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Name: HURT, Roger Anthony Francis DSO (Lieut.-Col.)
Birth Date: 9.11.1908 Alderwasley, Derbyshire
Death Date: 29.5.1970 Co. Mayo, Ireland
Profession: KAR
Married: In Kenya 27 May 1944 Daphne Gladys Bedward-Williams b. 27.3.1918 Nairobi, d. 9 May 2006 Teignbridge, Devon (dau of Arthur Donald John Bedward-Williams)
Children: Robin Anthony (28.4.1945); Michael John Francis (29.7.1947-26.5.2012 Kenya); Nicholas Charles Roger (6.1.1960)
Book Reference: RS, Burke, Telegraph, Chandler
War Service: commn'd Roy Welch Fus 1929, served in WW2 1939-45
School: Harrow, RMC Sandhurst
General Information:
Tom Lawrence 1929 (31st Jan). He is commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Royal welch Fusiliers (Gradation List of the officers in the British Army, p. 920 date?). 1934 (29th Nov). Lieut. R.A.F. Hurt, a Company Officer, in the [E.A.] Military departs England for Kenya (The Official Gazette, 2nd Jan 1935, p. 6). 1934 (23rd Dec). Lieut. R.A.F. Hurt arrives in Mombasa on his 1st Appointment as a Company Officer, in the Military. 1935 (11th May) appointed to be Aide-de-Camp for the Acting Governor, replacing Ivan Paul Lindsay Cory (The Official Gazette, 21st May 1935, p. 498). 1937 (6th Mar) appointed to be Adjutant and Quartermaster for the 5th Bn. KAR (The Official Gazette, 13th April 1937, p. 476). 1938 (1st Aug). Promoted to be Captain 1938 (5th Aug). 1939. Appears to have left the army and taken up farming, but rejoined his regiment at the outbreak of WWII (Derbyshire Advertiser, 3rd July 1970, p. 7). 1941 (13th June). He led an attack on an Italian boma at Dif (The King’s African Rifles , by Lieut. Col. H. Moyse-Bartlett, p. 482). 1941 (28th Jan). As a Major he led B and D Coys. and occupied Hawina on the advance to Addis Ababa (The King’s African Rifles , by Lieut. Col. H. Moyse-Bartlett, p. 506). 1941 (11th April). He was commanding a column near Lake Zwai which arrived just in time to save the lives of some Italians (including women and children) at an Agricultural Station, and he then moved on to attack Mt. Fiké (The King’s African Rifles , by Lieut. Col. H. Moyse-Bartlett, p. 539-40 & 542). It was this action that led him to be awarded the DSO. 1941 (29th April). He then moved on to attack Mt. Fiké is was the first real action of Battle of the Lakes (The King’s African Rifles , by Lieut. Col. H. Moyse-Bartlett, p. 539-40 & 542). 1941 (5th June). As a Lt. Col. he lead an attack across the Omo River to Abalti which, although confusing eventually resulted in the capture of some 1200 Italian prisoners (The King’s African Rifles , by Lieut. Col. H. Moyse-Bartlett, p. 550). 1941 DSO 1943 sent to the Seychelles as Military Governor (Derbyshire Advertiser, 3rd July 1970, p. 7).1946. He left his post as Political Officer in Italian Somaliland and resumed his farming activities (Derbyshire Advertiser, 3rd July 1970, p. 7). 1949 (1st July). Under General Notice No. 2366, and under the Crown Lands Ordinance, Lt. Col. R.A.F. Hurt is listed as returning a Land Grant of 2023 acres (LR/No. 2203/R) in Trans Nzoia. It was agricultural land (The Official Gazette, 22nd Nov 1949, p. 956). 1950 (1st July appointed a Game Ranger with the Game Department (The Official Gazette, 20th Feb 1951, p. 273). 1952-1955(?) He joined the Kenya Police Reserve and served with them until ‘…the end of the Mau Mau’ (Derbyshire Advertiser, 3rd July 1970, p. 7). He was mainly stationed at Thomson’s Falls and the Aberdares (Europeans of East Africa website). 1963 He left Kenya and settled in Ireland, leaving behind his wife and three sons (Europeans of East Africa website).
