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Name: BUTTON, Ernest Fred
Nee: bro of Herbert Lancelot and James Clark Button
Birth Date: 1885 Newcastle, Natal
Death Date: 12 Oct 1955 Machakos
First Date: 1909
Last Date: 1954
Profession: Farmer, Kalanzoni, Konza
Area: 1913 Livestock Officer Nanyuki; Kalanzoni Konza
Married: 1925 Phyllis Margaret 'Robin' Roberson - arrived Kenya 1924, b. bapt. 28 Mar 1883 Newport, Wales, d. 12 Mar 1956 Machakos
Children: Thomas Buchanan (1926-14.5.2012 Nakuru); Anne Moncrieff (Moorse and ?Walker) (1930 Nairobi)
Book Reference: EAWL, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Hugh Walker, Red 22, Land, Medals, Breckenridge, Leader14, Barnes
General Information:
Source: Mrs A.M. Moorse
Letter from Hugh Walker - ' …Ernest Button .. 1944 .. Then aged 58 his war work was to obtain supplies of meat from the local tribes to feed the army, the civilian population and prisoners of war. (Italian). He first came to Kenya from South Africa just after the First World War as one of the earlier Kenya settlers. He took up some 13,000 (?) acres of mainly savannah type land at a place called Kalenzoni near Konza in the Machakos District adjacent to the Kamba tribe from whom they obtained labour. He took a loan from the Kenya Land Bank of some £2,000 and farmed mainly cattle. Like many of the early settlers he first lived in a mud and wattle rondavel. He married Phyllis Button in 1925. She had come out from England, aged about 40, to be governess to the children of the white hunter Philip Percival in Machakos District. Before long, however, she met and married Ernest Button. They had two children, a boy Tom and a girl Anne. Farming was difficult in those early years and they experienced many problems, including droughts, locusts, various cattle diseases and lack of water until dams were built and boreholes sunk; but the latter were not brought in until the early days of the war.
Land - 1911 - E.F. Button - Agriculture and grazing, 2037 acres - Mua Hills - 13/6/11 - Leasehold under Occupation Licence for 2 to 99 years from 1/8/11 - Registered 4/10/11
Hut - E.F. Button 1909 Livestock Officer, Kalonzi, Konza
Medals - East Africa Veterinary Corps - E.T. Button, No. 5060, Corporal
Breckenridge - "When visiting our neighbour, Ernest Button, a good farmer, to the east whom we loved, he always had home-made squash and fresh bread, and insisted we had something before we returned home. He married Robin, one of the Philip Percival's nannies; they had two children, Ann and Tom, whom we visited for years."
All Souls Cathedral, Machakos - Ernest Fred Button, died 12 Oct 1955 and Phyllis Margaret wife of Ernest Button died 12 March 1956
KAD 1922 has E.F. Button, Magadi.
Red 25 - E.F. Button, Magadi Junction.
Red 31 - E.F. Button, Kalonzoni, Konza.