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Name: HILL, John Kenyon
Nee: eldest son of John Hill, Felhampton Court and the Citadel, Hawkstone, Salop; related to Viscount Hill; nephew of Sir Clement Hill
Birth Date: 13.1.1869 Wistanstow, Shropshire
Death Date: 9.12.1944 Subukia
Nationality: British
First Date: 1903
Profession: Manager Govt. Experimental Farm, later Director EA Syndicate
Area: Naivasha, Gilgil, Subukia, 1903 Thika
Married: 1. Elizabeth Morris b. 15 Feb 1867 Church Stoke, Shropshire, d. 22 Apr 1953 Sutton Coldfield (later m. John Philip Kreckeler 1873-1928); 2. In Nairobi 10 Dec 1906 Mary Ruby Watkins b. 11.11.1888 Barberton S. Africa, d. 1945 (only dau. of Frank Watkins, Nakuru)
Children: 1. Alice Morrice James (Platt) (19 June 1896 Ecclesfield-1953 Sutton Coldfield 2. John Rowland Clement (8 June 1908 Naivasha-1970); Brian Geoffrey (13 Mar 1914 Gilgil-20 Apr 1915); Thomas Kenyon (1 Nov 1916 Atcham, Shropshire- 1937); Mary Sybil (McKenzie) (31 Dec 1909 Naivasha-2008); Muriel Rachel (Harris) (6 Sep1911 Gilgil-2006 Kilifi); Helen Georgina (Watson) (16 Feb 1913 Nairobi-1992)
Author: HBEA article - 'Some Hints to Would-be Settlers' reprinted from the Agricultural Journal of BEA.
Book Reference: Gazette, Gillett, SE, HBEA, Cuckoo, Ainsworth, Permanent Way, Land, EAHB 1905, Red 31, Hut, North, Curtis, Playne, Drumkey, Advertiser, Pioneers, EAHB 1906, Burke, EAHB 1907, Hughes, Naivasha, Leader14, Rift Valley, Red Book 1912, Barnes
War Service: Boer War 1900-02 (Queen's medal, 3 clasps, King's medal, 2 clasps) and BEA WW1
General Information:
SE - J.K. Hill - Govt. Farm, Naivasha - Dec 1907
Ainsworth - Masai move - Mr J.K. Hill of the EA Syndicate lands near Gilgil offered a considerable part of the Syndicate's lands as a temporary means of meeting the position. (stockholding for Masai animals). The total amount of Masai horned stock involved was about 175,000 - the number of sheep was in the neighbourhood of one and a quarter million.
Permanent Way - 1912 - Manager of the Government Farm at Naivasha
Land Grant 1905? - J.K. Hill and Lucas - Agricultural and grazing, 3,000 acres - Donio Sabuk - Feb 18 - 1,280 acres Homestead, 1,720 acres leasehold
EAHB 1905 - Govt. Farm, Morendat. Animals Dept., English Board of Agriculture; Served in South African War on Intelligence Staff, with the Imperial Yeomanry and Remount Dept.; Assistant, Agricultural Dept., EAP, Feb. 1904.
Curtis - p. 82 - 'The Government Experimental Farm, Naivasha by Ruby Hill - 'My father, the late Frank Watkins, came to BEA in 1904 to have a look at this new colony. He bought land for a song in what is now Moi Avenue and also much of the land on the hill where the Nairobi Club and hospitals now stand, and property in Parklands which was then thick forest. He sold it all for about 10/- an acre when he got depressed and for a while lost faith in the colony. When he arrived, at first he was very enthusiastic at the prospects and wrote to my mother to come out. I was then studying opera singing at Dresden but I begged to be allowed to leave my studies for a while and to accompany my mother. I never returned to go on with my singing career as I got married instead.
My father did not tell us that Kenya could be very cold, especially up country where we would be living. His only advice to us was to bring a stove as they could not be bought or were in limited supply, and my Bechstein piano and our side-saddles. We sailed in s.s. Modasa and arrived in Mombasa in 1905 ....... after a few days at the hotel [the Stanley] we were invited to stay with some old friends of my father's who had preceded him to Kenya, the well-known pioneer settlers, the late Mr and Mrs Russell Bowker.
After spending some happy weeks with the Bowkers my mother bought land with a nice wood and iron bungalow on it, near where the Salisbury Hotel now stands. And so we moved into our first home in EA. ...... It was at a local race meeting that I met my future husband J.K. Hill.