General: Daphne Gladys Bedward Williams. At the outbreak of the 1939/45 War Daphne joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and was trained at Mau Summit in Kenya. On the completion of her training she worked first as a despatch rider but later, with the rank of Captain, she was sent to General Headquarters in Cairo where she was employed on signal and cypher duties. She was released from duties on her marriage to Roger. When they separated, she remained on the farm where she was joined by her mother, Tarchie. After Tarchie died, Daphne sold the farm and with Nicky moved to Balgown, Natal, South Africa (near Michaelhouse). Robin, who had assumed responsibility for his mother and brother relocated them to Widecombe Manor in Devon, which was sold soon after Daphne's death. Nicky moved to Scotland where Robin owns a 20 acre property (Glen Garry) on which Nick, a fitness enthusiast, runs a small deer park (Bruce Rooken-Smith on Europeans of East Africa website).
Roger Hurt became a well-known figure and was able to indulge his passion for hunting and to use his great knowledge of wild life. Latterly, in Kenya, as a farmer, he was unable altogether to shed the family tradition of fox-hunting, for in the Rumuruti and Ngobit areas he maintained a pack of pie-dogs with which he harried vermin and pests on surrounding farms. He left behind his wife Daphne and three sons, Robin, Michael and Nicholas, of whom the two eldest continued to live in Kenya. Robin was a professional hunter of repute, and Michael was farming there, whilst Nicholas completed his education in England. Roger and Daphne were separated (Europeans of East Africa website).
Burke - Game Warden, Kenya 1950-62
Bruce Rooken Smith Daphne Gladys Bedward Williams. At the outbreak of the 1939/45 War Daphne joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and was trained at Mau Summit in Kenya. On the completion of her training she worked first as a despatch rider but later, with the rank of Captain, she was sent to General Headquarters in Cairo where she was employed on signal and cypher duties. She was released from duties on her marriage to Roger. When they separated she remained on the farm where she was joined by her mother, Tarchie. After Tarchie died, Daphne sold the farm and with Nicky moved to Balgown, Natal, South Africa (near Michaelhouse). Robin, who had assumed responsibility for his mother and brother relocated them to Widecombe Manor in Devon, which was sold soon after Daphne's death. Nicky moved to Scotland where Robin owns a 20 acre property (Glen Garry) on which Nick, a fitness enthusiast, runs a small deer park.
Lt Col Roger Anthony Francis Hurt, DSO. MC. Lieutenant Colonel Hurt was the second son of Major Francis Hurt of Alderwasley and Casterne Hall, Staffordshire, and was born at AlderwasIey on 9th October 1908. He was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers being seconded to the 5th Battalion King's African Rifles in Kenya in 1934. After serving there on the staff and as ADC he decided to make his home in Kenya and to farm. On the outbreak of the Second World War he rejoined his battalion and served with distinction on special duty, operating with his troops, the "Hurt Force" often behind the Italian lines in Abyssinia. His successful attack on El Wak earned him the Military Cross and later he commanded 5KAR, being awarded the Distinguished Service Order. In 1943 he was posted to the Seychelles Islands as Military Governor. On returning to Kenya in 1944, be married on 27th May 1944, Daphne, daughter of Colonel Arthur Williams Order of the British Empire and Mrs. Emma Jane Bedward-Williams (née Aggett), and rejoining his Regiment he was detached to Italian Somalia as Political Officer until 1946. After leaving Somalia Roger bought a farm in the Cherengani Hills in Kenya which he subsequently sold. He then bought a farm (Kibokoni-Place of the Hippos) on Lake Naivasha in 1949. During the Mau Mau rebellion he worked with the Kenya Reserve Police Force (KPR) and was stationed mostly in the Thomson's Falls/Aberdares regions. He then joined the Kenya Game Department (1949-62). He became a well known figure and was able to indulge his passion for hunting and to use his great knowledge of wild life. Latterly, in Kenya, as a farmer, he was unable altogether to shed the family tradition of fox-hunting, for in the Rumuruti and Ngobit areas he maintained a pack of pie-dogs with which he harried vermin and pests on surrounding farms. He left Kenya in 1963, settling in Ireland where he died. He left behind his wife Daphne and three sons, Robin, Michael and Nicholas, of whom the two eldest continued to live in Kenya. Robin was a professional hunter of repute, and Michael was farming there, whilst Nicholas completed his education in England. Roger and Daphne were separated.