Nairobi Forest Road Cemetery - Helena Margaret Ryle Shaw, British, age 82, died 4/8/63

Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Expunged from Nairobi North Register - Mrs H Ryle Shaw, Married woman, Muthaiga

Lived in a large house at Muthaiga. Attacked by Mau Mau and badly slashed by pangas. She died in hospital in Nairobi a few days later. She was then an old lady.

Wolseley-Lewis - early 1930s - After about a year my apprenticeship came to an end. I was offered the job of running the farm next door. This belonged to Miss Madge Ryle Shaw. Her brother was a solicitor in Nairobi and she lived with her mother on the farm. Both mother and daughter were squat and fat. Poor Madge had bad moles on her face which she kept picking until they bled which made them worse. ………. She was red in the face with thick lips and short in temper. No manager had been able to stay with them long. My salary was to be 300/- a month and a 'house' which consisted of a wooden box on stilts with a tin roof and 2 rooms, a bedroom and a living room. It was more or less furnished with the basics. However I did not have any sheets, blankets, crockery, cutlery nor cooking pots, but Madge very kindly went and bought nice quality things for me and, of course, I had to pay for them. ……………

Freddie Vyner [sic] who had preceded me had left nothing and had just walked out because he could not stand being bossed about so much and felt unable to get on with his job. I, being new and inexperienced, did not mind too much. ………. Everything was a bit worn out and they pleaded poverty. I think Dacre Shaw, her brother, was a bit mean and kept her on a tight string ………… I lasted longer than anyone else, a whole 11  months. I do not know why I was sacked. Madge came and wept on my shoulder and said that it had been so nice having a real gentleman to work for her. Did she hope that one day a manager would come and marry her?

Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Miss Madge Ryle Shaw, Muthaiga