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Name: WAINWRIGHT, Robert Everard 'Robin' CMG
Birth Date: 24 June 1913 Winchester
Death Date: 29 Nov 1990 Brazil, heart attack while staying with his son
First Date: 1935
Last Date: 1963
Profession: Appointed as a DO in 1935. At Kisumu in 1953. Secretary for African Affairs 1953
Area: Kisumu
Married: In Machakos 10 Feb 1939 Bridget Doris Alan-Williams b. 7 Aug 1918 Harwich, d. 31 Dec 2000 Dorset
Children: Christopher James (1943); Ian
Book Reference: Staff 39, Staff 53, Colonial, Baptism, O&C, Nicholls, Foster
School: Marlborough and Trinity College Cambridge 1931-35; BA (Cantab)
General Information:
DC Embu 1948 to 51, DC Kisumu 1951-53, Permanent Secretary Ministry of African affairs May-Aug 1953, PC Nakuru Aug 1953-Aug 1954 and Feb 1955-Apr 1957 and July 1957 to the end of 1959.
Nicholls - Robin [sic] Wainwright was a talented cabinet-maker.
Colonial - Cadet Kenya 1935; PC 1954; Ch. Commissioner 1960-63; Retd., apptd. Acting Administrator Turks & Caicos Is. 1965
Ancestry family tree says he d. in Brazil, but Nat Probate Calendar does not mention this.
Kathini Graham interviewed by Christine Nicholls 7 Sep 2002 He was not a particularly strong PC, but he was a fair, good man. He was not intellectually clever but was quite astute. He ran the office well. His wife was very ambitious and the children were sent to school in England. He was a bit of a Boy Scout. He couldn't handle the Mau Mau and found it difficult to be ruthless.
Memoirs of Robin Wainwright Bodleian Library Mss Brit.Emp.s.524 From August 1953 to the end of 1958 we gave 1142 lunches, 932 dinners and put up 355 people, all on a minute entertainment allowance.
I took the Colonial Service course - Swahili, law, and subsidiary subjects of anthropology, tropical agriculture, tropical forestry, tropical hygiene, field engineering and colonial accounting. Sailed to East Africa on the Malda, stayed at the Manor hotel in Mombasa and posted to Kilifi. Kenya was still in a slump and our salaries were cut by 13%. We had been taught Zanzibar Swahili and that spoken on the Kenya coast was pronounced quite differently.