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Name: PIRIE, Harold Victor Campbell (Major)
Nee: son of Martin Henry Pirie of London
Birth Date: 5 Sep 1884 Manhattan, USA
Death Date: 3 July 1957 New Forest, Hampshire
First Date: 1925
Last Date: 1948
Profession: Karirana Estate, Limuru
Area: Limuru
Married: 1. In Romsey 3 Oct 1912 Irene Gordon Hogarth b. 23 Mar 1891 Sevenoaks, d. 12 Apr 1959 (later m. Victor Charles Isherwood Bradshaw 1897-1980); 2. Margaret Louise Edwards, of Limuru
Children: 1. Gordon Hamish Martin (10 Feb 1918 Oxford-2003) 2. Mrs Mungo Park
Book Reference: Red 25, Red 31, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Stud, Racing, Eton, Fox Davies
School: Eton 1898-1900
General Information:
East Africa & Rhodesia - 18/7/57 - Major Harold Victor Campbell Pirie of Brambletye, Emery Down, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, who has died at the age of 72, had farmed for many years in the Limuru district of Kenya. He farmed in Gloucestershire until the outbreak of war in 1914, was in the Army for four years, and settled in Kenya in the middle twenties. Then for two decades he was one of the most knowledgeable, practical, and successful livestock breeders in the country. He imported many Friesian cattle from England, Holland, the United States, and South Africa, with marked effect upon the breed in Kenya. When he had to leave the country after serious illness in 1948 he sold his Friesian herd to Mr Bruce Mackenzie, now president of the Royal Agricultural Society of Kenya.
Pirie had also raised thoroughbred horses and bred dalmatian dogs and canaries. He had been chairman of the East African Stud Book, steward of the Jockey Club of Kenya, a member of the council of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Kenya, and he had served on other committees concerned with agriculture. When ill-health compelled him to leave Kenya he went to the Isle of Man to live, but two years ago he returned to Hampshire, the county of his birth. He had married a Miss Edwards of Limuru, who survives him with a daughter, Mrs Mungo Park, now resident in Dublin, and a son by a previous marriage.
EA Stud Book 1954 - Brood Mares - Thoroughbred - Breeders - Major H.V.C. Pirie (1937)
EA Stud Book 1954 - Thoroughbred Stallions - Major H.V.C. Pirie, Limuru
Racing - Owner of 'Sillmore' by 'Siller' - 'Drawmore' - 1930
Red 31 has Major H.V.C. Pirie, Karirana Estate, Limuru,
Hut the same
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Kiambu Voters Roll
East African Annual 1933-4 His farm is 450 acres in extent and was bought by him in 1922. The land was first of all cleared of scrub and bush and then planted with the indigenous kikuyu grass. The whole farm was strongly fenced and is now divided into 10 paddocks with water laid on to each paddock. It is one of the most highly developed livestock farms in the colony. The main activity is the fine herd of purebred Friesland cattle. The herd was established at the sale held by the government farm at Naivasha in 1922. Major Pirie’s policy has always been to build up a herd of deep milking purebred Frieslands and the present herd of 70 head is the best testimony to the success of his efforts. He is also a breeder of thoroughbred horses and several good winners on the Kenya turf have been bred at his farm.