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Name: BURTON, Gerald John Lloyd MC

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Birth Date: 9 Sep 1893 Wragby, Lincs.

Death Date: 28 June 1954 Mombasa

First Date: 1920

Last Date: 1954

Profession: Appointed as the first regular, full-time Plant Breeder. He took over G.W. Evans's surviving crosses and built upon them to produce the rust-resistant wheats which enabled the industry to expand after the war.

Area: Kabete, 1930 Njoro, Naro Moru

Married: 1. 1928 Moselle Caine (div.1936); 2. 1943 Juliana Egidia Petre b. 9 June 1910, Westwick, Norfolk, d. 28 May 1995 Ross on Wye (prev. m. to Edmund Roger Kerrison 1895-1967)

Children: None

Book Reference: KFA, Permanent Way, Golf, White Man, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Karen 50, Hut, Colonial, EA & Rhodesia, Red 22, Dominion, Gazette, Anthony Allen

War Service: King's Royal Rifle Corps in WW1, Captain

School: St. Lawrence College 1908-12; Pembroke College Cambridge 1918-20

General Information:

KFA - For six years he remained the only plant breeder in the country, with over 500 strains of wheat under his care at the Scott Laboratories. ...... Not only did Mr Burton have to leave his experimental plots for weeks at a time to travel about the country looking at crops in the field, but, when he went on home leave, there was no trained assistant to take them over. It is a wonder that he managed to achieve anything at all.   
Permanent Way - Mr Burton's skill and patience were mainly responsible for the breeding of wheats which were resistant to the forms of rust peculiar to the several wheat districts of the Highlands. Mr Burton's work was carried on by Mr R.J. Lathbury, and later by Mr H.C. Thorpe.  
Golf - Captain of Karen CC (Golf) 1939/40   
White Man - In Kenya for several years, there was only one specialist for Govt., Mr G.L. Burton, on the job, with a thousand or two a year to spend.  
KAD 1922 - Plant Breeder, Div. of Botany, Agricultural Dept.
Karen 50 - One of the original members of Karen Club in 1937 (Mr & Mrs), Captain 1939/40
East Africa & Rhodesia - 15/7/54 - Captain Gerald John Lloyd Burton, MC who has died suddenly in Mombasa at the age of 61, initiated wheat breeding experiments in Kenya shortly after the First World War, and with indifferent facilities produced his first wheat, "Kenya Governor", in a remarkably short time. A pupil of Sir Rowland Biffen, he went to Kenya in 1921. His work for the Colony was not confined to producing rust-resistant wheats, for he was for some years a member of the coffee team, and became chief agricultural research officer in 1939. Seconded to the Development and Reconstruction Authority after the 1939-45 war as officer for European settlement until 1950, he was appointed to deputize for Mr J.F. Lipscomb as chairman of the Settlement Board a few days before his death. Wounded in the 1914-18 war, he was awarded the MC and Bar, and twice mentioned in dispatches. He had played hockey for Cambridge University.
Red 22 - J.L.J. Burton, Govt. Farm, Kabete
Dominion - Agricultural Department - Plant Breeding Services - Plant Breeder - 1930
Gazette 6/4/1921 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Agricultural Dept. - 30/3/1921
Anthony Allen - Gerald Burton won 2 MCs in France and Flanders and was awarded the 1935 Jubilee and 1937 Coronation medals as the Chief Horticulturalist for Kenya.
Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Gerald John Lloyd Burton, Civil Servant, Govt. Farm, Kabete and Mrs Catherine Jane Burton, Kabete [she is wife of James Burton]
Barnes Mombasa cem d. 28 Jun 1954 pneumonia, Eur Hosp. Body taken to Nbi City Park Cem

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