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Name: THOMSON, John Bathurst (Major)
Birth Date: 29 Jan 1889 Blofield, Norfolk
Death Date: 23 June 1949 Kitale
First Date: 1925
Last Date: 1949
Profession: Farmer
Area: Kitale
Married: In Portsmouth 29 Oct 1913 Elisa Mary Thwaytes b. 15 Apr 1886 Jamaica, d. 4 Jan 1974 Beckenham, Kent
Children: Patricia Joan (Bailey) (16 Mar 1916 Southsea-9 June 2003 Dover); Mary Melina Gillian (11 June 1919 Portsmouth-10 Mar 1993 Dover); Lucy Estelle Rosemary 'Stella' (McFarnell) (5 July 1922 Norwich-21 Sep 2007 Salisbury)
Book Reference: Red 31, Hut, KGF, Kenya 63, SS, Jambo, Childhood
War Service: Royal Scots Fusiliers
General Information:
KGF - "Rafiki" - Mac McFarnell - married Stella Thomson, daughter of Major Thomson and his wife Elisa …. Stella lived with mother, father and her two elder sisters Pat and Gill. Stella's home, the farm at Kitale was purchased in 1925 by Major Thomson. He had fought in East Africa in World War I and when the Colonial Office set up a lottery for land in Kenya he applied. His wife, Elisa was not keen to go to East Africa but was prepared to go to South Africa. He and his young family, his mother and a Mr & Mrs Harmer emigrated from England to South Africa. In Grahams Town, he let on that he had won this land in Kenya. It was decided that he should go ahead and look at the land but he only got as far as Durban when he was rushed to hospital with appendicitis. Elisa joined him in Durban leaving Pat, Gill and Stella in Grahams Town with the Major's mother. When they eventually arrived in Kenya the lottery land had been allocated. At this point they decided to buy 400 acres from Mr H.C. Kirk in Kitale. Stella, her sisters and grandmother left Grahams Town by boat for Mombasa. They travelled from Mombasa by train as far as Nakuru. The last section was made in a model T Ford. It took time to convert the 400 acre highland grassland into a mixed farm with maize, sheep, pigs and later cattle when the farm had been cleared of ticks. In 1938 a further 600 acres was purchased from Harry Taylor. This was a section of land that extended the other side of the river which had its source at the foot of Mt. Elgon. The Major built a comfortable house with many rooms …. On a clear day Mount Elgon could be seen occasionally tipped with snow. John William McFarnell, "Mac" married Lucy Estelle Thomson, "Stella" (b. 1922) in Nairobi 1942
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Major J.B. Thomson, 882 MT Coy., RASC, Ebury Bridge Road, Chelsea, SW - Farm 768
Barnes - Kitale Cemetery - John Bathurst Thomson - died 26 Jun 1949, b. 29 Jan 1889 [newspaper cutting in Ancestry has 23 June]
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Trans Nzoia Voters List
Web a John Bathurst Thomson was a surgeon to the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regt.
Gazette 2 May 1950 probate says he died 23 June