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Name: TONKS, Osmund
Nee: bro of Julia Ann Tonks who arrived 1902, married A.G. Turnbull 1904
Birth Date: 7 July 1870 Packwood, Warwickshire
Death Date: 31 Mar 1943 Mount's Bay House, Lizard, Cornwall
Nationality: British
First Date: 1899
Profession: Partner in Tonks and Allen, the first solicitors in Nairobi
Area: Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu
Book Reference: Cuckoo, Kenya Diary, Land 1903, EAHB 1905, EAS, North, Playne, EA Diary 1903, Drumkey, Land, EAS, EAHB 1906, EAHB 1907
War Service: Supply and Transport, Ceylon Defence Force
School: Solihull Grammar School; Mason's College;, University of London 1888
General Information:
The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa (O. Tonks & Miss Tonks)
North - Solicitor; Mombasa June 1899; arr. Mombasa from Uganda 2/5/1900, Acting Legal Adviser UP; arr. Mombasa from leave 31/10/1901; co-partnership between Tonks & Ernest F. Watts dissolved 15/11/1901, Tonks to practice alone (OG); at first meeting of "Committee of Europeans" Nairobi 4/1/1902; partnership of Tonks & Allen formed 1/12/1902
Playne - ' ...... The rubber estates of Mr Hugh Barclay (of Barclays' Bank Ltd.), of Mr Tonks, and other well-known [absentee?] owners of land in East Africa, are thus managed by the BEA Corporation Ltd.' Mr O. Tonks, a practising solicitor in Mombasa, is greatly interested in the cultivation of rubber. He came to BEA in 1899, and of his plantation of 640 acres, acquired in 1907, 150 acres are given over to Ceara rubber-trees, planted 12 ft. by 12 ft. ...... Mr Tonks, who recently visited the Ceylon rubber plantations, has full faith in the prospects of Ceara rubber in the country, and intends to plant the whole of the estate, which is 15 miles from Mombasa, with it as fast as possible. He has erected a house on the property, which is under the management of a Ceylon planter. Under Mr Tonks' supervision another estate, some 9 miles up the line, is being laid out with cocoanut and rubber.
Drumkey 1909 - Church Warden, Mombasa
Drumkey 1909 - Pleader, Mombasa
Land - 1907 - O. Tonks - Building, 5 acres, Nairobi Hill, 7-3-05, Registered 4-9-07
Land 1909 - Osmund Tonks - Buildings, .653 acre - Mombasa - 28/5/06 - Leasehold for 99 years from 1/7/08 - Registered 1/2/10
EAS - 15/1/1903 - Judge Hamilton, Mr Barth, Mr Tonks and Mr Mead left by up-mixed train on Tuesday
EAS - 15/1/1903 - Nairobi Races - Entries - Xmas Handicap - Afmadu - J. Wilson & O. Tonks
EAS - 15/1/1903 - Nairobi Races - Entries - East African Stakes - Afmadu - J. Wilson & O. Tonks
EAS - 29/1/1903 - Nairobi Races - Race 1 - Mr Church's Tenderfoot nominated by Miss Tonks ridden by Mr G. Ellis
EA Diary 1903 - Pleader at present practising in the Protectorate Courts
Kenya Diary - Kisumu - Aug. 1904 - a local lawyer.
Land Grant 1903 - Tonks & Allen - Building, etc., 1 acre - Nairobi Hill - Aug 16 - Leasehold
Date of death comes from Family Search's use of Death Index. Ancestry Family Tree states death was in Ceylon c. 1921-2