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Name: MOORE, Latham Leslie
Birth Date: 19.5.1894 Paddington
Death Date: 1980 Nanyuki
Profession: Civil Servant, Tanganyika 1935
Area: Nanyuki
Married: ?Gladys b. 18.9.1893
Book Reference: Barnes
War Service: RFA
General Information:
Barnes - Nanyuki Cemetery - Latham Leslie Moore - the Sultan of M'Smbati - 1894-1980
Latham Leslie Moore was born in Paddington, London, United Kingdom in 1893, died in 1980 and was buried in the Old Soldiers' Cemetery in Nanyuki, Kenya. During World War I, he served as a second lieutenant and then lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. Moore purchased the physical property of the sultanate in 1924. Moore and the sultanate were featured in a 1983 book 'No Man's Land, The Last of White Africa' by John Heminway.
The Sultanate was also featured in the book 'Colours of the Fleet', by Malcolm Farrow, OBE, which strived to provide a compendium of all known instances of flags based on British designs.
Web Latham Leslie “Sultan of M'Simbati” Moore BIRTH 1894 DEATH 1980 (aged 85–86)Kenya
BURIAL Old Soldier's Cemetery Nanyuki, Kenya MEMORIAL ID 102418944 ·Reported to be the illegitimate son of King Edward VII and the illegitimate grandson of Queen Victoria. Immortalized in film and books by author and television producer John Heminway. This cemetery is in NANYUKI, Kenya, up the road past The Sportsman's Arms on the left.
Tom Lawrence 1914-18 According to the Medal Index Cards, in WWI, he served as a Second Lieut. and then Lieut. in the Royal Field Artillery (WO 372/14/73221). He served in France and Belgium with the 25th Division of the 5th Army
1917 (22nd Oct) He entered into WWI , this being his official date of going to France (WO 372/14/73221).
1924 He first arrived in Tanganyika Territory to serve with the Administration as a coffee planter in the Arusha area 1933. He first saw M’Simbati Island whilst he was an Agricultural Officer in Mikindani
1933 (19th June) Latham Leslie-Moore was issued with a Wireless telegraph Licence in Dar es Salaam. His residence was given as Mpapura at the time. The Licence was valid until 31st Dec 1933 (The Tanganyika Gazette, 14th July 1933, p. 421). Mpapura is about 25km (15 miles) west of Mtwara.
1935 He was a Civil Servant in Tanganyika
1942 He started clearing the bush on M’Simbati Island around the coconut tree. Apparently, nothing had been done since the Germans left in 1914
1949 He retired to ‘his island’. He built a house called ‘Winds Whisper’
“British eccentric Latham Leslie-Moore built his house in Ruvula village where he built and and lived until the Msimbati peninsula gained its Indepence. Mnazi bay also serves the towns of Lindi and Mtwara with electricity since 2006. The gas at the marine park was discovered in 1982” (Focus East African Tours website).
1960 (1st Jan) Latham Leslie-Moore announces the secession of M’Simbati to the United Nations
Tom Lawrence 1914-18 According to the Medal Index Cards, in WWI, he served as a Second Lieut. and then Lieut. in the Royal Field Artillery (WO 372/14/73221). He served in France and Belgium with the 25th Division of the 5th Army
1917 (22nd Oct) He entered into WWI , this being his official date of going to France (WO 372/14/73221).
1924 He first arrived in Tanganyika Territory to serve with the Administration as a coffee planter in the Arusha area 1933. He first saw M’Simbati Island whilst he was an Agricultural Officer in Mikindani
1933 (19th June) Latham Leslie-Moore was issued with a Wireless telegraph Licence in Dar es Salaam. His residence was given as Mpapura at the time. The Licence was valid until 31st Dec 1933 (The Tanganyika Gazette, 14th July 1933, p. 421). Mpapura is about 25km (15 miles) west of Mtwara.
