East Africa & Rhodesia - 26/3/53 - Mr F.J. Pursell, who became general manager in Kenya of the Magadi Soda Co. Ltd., when Mr W.H. Billington retired to this country in 1948, will, I learn, retire in a few days, handing over to Mr Charles Shotton, who has been at Magadi since 1930. Mr Pursell, his senior in that respect by 2 years, went out originally as assistant engineer. He was too young to serve in the 1914-18 war, but as soon as he was able he joined the Inns of Court OTC. In Kenya he has been a member of the Industrial Research Board since its inception, and a member of the council of the East African Association of Engineers, and he is well known in commercial, engineering, and golfing circles. He has been a Justice of the Peace in Masailand. Mr Shotton, by profession a chemist, and the son of a Doncaster doctor, first joined the company as a research worker in the Cheshire headquarters. He has been production manager at Lake Magadi for some years, and, like his friend Mr Pursell, is a keen golfer. Mr Pursell will remain a director of the Magadi Company, of which Mr A.E.J. Gawler is chairman.

Captain of Magadi Golf Club in 1933, 1949, 1953.