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Name: BEATON, Kenneth de Planta (Major)

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Nee: son of Duncan Beaton, bro of William Gaudenz Beaton

Birth Date: 30 May 1905 Blantyre, Nyasaland (Chandler has 1912)

Death Date: 22 Oct 1954 Entebbe

First Date: 1910

Last Date: 1954

Profession: In 1924 he was a coffee farmer in Sotik. He was the first Game Warden, Nairobi National Park, and was seconded to Uganda to develop the Uganda National Parks.

Area: Mateget Estate Sotik, Nairobi, Uganda, 1930 Sotik, Lake Katwe (Uganda)

Married: 1. In Kenya 1933 Vera Daisy Greves b. 25 Oct 1911 Croxley Green, Herts., d. 25 Mar 1978 Salisbury, Rhodesia; 2. Tuppy Pakenham-Walsh née Marshall

Children: Ron

Author: 'A Warden's Diary' 1949

Book Reference: Gillett, Sitrep 2, Daphne Ewings, Kinloch, Tsavo, Vulture, Elephant People, Red 31, Hut, EA & Rhodesia, Barnes, Web, Chandler, Red Book 1912

War Service: Kenya Regiment & KAR in WW2

School: Government School, Nairobi & Edinburgh Institution

General Information:

One of the original '500' men in the Kenya Regt. in 1937. (KR 298)
Daphne Ewings - became the Warden of the Nairobi National Park when it was set up very soon after the end of the last war. He embarked on his assignment with great energy and enthusiasm and it was not long before evidence of his work was apparent. Attractive rustic entrance gateways were set up and Parks Askari were on duty to collect entrance fees and assist and advise visitors as desired. Tracks were cut through the bush and roads traversed the plains to give the public as much opportunity as possible to view the game inhabiting the area. Much was done to localise the game by providing salt-licks and waterholes and thereby obviate their wandering considerable distances at times - when the rains failed for instance. K. de P. also started to contribute a column each week to the local newspaper - the EA Standard. This feature was instantly popular. The Beatons were a long standing Kenya Church Missionary family and in consequence Ken was fluent in KiSwahili and had knowledge of other native dialects In his youth he was accustomed to listening to native Africans recounting stories of their ancestors, tales of encounters with wild beasts, witch doctors etc. and he recorded these in English and so his African tales became part of Kenya history. Regrettably he died relatively young. Kinloch - was a great character and a most able man, a former settler farmer and a keen naturalist who had done wonders in building up the tiny Nairobi National Park - a great showman as well as a great charmer. Eulogised by the author for what he did for Kenya/Uganda game parks.
Hut - Game Warden Nairobi, YMCA, YWCA
East Africa & Rhodesia - 28/10/54 - Mr Kenneth De Planta Beaton, director and chief warden of Uganda's National Parks, died in Entebbe last week. He was 49. The news of the death at so early an age of one of Africa's most valuable workers for game preservation came as a shock to many who knew him, although his entry into hospital with an internal complaint earlier this month had aroused grave fears. No visitor to the thatched Mwey Lodge and safari bungalows of the Queen Elizabeth National Park could have been unconscious of the dedicated zeal of "Ken" Beaton. That he was a "wonderful type" was a remark common among journalists when earlier this year the Queen visited the park which Beaton had done so much to create. How close to his heart was this great equatorial area - and its northern companion the Murchison Falls Park - was evocatively expressed in his article "Uganda To-Day and To-morrow," published by this journal last June.- "The lodge commands superb views over lakes, parklands, and mountains, and on clear days the snow peaks and glaciers of the Mountains of the Moon - of which the line by John Keats, 'Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,' might well have been written - tower to the north." He had been officially connected with game preservation only since the war, first becoming chief warden of Nairobi National Park. In that capacity he conducted the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, through it during her visit to Kenya in 1952. Beaton had farmed in Kenya before the war, having gone there from his birthplace, Blantyre, Nyasaland. He transferred to Uganda in 1952. One of his hopes was that parts of the virtually unexplored region bordering the Congo might be opened up to reveal "creatures perhaps still unknown to science." In the Murchison Fals Park, too, with its superb river, lake, and land possibilities, he had unbounded faith. These two immense sanctuaries, rich in African wild life, will remain tributes to his endeavours. Barnes - Early player for Kericho Rugby Club - 1930s
Web - Rekero - Chief Game Warden (Kenya) and first Director of Uganda's National Parks was a great man. His ideas on what a park should be and how it should be run were possibly more progressive than any in Africa at the time. The great thing about Beaton was that he was not hidebound by out-dated colonial attitudes to the Africans - 'The Enormous Zoo' Colin Wilcox
Entebbe European cemetery - Kenneth De Planta Beaton, born 30th May 1905, died 22nd October 1954
Red Book 1912 - K. de P. Beaton - Nairobi

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