Old Africa 5 - Beadoc by Tim Hutchinson - Arthur Hutchinson who came to Kenya with his wife Madge in 1919. He had planted maize instead of flax. The Hutchinson Tunnel farm, right near the only tunnel on the original Uganda Railway line, remained profitable with maize, and they began planting coffee as well. ………

Two weeks before Tim Hutchinson's mother was due to give birth to him, she fell off a donkey and broke her ankle. She went to stay with Sister Archibald, the district nurse in Londiani. Tim was born there in 1930, the same year a locust plague finished the Hutchinson's maize crop. The locusts returned in 1931 devastating another harvest. Despite having to leave his new found cricket enthusiasts who introduced cricket to that area of Kenya, Arthur Hutchinson left the coffee to be tended by a manager and took his family back to England. The manager sent the coffee to England where Hutchinson flogged it in Yorkshire before returning to Kenya in 1946. Tim returned to Africa in 1948 to help on the farm. His father died soon after and Tim took over running the farm in 1950

Nairobi City Park cemetery - Arthur Heap Hutchinson, died 16 Nov 1950 aged 56, buried at Kipkelion, also baby daughter. His wife is buried in Westow, N. Yorks.

Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Capt. A.H. Hutchinson, Elloughton Rise, Brough, E. Yorks - Farm 465

Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Major W.H.H. Hutchinson, Junr., Elloughton Rise, Brough, E. Yorks - Farm 1443 - Representative, A.H. Hutchinson, c/o Jorrwet Ltd., Kericho

Hut - 1919 - BEADOC Kapkorech 3 months and then to Tunnel Farm, Fort Ternan. The only member of BEADOC to keep land allocated until he died 1919-1950; 1931-45 Winestead then to Preston Hull; 1939-45 Home Guard, Anti Aircraft Rockets Hedon; AHH Coffee & Tea Co., Pig Venture; Roasting, Grinding, Marketing coffee grown on Tunnel; also marketed tea; Cricket Yorkshire Gents and Londiani; 1945-50 Firby Hall Kirkham Abbey Nr Malton; 1945 returned to Tunnel 2200 acres, 52 acres coffee, 500 dairybeef cattle, 100 pigs, 50 acres maize; Kenya Kongoni cricket club; "Maharajah of Couch Galore" (John Wilson)

Hut - After 3 months living in a tent on Kapkorech, while waiting for his allocation, he started at Fort Ternan in 1919, but soon ran out of capital. He therefore turned the farm into a Company, and Wyndham came to his rescue with extra capital. Because the one and only tunnel on the Uganda Railway (180 yards) was situated in the middle of the farm he named the enterprise Tunnel Co. Ltd. Fort Ternan was too far from the Flax Factory at Kericho for him to have been able to grow flax. Instead maize was grown, and a herd of zebu cattle started. Later, in 1924 the first coffee was planted. The original allocation was LR 7063 and LR 6087, but the latter fell away almost down to Fort Ternan station. Very sensibly he sold LR 6087 and purchased LR 3111 which was on the same level as LR 7063. For the first 3 months Arthur and Madge camped in the godown at the original Tunnel station. Luckily half the roof was on the new house by the time the Railway Authorities declared that they could no longer do this. However, due to locusts demolishing everything two years running 1929-30 he returned to Hull, Yorkshire and marketed the coffee that was grown for him by the manager Bill Mulloch. He returned to the farm after the war in 1946 and died in 1950. His youngest son, Tim then took over the management of Tunnel Estate at the age of 20. His second son Roger took over the coffee marketing business in Yorkshire. Later he moved this enterprise to Horsham, Sussex.

Joelson - 1928 - Fort Ternan - a keen soldier settler.

Hut - KAR BEADOC Tunnel, 1919 Oundle UK 31-4

St Paul's Kipkelion - plaque to Arthur and baby Phyllis

Ancestors and Descendants of Old Probity He joined the King's Own Light Infantry in 1914. Was severely wounded on the Somme in spring 1915 and to recuperate was sent on an assignment to East Africa in 1917, with the rank of Captain. This assignment involved fighting the Germans in Tanganyika with the King's African Rifles and Arthur was wounded again. In hospital in the UK some of the casualties got together and formed the British East African Disabled Officers Colony (BEADOC) based in Kericho. Each invested £600 and grew flax but the price dropped from £595 to under £100 per ton and they all went broke and BEADOC collapsed with them. But Arthur remained. He was very short of money so he formed a company called Tunnel Co. Ltd, choosing this name because the first tunnel on the 600-mile railway from the coast was on the estate. Initially he avoided flax but grew maize instead and in 1924 planted coffee, creating a 2000 acre mixed farm with coffee as the main crop. Soon after getting the estate he sold some 500 acres near Fort Ternan Station and purchased an adjoining 500 acres of higher ground. In 1930 locusts destroyed everything on the farm. A manager was appointed to run Tunnel Estate and the coffee trees grew again. After the locust plague Arthur retired to England to start his own coffee roasting business in Hull. Coffee from Tunnel Estate was roasted, ground, packed and sold as coffee from the Tunnel Estate. Later his son Roger took over this side of the business in the UK while Tim became manager of the farm in Kenya.

Arthur played cricket for the Yorkshire Gentlemen, was a member of Kenya Kongonis Cricket Cloud and a founder member of the Londiani Club.