View entry
Name: COSTELLO, John Joseph
Birth Date: 16 Apr 1865 Dublin
Death Date: 14 Sep 1909 Nakuru, bubonic plague
First Date: 1897
Last Date: 1909
Profession: Loco foreman. Employed on the construction of the Uganda Railway, in 1907 he was stationed at Nakuru. A great lover of trees, he planted them throughout all the Railway reserves of that town and the Railway paid him one rupee per tree.
Area: Nakuru
Married: ?
Children: Ivan Charles (d. 21 Aug 1970 Pietermaritzburg); dau.
Book Reference: Stoneham Wanderings, Land 1903, Playne, Drumkey, Kingsley-Heath, Barnes, Gillett, Rail Museum, Police, Kenya Diary, Hut, North, Advertiser
General Information:
Stoneham Wanderings - Tsavo man-eaters ....... John Costello was a good lion hunter and a brave man, but at that time he had not been long in the country ..... captured a lion in a trap and kept it ..... Costello used to dress a wound on its forehead with ointment, applied by means of rags on the end of a long pole .... my wife remembers witnessing this performance when she was a few years old.
Playne - It will be noted that the description of many of the farms and plantations speaks of the wattles which have been introduced with such excellent effect, and it is interesting to recall that it was J. Costello, an Irishman on the Uganda Railway, who planted the wattle trees which are now doing so well at Nakuru, and he was helped by Mr Penruddocke to secure the trees which have now proved a boon to residents and visitors
Drumkey 1909 - Railway Dept. - Locomotive Dept. - Loco. Shed, Carriage and Boiler Foreman
North - Foreman at Kilindini 1900; Mrs Costello & 2 daughters at Mombasa returning to India 22-11-1902
North - Land Grant application, Nakuru 22-7-1903; At Nakuru 11-2-1905; Loco Foreman 1-4-1905
Nakuru North cemetery - John Joseph Costello who died at Nakuru 14/9/1909 aged 45 years. There is no death God in his wisdom gave you rest and in the darkness of our pain we look beyond this life with us and know that we shall meet again.
Land Grant 1903 - J.J. Costello - Cultivation, 10 acres - Nakuru - July 22 - Freehold.
North - Uganda Railway - Locomotive Foreman, Makindu Oct. 1897; Foreman at Kilindini 1900; Appt. 3rd Class Magistrate Nakuru May 1903
UK Overseas Register of Deaths, Ancestry John Joseph Costello, European, at his house 6 Miles from Nakuru 14 Sep 09, plague
Ancestry John Joseph Costello b. 16 Apr 1865 in Dublin
Compare Ivan Charles Costello for wattle planting
Employed on the construction of the Uganda Railway, in 1907 he was stationed at Nakuru. A great lover of trees, he planted them throughout all the Railway reserves of that town and the Railway paid him one rupee per tree.
Rail Museum - A locomotive foreman at Makiindu, joined forces with Rodrigues, a fitter chargeman at Makindu, in an effort to gain the cash reward for the killing of the Kima maneating lion. They constructed an ingenious trap, baited it with a live calf, and placed it in the bush within a mile of Kima station. ..... it took two months to trap the lion. ...... During 1905, when in command of the police at Mombasa, Costello showed me [R. Foran] a full set of photographs of the maneater.
Kenya Diary - May 1904 - Nakuru - Mr Costello of the Railway kindly lent me 4 porters.
Advertiser - 17/9/1909 - Death - Nakuru - Mr Costello - plague - well known and highly respected member of community; one of oldest servants of Uganda Railway. Loco Foreman at Nakuru for last 3 years or so.