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Name: STEPHENS, John Rees
Nee: bro of David Richard Stephens
Birth Date: 1887 Bridgnorth, Shropshire
Death Date: 5 June 1954 ambushed and shot on road by Mau Mau in Nyeri district
First Date: 1918
Profession: Started the well known clothing business of J.R. Stephens & Co in 1921. Retired from the business in 1947.
Area: Nairobi, 1930 Box 233, Nairobi
Married: 1. Agnes Smith b. 1882, d. 24.4.1924 Nairobi; 2. Minnie Alice b. 1877, d. 3 Sep 1942 Nairobi
Children: John Rees (25 Sep 1915); Francis David (21 Sep 1917 Nairobi- 22 Feb 1956 Kampala); Ronald James (3 Mar 1921 Nairobi-1987)
Book Reference: Kenya - A New Nation, Red 25, Red 31, Macmillan, Gazette, Harmony, Barnes
General Information:
Macmillan - 1930 - J.R. Stephens and Co. Ltd., Tailors and Outfitters - ……. Their clientele is particularly noteworthy, including Government House, and they have been honoured with the patronage of the Duke and Duchess of York. They do a good deal of work in connection with polo and racing outfits. All the cutting is attended to personally by Mr J.R. Stephens, the proprietor of the business, whose expert skill is the result of long experience of his trade, in which he was trained in England. …. The business was started in 1918 by Mr J.R. Stephens, who had been in charge of the tailoring department of a large local concern which went into liquidation in that year.
Red 22 - J.R. Stephens (Late Cearn's), Government Rd., Nairobi - Gentlemen's Outfitters
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Dagoretti - J. Stephens
Member of Lodge Harmony - Initiated 5/4/26, Killed by Mau Mau May 1954 - John Rees Stephens
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Voters List
St. Peter's Church, Nyeri cemetery - John Rees Stephens, killed in action 6 June 1954 - unforgettable unforgotten
Nairobi Forest Road cemetery - Agnes Stephens, British, age 42, died 24/4/24
Nairobi Forest Road cemetery Minnie Alice Stephens born 1876, died 3 Sep 1942 aged 65-66
Gazette - 10/9/1924 - Probate and Administration - Agnes Stephens late of Nairobi who died at Nairobi on 24 April 1924. Applied for by John Rees Stephens of Nairobi.
An Andrew Stephens aged 4 was killed by panga by Mau Mau on 4 Apr 1954 at Atwell's estate, Kiambu - any relation?
Gazette 11 June 1955 probate for John Ress [sic] Stephens who d. Nyeri 5 June 1954 required by John Ress Stephens and Ada Florence Bemfrey Stephens.
EAS 10 June 1954 Miss Rita Dorothy Violet Critchley, aged 55, who conducted small kindergarten schools in Nyeri, and lived alone outside the town, was strangled to death and slashed by a gang which had abducted two of her gardeners, and attacked her when she went to see what had occurred. A party of the same gang, which was well armed, remained at the roadside to ambush traffic. Mr JR Stephens, for many years a well known tailor and outfitter of Nairobi, who retired to a farm in Nyeri, passed in his car, which came under heavy fire from the terrorists. Mr Stevens was defending himself, though wounded, with his revolver, when Major Hay approached in a second car, and the gang fled. Mr. Stephens died later in hospital.