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Name: OWEN, Leslie Richard
Birth Date: 10 Oct 1910 Barnet, London
Death Date: 23 Nov 1992 Penzance
First Date: 1931
Last Date: 1965
Profession: Farmer, clerk
Area: Frudvale Estate, Kitale
Married: Beryl Violet Marshall b. 22 Feb 1910 Agra, India, d. 29 June 1977 Truro
Children: John Marshall (4 Aug 1948 Kitale)
Book Reference: Hut
War Service: KAR in World War 2
General Information:
John Owen (son): Leslie was the youngest child of four after Harold, Doreen and Alan. His father Henry John became a Director of Rymans in London. During his childhood Leslie moved from Barnet to Southsea then to Croydon. After leaving school he worked in the Stock Exchange until 1931. Presumably inspired by his eldest brother Harold he emigrated to Kenya where he bought in 1932 he bought the Frudvale Estate on the Eldoret to Kitale road from a Mr Byrd and farmed there until 1965 when he sold it. He developed the farm into a large coffee growing and dairy producing establishment. Both his mother Ethel Fanny Owen (née Bray) and father emigrated to Kenya during the mid 1930s and lived with him. His father passed away in Nakuru from malaria on 23 July 1945, and his mother in 1965 in Nairobi. In 1941 Leslie was conscripted and after training with the Kenya Regiment was sent to 11th? Bn Kings African Rifles. After a short time in Abyssinia he was demobiled in 1942 and returned to farming. Leslie married Beryl in 1947 and John was born in 1948. Both enjoyed going on safaris to remote places throughout East Africa and in 1950 they both drove in a Dodge car overland to England from Kenya through Uganda and the Congo to Nigeria then up through the Sahara desert, returning to Kenya by ship. Later they drove to South Africa, toured the country, returning by road to Kitale. In 1965 Leslie and Beryl moved, initially to a farm in South Wales, then on to settle finally in Cornwall.