Red Book 1912 - J.N. Hopcraft - Naivasha Gazette 5/4/1938 - Honorary Game Warden

Daktari - Engaged on a project studying gazelle. ...... Sunday tea was an outdoor affair, sipped within sight of the mountain Lukenia and the endless rolling plains of the Athi - ranching wild animals

Esther Eliza Hopcraft, Esther's Story, 1996  Jack took safaris out for Leslie Talton, the first in 1924 when he was 18. He was a teetotaller and a convert Christian. ' When he came back to Kenya from school at the age of 19, he was the best hockey player in the country. In those days all the matches were played on Sunday. Jack, fresh from his Christian conversion, said "I will only play off if they are moved to Saturday"; so they were. J.D. could not bear the fact that Jack would not play hockey or go in their yacht with him on Lake Naivasha on Sundays. Jack adored his father, and these conflicts were painful to them both.' ...

Jack had linked up with the missionary community, with whom he felt at one, and would also go off with Arthur Pitt-Pitts for missionary journeys. Emmie had a CMS background, but as J.D. thoroughly disliked missionaries, this caused further tension at home. This may have been part of the reason why J.D. did not send Jack to university: he was said to be afraid that Jack would get too involved with the Christian student organizations. It may also have been a question of money. Although Emmie always took his side, Jack felt deeply the difference in J.D.'s treatment of himself and Wilfred....

Our first house was at Back Farm ' A little three-roomed house with a tin roof and a large verandah. We made it very comfortable, as we had adequate furniture and were able to buy a bedroom suite with some of our wedding present money, which lasted us many years. We had got married on £75 which Jack had earned on a week's hunting safari just before I came out, and £40 which my father gave me before I left. Jack earned £24 a month on the farm, out of which we used £4 pounds for housekeeping; the rest was put away.'...

One day Archdeacon Walter Low came to see us from Nakuru. He told us about a young man called Roger, the son of wealthy parents who lived in the north of England and were friends of his. Roger was slightly mentally handicapped, and very backward. His father had shunted him off to Kenya to get him out of the way; his mother was very upset, kept in continual touch with him, and had begged Walter Low to keep an eye on him. Walter had been to visit him, and found him living in a small thatched hut, drinking about three-quarters of a bottle of brandy and smoking 75 cigarettes a day, entirely under the influence of an unscrupulous couple who were living off his large allowance. Walter literally picked him up, put him in his car and brought him away. He had spent a night or two in the vicarage, and now Walter asked if we would take him on... We were only in our early 20s, not knowing much of life, but we felt that we should try to do something for him. To begin with, Roger would only lift up his head if he was spoken to, then it would hang down again. The children loved him, and were part of his salvation. Within a matter of weeks he had been weaned off the alcohol and tobacco and became a happy member of the household. He would go out with Jack and do odd jobs; otherwise his favourite place was the nursery, where he loved to play with the children's toys. Slowly but thoroughly over the years he developed and became more responsible.

William Cherry email 18 Oct 2026 After marriage, Esther and Jack's first home:  The Back Farm (later Kongoni Farm), Lake Naivasha (sold by his father to de Perigny, with Jack as manager for the first year).
2^nd home: Baharini Farm, Lake Nakuru, bought from Russell Bowker by J.D. Hopcraft.  Later incorporated into the Lake Nakuru National Park.
3^rd home: Subukia; 4^th home; Nanyuki; 5^th home: Njoro River Farm, Njoro. Jack had made an arrangement with J. Delves Broughton to develop 1000 acres of wheat at Njoro.
6^th home: Kenplains Farm (later know as the Hopcraft Ranch when their son David took over the farm or Game Ranching Limited), Athi River 
7^th home: Karen where Jack died in 1978.
Esther's final home was in Creston, Canada, where she went to live with her son John Bryan Dawson Hopcraft.