John Kenyon Hill had come to BEA in 1903 after being employed on Special Service with the Transvaal Agricultural Dept. at the end of the South African War. He took up land at Donyo Sabuk. In 1904 the Government asked him if he would take over the managership of the Govt. Experimental Stock Farms at Naivasha, at the same time becoming Asst. Director of Agriculture. As Govt. officials were not allowed to own land at that time he had to give up his farm when he went to live at the experimental farms. Our marriage took place in the little tin St Stephen's Church, and the late Hon. Galbraith Cole was best man. The reception, which was held in the old National Bank of India building, at that time the only two-storey building in Nairobi, was attended by Lord Delamere and many of the other pioneer figures.
I went to the Govt. Farm as a young bride and had never lived on a farm anywhere before. It was a lonely life for a girl coming straight from Dresden - there were very few European women in BEA then. Distances were great and transport primitive and slow and roads non-existent, just tracks. ....... .......... [more of life on Govt. farm] ....….
We left Govt. Farm shortly afterwards as we were offered a very tempting salary to go and work for the EA Syndicate at Gilgil. We were experimenting there with flax-growing on the upper Gilgil Farm, and had cattle, pigs and sheep on the lower farms, with a manager in charge of each branch and my husband as director. In 1914 we decided to return to England as my husband wanted to join the King's Shropshire Light Infantry to do his bit in WW1, and also we had left our young family there and wanted to see them.
We did not return until 1927, which was a boom year in Kenya, and we found the price of land sky high for those days. Not wishing to invest all our savings in purchasing a farm, we decided to lease one, and we were fortunate in getting a very good one about 8 miles outside Nakuru, on the Bahati side. Maize was then selling at 16/- a bag, which was a wonderful price then, and we went into partnership with the late Mr Alexander Davis and his son Eddie, together with 2 pupils who had come out to us from England ........[disaster - maize price dropped but they carried on]
Playne - The General Manager of the Naivasha Stock Farm was appointed on April 1, 1907. He first served the EAP as an Assistant in the Agricultural Dept. (Feb. 25, 1904). Mr Hill was in the South African War with the Imperial Yeomanry, and on the Intelligence Staff. He has kindly contributed a most instructive article on the up-breeding of stock in BEA.
Drumkey 1909 - Agricultural Dept. - Naivasha Stock Farm - General Manager
Advertiser - 27/11/08 - Nakuru Agricultural Show - donation from - J.K. Hill
Pioneers - Govt. Farm, Naivasha - Mrs Hill described their arrival - "There were only 2 trains a week between Nairobi and Nakuru. The Provincial Commissioner, S.S. Bagge, met us at the station with askaris, and a wagonette drawn by four mules. We drove off along a winding track through trees and eventually reached a corrugated iron bungalow on piles, with a barbed wire fence round it to keep out wild animals. Water was fetched daily from the Malewa River by ox-cart, and, for washing, poured into a tin bath from debes. Sometimes I did not see another European woman for 3 months or more, but I had my lovely Bechstein piano, and as I could play and sing I passed the time away. When any musical settlers came along we had "sing-songs and jolly hops", our only entertainment.
The Hills used to drive into Naivasha in a four-in-hand drawn by zebras, complete with hunting horn, passing through herds of plains game almost all the way. These zebra were bought by Lord Rothschild to be driven in the London parks.
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Solai - J.K. Hill (British), Settler
Rift Valley - Member of the Rift Valley Sports Club - Jan 1929 - Elected - 9 Jun 1928 - J.K. Hill
Red Book 1912 - J.K. Hill - Naivasha
Red Book 1912 - Committee Member - Naivasha & District Farmers' Association
Nakuru North cemetery - John Kenyon Hill, died 9/12/1944 aged 75 Inscription: in memory of / John Kenyon Hill / ... Subukia / eldest son of John Hill, Felhampton Court and of the Citadel, Hawkstone, Shropshire / ...
Nakuru North cemetery - John Kenyon Hill, died 9/12/1944 aged 75 Inscription: in memory of / John Kenyon Hill / ... Subukia / eldest son of John Hill, Felhampton Court and of the Citadel, Hawkstone, Shropshire / ...
HBEA 1912 - Manager of the EA Syndicate, sheep farming.
HBEA 1912 - Vice President of the Pastoralists' Association.
Cuckoo - nephew of Sir Clement Hill.