1935 He was a Civil Servant in Tanganyika
1942 He started clearing the bush on M’Simbati Island around the coconut tree. Apparently, nothing had been done since the Germans left in 1914
1949 He retired to ‘his island’. He built a house called ‘Winds Whisper’
“British eccentric Latham Leslie-Moore built his house in Ruvula village where he built and and lived until the Msimbati peninsula gained its Indepence. Mnazi bay also serves the towns of Lindi and Mtwara with electricity since 2006. The gas at the marine park was discovered in 1982” (Focus East African Tours website).
1960 (1st Jan) Latham Leslie-Moore announces the secession of M’Simbati to the United Nations
Letter from Leslie-Moore to Secretary-General, United Nations Organisation 28 Jan 1961: It is now thirteen (13) months since this Island of M’Simbati seceded from Tanganyika Territory, on the last stroke of midnight, December 31st, 1959, by the unanimous vote of the Islanders. My first despatch to H.E The Governor, with a copy to The Secretary-General was sent on 1.1.60 [mentions several more despatches sent]. All these dispatches have been received and a formal letter of receipt sent. Beyond that, no action has been taken by your Organization to implement your Charter. The Islanders are fully aware that your Organization has more weighty matters to consider, the Congo for instance, and that our secession [sic] is of small importance, but to us, The Islanders, our Freedom is of vital importance and I have been instructed again by the Islanders, to write to you and to request that you bring this matter up in your Council so that our secesion may be properly recognised and that your Council will sent to us, the necessary documents to this effect.
I have been instructed to remind you that, in the near future, The U.N.O. will be handing over their control over the Administrating Power to the Africans, and so we urgently request that the secesion be acknowledged before this takes place. I am enclosing, for your information a map compiled by the Darcy Shell Exploration Co, 1n 1954, which clearly proves that M'Simbati is an island and not attached to the mainland of Africa, as stated by some official in U.NO. when you first released the news some months ago now. I regret that a number of :papers have copied your original mistake in their articles on the sesesion. We shall be grateful if you will have this mistake corrected in your next release. I am also sending you two press cuttings from the "East African Standard" of Nairobi, Kenya Colony, dated December 16th and 17th, 1960. The "Appeal to the Free World" was written by me and sent to the Editor, who wrote the story round our Appeal. As you will see, we have· invoked the U.N. Charter, in which, you clearly state, "The Rights of small peoples to determine their own Destiny". The Islanders, now request, that the United Nations Organization carries out this clause in the Charter and acknowledges our secession and send us the documents to this effect.
We are a peaceful and Law abiding people, whose wish is to remain under the Union Jack as loyal and faithful Subjects of Her Majesty, the Queen and to pay our just taxes to the Treasury in Whitehall, London. We wish to be allowed to continue our peaceful avocations of planting our crops and reaping the harvest of the seas around our Island home and to live here without fear of molestation from the mainland. (https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1656752?ln=en)
I have been instructed to remind you that, in the near future, The U.N.O. will be handing over their control over the Administrating Power to the Africans, and so we urgently request that the secesion be acknowledged before this takes place. I am enclosing, for your information a map compiled by the Darcy Shell Exploration Co, 1n 1954, which clearly proves that M'Simbati is an island and not attached to the mainland of Africa, as stated by some official in U.NO. when you first released the news some months ago now. I regret that a number of :papers have copied your original mistake in their articles on the sesesion. We shall be grateful if you will have this mistake corrected in your next release. I am also sending you two press cuttings from the "East African Standard" of Nairobi, Kenya Colony, dated December 16th and 17th, 1960. The "Appeal to the Free World" was written by me and sent to the Editor, who wrote the story round our Appeal. As you will see, we have· invoked the U.N. Charter, in which, you clearly state, "The Rights of small peoples to determine their own Destiny". The Islanders, now request, that the United Nations Organization carries out this clause in the Charter and acknowledges our secession and send us the documents to this effect.
We are a peaceful and Law abiding people, whose wish is to remain under the Union Jack as loyal and faithful Subjects of Her Majesty, the Queen and to pay our just taxes to the Treasury in Whitehall, London. We wish to be allowed to continue our peaceful avocations of planting our crops and reaping the harvest of the seas around our Island home and to live here without fear of molestation from the mainland. (https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1656752?ln=en)