Neighbour of Coles at Kekopey, she was French and when G. Cole was very ill she volunteered to come and cook invalid dishes. She turned out not to be a good cook.

Midday Sun - 'Lady Colvile built a more substantial house [than her son] at Gilgil, near the railway station - too near; passenger trains stopped there at 2 o'clock in the morning to refresh their engines, and passengers often woke her up to ask for cups of tea. This prompted her to build a hotel where she installed a manager, and thereafter slept undisturbed. She died in 1930 on her way back to France and was remembered as a convivial, hospitable lady, cheerful and fond of good food, not at all misanthropic like her son. But apparently the Somali, or at any rate one Somali, disapproved; he thought it infra dig to keep a hotel, considered her to be seedy, and told the writer James Fox that she used to carry milk on her head. This seems extremely unlikely, but then the Somali was prejudiced, and disparaged Gilbert too because he used to travel with a Masai herdsman clutching a spear in the front seat of his car.

Markham - Slightly dotty niece of the Duke of Marlborough[?], Lady Colville, owner of the Gilgil Hotel

Hoey - Lady Colvile bought Gilgil Hotel which she ran with a rod of iron. Half French she seemed to have inherited all the French stinginess with money. The Colviles were very well off, owning a large estate in England.

Mischief - Colvile's mother lived at Gilgil and ran a hotel ......... she wasn't like a mazungu ....... she didn't have English customs (she was partly French) and used to carry milk (on her head) ...... He used to drive a car with a Masai moran carrying a spear in the front seat.

Pioneers - Gilgil - Lady Eleanor Cole - Lady Colville [sic] mother of Gilbert Colville, built a small house near Gilgil Station. Passenger trains used to reach Gilgil at two in the morning for a long halt to take on wood and water, so she built the hotel in self-defence against social calls at 2 am.

Medals - East African Nursing Service - Nursing Sister

Naivasha - Lady Colvile, mother of Gilbert Colvile, had a small house near the Gilgil station. As the passenger trains to and from Nairobi used to reach Gilgil at two o'clock in the morning, she found her house was becoming a sort of hotel and in self-defence she built the hotel near the station.

Gazette 14/5/1919 - Application for General Retail Liquor Licence - Lady Yelie [sic] Colvile, Gilgil Hotel, Gilgil

Gazette - 3/12/1919 - Register of Voters - Rift Valley Area - Lady E. Colvile - Gilgil

Gazette - 11/7/1923 - General Retail and Hotel Liquor Licence - Lady Y Colville - Gilgil Hotel, Gilgil