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Name: TALBOT, George Blaquiere
Nee: son of Frederick George Talbot
Birth Date: 9 Nov 1900 Hazaribagh, Bengal, India
Death Date: 26 Oct 1963 Gatooma, S. Rhodesia
First Date: 1925
Profession: KAR
Area: Chania Bridge
Married: In Kampala 3 Sep 1928 Hilda Alice Hole b. 13 Sep 1901 Barnstaple, d. 2006 Taunton [sic, Death Index, aged 104]
Children: None
Book Reference: Red 25, Hut, Red 22, Richard Talbot, Patricia Lott Page
War Service: E. Africa Mounted Transport Co.
General Information:
Red 22 - G.B. Talbot, Kiera Mines, Chuka
Richard Talbot - George was supposed to be a Captain in the KAR
Patricia Lott Page - Mining Industry. Died in Southern Rhodesia.
Gazette 8 Sep 1964 probate
Noel Clark: "George Blacquiere Talbot [GBT] was born on 9th November 1900 the second child of Frederick George Talbot and Mabel Vernon Ridsdale and was baptised at Hazaribagh on 7th January 1901.A number of different spellings of “Blacquiere” are found in different documents. He enlisted in the East Africa Mechanical Transport Corps sometime after 31st December 1915 with the corps number of 2335, and reached the rank of Corporal.40 The EAMTC,
or the unit that would ultimately became the EAMTC, came into existence on 6th August 1914, with the appointment of Arthur Frederick Dudgeon, Director of Mechanical Transport, as a Lieutenant.41 A number of men who served in the EAMTC are shown with this enlistment date. The corps numbering seems to have started with 2000 or 2001 and was initially restricted to Europeans and a small number of Indians. The War Diary for the EAMTC, which covers the period February 1917 to May 1918, gives a history of the Corps commencing with the recruitment of African (Bugandan) drivers in February
1917, and indicates that the original European unit was known as the East Africa Mechanical Transport Company. The Corps formally came into existence on 21st September 1917. It was intended to be
commanded by a Major, have a Headquarters, a Repair Section, a Stores Section, an Instructional Section, and three Service Companies each capable of running Ford vans (sometimes called cars or box cars) in the field. Headquarters was at Dar-es-Salaam, and the Commanding Officer was Major A.F. Dudgeon. The work of the Corps was the
transport of supplies along the lines of communication to the various supply depots as described in 2.4 above. Much of the War Diary is concerned with Major Dudgeon’s own work rather than the overall work of the Corps, particularly his objections to moving Headquarters to Dodoma; this move finally took place in February 1918. Dudgeon left
Headquarters to undertake an inspection tour of field operations, and was shortly afterwards admitted to hospital in Mombasa; Captain/Adjutant A.M. Watson took over command of the Corps. The War Diary ends on 31st May 1918.
For his service in the EAMTC GBT was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. There are no details of his role in the EAMTC, but later records suggest that he might have been a mechanic. Some further information about GBT can be gleaned mainly from passenger lists and as a consequence of what appears to have been a lifelong interest in philately. Shortly after the conclusion of the First World War he resided in Naivasha, Kenya and then spent some time at Somerville, Tiverton, Devon.At this time GBT was a member of the Junior Philatelic Society, and whilst in Tiverton he was the British agent for The Indian
Philatelist (India) and agent for the Union Philatelist (South Africa), Hemming’s Stamp News (U.K) and I.C.S.C.C. On 7th May 1921 GBT was on the Garth Castle from London to East Africa bound for
Kenya, and was described as a mechanic; his address in the U.K. was given as Somerville, Tiverton.46 In 1922 he was listed as at Kiera Mines, Chuka (Kenya).On 16th April 1924 GBT arrived at the Port of London from Mombasa on the Llanstephan Castle described as an engineer, and gave his intended address as Somerville, Tiverton.
He returned to Mombasa the following year, leaving London on 17th September 1925 on the Gascon, with his ultimate destination as Uganda, and was described as a planter; his address was that of J.K. Gilliat, merchant bankers.Also in 1925 he was listed as a juror
and residing at Chania Bridge (now known as Thika), Kenya. Thika is a well-known coffee-growing area, and this listing lends weight to the possibility that GBT was involved in coffee-growing at this time.
GBT married Hilda Alice Hole in Kampala on 3rd September 1928. She was a daughter of the Reverend William Henry George Francis Hole.49 Hilda has been traced on several passenger lists and gave her country of residence variously as Tanganyika (1933), Kenya (1946) and Uganda (1950). GBT maintained his interest in philately, and in 1953 he joined The New Zealand Society of Great Britain, a society founded in 1952 for the study of the stamps and the postal history of New Zealand and its Dependencies. His address at that time was P.O Box 12, Kikagati, Uganda. Directories in 1955 and 1960 confirmed him as residing in
Kikagati, but the magazine of the New Zealand Society published in March 1960 gave his address as P.O. Box 70, Gatooma, Southern Rhodesia.
GBT died on 26th October 1963 at his home at 4 Mornington Crescent, Gatooma, Southern Rhodesia. He had suffered from emphysema for 10 years and the immediate cause of his death was cor pulmonale.66,67 His death notice gives his occupation as accountant, and state that his parents, one brother and one sister had predeceased him; these siblings were presumably his brother RVT and his sister Mabel. GBT’s widow returned to England at some stage, and ultimately resided in Taunton, Somerset, where she died c. July 2006 aged nearly 105. GBT and Hilda had no children."