne-1970 Kenya, Aust., m. Mervyn Ray); James Ernest Venn (23.10.1919 Nairobi-1986)

Book Reference: Gillett, SE, HBEA, Midday Sun, KFA, Beginning, Horizon, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Playne, Drumkey, Land, Red 22, Pioneers, AJ, Gazette, Medals, Naivasha, Leader14, Red Book 1912, Red 19

General Information:

Fey -  reputed to be the first white man to shoot a bongo in Kenya. That was in 1908. He hunted professionally before the Kaiser War ..…..…
SE - Captain Fey - Njabini, Naivasha - Aug 1907
Midday Sun - ' Sometime in 1906 a curious procession could have been seen setting out from Naivasha station beside the lake of that name. In the van walked Captain Fey and his son Jim followed by Mary in a sedan chair borne by 4 hefty Africans. Beside it walked their daughters Nell and Norah clad in the long, tight-waisted skirts and blouses with mutton-chop sleeves of the day, and creaking along behind was an ox-wagon piled high with all their gear. For many years the Captain had sailed his vessel with his family on board - 2 of the children had been born at sea - across the Indian Ocean and the China seas, and the time had come to settle down. They chose an odd place to do so, 8000 ft. above sea-level and nearly 400 miles from the sea. It was cold and bleak and truly at the back of beyond .......... the nearest settlement 2 days' march away. ....….
Captain Fey returned to sea, leaving Mary in charge. She was a slight, wiry and energetic New Zealander. She marked the land they wanted with pegs and registered her claim in Nairobi. .... When, two years later, the land was surveyed, the Feys got what they wanted for a down payment of one rupee an acre. The surveyor in question was a young man called Max Nightingale, and he married Nell, the Fey's eldest daughter.
KFA - First Chairman of the Pig Breeders' Association - 1916 ........ a bluff sea captain who had served his time in sail and retired to a magnificent but wild and solitary part of the Kinangop to pioneer among forests and bleak uplands then uninhabited. His pigs, like other peoples', had a long, adventurous walk up and down game paths, or across country with no paths at all, to reach the factory, but appeared to arrive in good condition none the less.
Beginning - 1930 - Old Capt. and Mrs Fey, the original settlers in the district, were going away on one of their periodic trips round the world, and offered us the use of their house while we built a place for ourselves [J.F. Lipscomb]. 
Horizon - first white settlers to arrive in the locality ...... used a bullock cart brought from India and 100 porters ........ Mrs Fey travelled in a sedan chair, a wicker work contraption with roof and side curtains mounted on 4 stout bamboo poles, also brought from India. ..... The locality was named "eN'Chappini" by the Kikuyu which became 'Njabini'. The district called "Kinnaabop" by the Masai - a place of fire - became 'Kinankop' (by S. African surveyors and Kinangop by the British. ...... Njabini is a triangle of land formed by the forest edge and 2 rivers that joined to become the Chania River. ....... lived at Njabini for 3 years before other settlers arrived. ..... The only form of communication with the outside world was by means of ox wagon, the Kenyan mule-rider who collected mail from Naivasha 23 miles away, and a stately barouche imported from France ........ in which they travelled 'abroad' like royalty, drawn by a team of oxen.
Playne - N'Jabini Farm - Captain E. Fey came to BEA in 1906 from the Far East, and took up N'Jabini Farm of 3500 acres, situated some 18 miles from Naivasha and 19 miles from Kijabe, on the Kinangop Plateau. Two splendid rivers as well as a stream run through the property, on which there is a considerable quantity of timber as well as bamboos. The land is really undulating park land. The farm is managed by Captain Fey and his son. The house and bomas are built of cedar logs, and are surrounded by a post and rail fence. ....….
The farm is at an altitude of 8500 feet, and the best of health is being enjoyed by Captain Fey and his family.
Land - Captain E. Fey leased 6602 acres at Kinangop, later sub-divided
Red 22 - President, Naivasha District Farmers' Association
Land - 1908 - E. Fey - Residential, 1.033 acres, Naivasha Township, 10-1-07, Registered 25-9-08
Land - 1909 - Capt. E. Fey - Grazing and agricultural, 1588 acres, Marangishu Plateau, 26-11-07, Registered 11-6-09
Land - 1907 - E. Fey - Grazing, 2736 acres, Kibura and Sasumua Rivers, 26-11-06, Registered 5-12-07
Land 1909 - Capt. E. Fey - Grazing and agricultural, 676 acres - Kabura, Chania, Sasuma Rivers - 25/11/07 - Leasehold for 99 years from 1/2/07 - Registered 9/8/09
Land 1909 - Capt. E. Fey - Grazing and agriculture, 5000 acres - Kinan Gop - 29/11/09 - Leasehold for 99 years from 1/1/10 - Registered 22/2/10
Pioneers - Naivasha - Early settlers - Captain and Mrs Fey, with their two daughters Nell and Norah and their son Jim, took up land on the South Kinangop Plateau, below the foothills of Mount Kinangop, in 1906, and were the first to settle there. They called their farm N'Jibini, now spelt Njabini on maps. They raised cattle, had ostriches for a while and started a sawmill. The timber was sent on ox-wagons 25 miles across the plateau and down the escarpment to the railhead at Naivasha.
Agricultural Journal - Brands Allotted and Registered, September 1908 - Ernest Fey, Naivasha Post Office - Naivasha V? Gazette - 17/5/16 - Liquor Licence - Capt. E. Fey - Rift Valley Hotel, Naivasha
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Naivasha - Capt. E. Fey (British) Settler, Naivasha
Medals - East Africa Censors Department - Ernest Fey, EA Medical Supplies, Captain'
Naivasha - When Capt. Fey returned from England in 1909 he imported a victorian barouche which was drawn by oxen with an African seated on the box with a long whip. This African wore not a stitch of clothing, only an opera hat! In those days Africans appeared to be able to die when life became too difficult, in acute cold, rain or heat they just gave up and corpses were a common sight. There was one well known landmark on the track between Fey's farm and Mervyn Ray's; a skeleton with a string of cents round his neck and an umbrella on his arm. He remained undisturbed for years.
Naivasha - Captain and Mrs Fey, with their two daughters, Nell and Norah, and their son, Jim, took up land on the South Kinangop plateau, below the foothills of Mount Kinangop in 1906, and were the first settlers there. That area was known by the Africans as "N'Jibini", so that became the name of the Fey's farm. Captain Fey raised cattle and also farmed ostriches for a time. At some later period a sawmill was started, and operated for many years. Logs were brought down from the magnificent cedar forest …..
Red Book 1912 - E. Fey - Naivasha
Red Book 1912 - Committee Member - Naivasha & District Farmers' Association
Gazette - 3/12/1919 - Register of Voters - Rift Valley Area - E. Fey - Farmer - Naivasha and Kathleen Marjorie Fey - Married - Naivasha
Red Book 1919 - Permit Issuer - Naivasha - Capt. Fey, Njabini, Naivasha
Red 25 - President, Naivasha & District Farmers' Association

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