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Name: LEE, William Alexander

Birth Date: 11 June 1874 Port Ellen Islay, Argyll

Death Date: 14 Jan 1944 Edinburgh

First Date: 1927

Profession: Pioneer of tea planting in Kericho.Manager African Highlands Produce Co.

Area: Kericho

Married: Agnes Craig Buchanan b. 11 Aug 1875 Glasgow, d. 28 Dec 1960 Edinburgh

Children: Alexander James Buchanan (29 Dec 1906 Madupatti, India-21 Apr 1965 Bridge of Allan, Scotland)

Book Reference: Midday Sun, Golf, KGC, Red 31, Hut

General Information:

Midday Sun - 'By the time we visited Kericho in 1933, Anglo-Indian expertise had turned about one-fifth of the original Beadoc land into tea plantations and built an imposing factory to process the leaves. This was the achievement of William Lee who, with his wife, had exchanged the comforts of a prosperous plantation in Travancore for pioneering in the bush. No one had warned them, Mrs Lee told me, of the cold; at first the office was in a tent, and she had relays of hot water bottles to keep her hands warm while doing the accounts.'
Hut 1925-38 GM AHP
Prominent in the starting of Kericho Golf Club in 1927. Chairman of Kericho Golf Club in 1930/37.
Gazette 28 Dec 1944 probate
Scotland Local Heritage Index William A Lee Birth Place:Port Ellen Islay Death Date:1944 Death Place:EDINBURGH, Scotland Father:Rev Alexander Lee Nairn High Church Mother:Church Occupation:Tea PlanterNotes:INTERRED IN NAIRN CEMETERY; WORKED AT PLANTATIONS IN INDIA & KENYA BROTHER OF DR A FRASER LEE

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