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Name: LISMAN, John G
Nee: grandfather from Russia naturalised
Birth Date: 27 Jan 1903 Inverness
Profession: Sales Rep
Married: Ibolya b. 7 Mar 1900, d. 25 July 1994 Hove
General Information:
1939 England and Wales Register living in Stepney with wife, as Sales Representative
John G. Lisman, Memoirs of a Sales Representative 1923-1938, Bodleian Library Mss Afr.s.1948 His parents were Polish and had escaped from Jewish pogroms in 1897. His father was a pedler. 1921 went to Palestine, then Egypt. 1932 went to Mombasa on the Llandovery Castle. Six years in East Africa, as a traveling cigarette salesman, mostly among Indian tradesmen, in a boxbody car. One of 15 salesman employed in East Africa. Joined the Kenya Defence Force, formed not long after his arrival and was given a khaki uniform, .303 rifles and five rounds of ammunition. He trained at weekends. Secret orders were memorized, but the main function was to help in the evacuation of European women and children to a secret rendezvous, in the event of a native uprising or rioting. Rifles of ammunition were kept at home. 1933 he was transferred to Tanga.