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Name: ROBERTS, Allen Quinlan 'Tub'

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Birth Date: 1895 Whitechapel, London

Death Date: 7 Oct 1964 Teignmouth

First Date: 1922

Profession: Farmer, Endebess

Area: Kitale, Hoey's Bridge, Kiambu

Married: 1. In Paddington 30 Aug 1919 Elsie Osbaldeston b. 15 Sep 1899 Chorlton, Lancs. (later m. John Richard Edgar Hall) 2. Mary Josselyn

Children: 7 daughters, incl Gillian Mary (1924-1959); Clare, Judy and Brenda Quinlan (2 June 1922 Naivasha-28 Dec 1944 Portsmouth); Christopher S. Quinlan (1926 Lambeth-1927)

Book Reference: Golf, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Red 22, Trans Nzoia Scrap Book, SS, Gazette

War Service: RE, RE Signals

General Information:

Gazette 27 Apr 1965 probate
Main figure responsible for the construction of Kitale Golf Course in 1924. Captain of Kitale Golf Club in 1933, 1936. Club Champion Kitale GC in 1947, 1952. Winner of the Trans-Nzoia Championship in 1935/36.
Runner-up in the Trans-Nzoia Championship in 1939, 1948. Winner of the Plateau Golf Championship (Grant Hay Memorial) in 1932, 1934, 1937/38, 1947.  Winner of the Goldfields Golf Championship in 1939/40
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Trans Nzoia Voters List
Mount Elgon Saw Mill - In about 1910 Odin Sunde set up a saw mill on the Rongai River which flows down the North-East slope of Mount Elgon. His home-made water wheel drove the circular saw and the rawhide belt was regularly chewed up by hyenas at night. His Post Office was Soy, 45 miles away, and all timber had to be moved the 120 miles to railhead at Londiani by ox-wagons without benefit of roads or bridges. In 1922, with a loan from Henry Mitford-Barberton and in partnership with Sven Lovan and Petter Axelsson, Odin established a new mill further north near the Chepchoine River. In 1927 Edward Josselyn, late works manager of Arthur Ransome & Co., bought out Loven and Axelsson and two years later with Leigh Norman as third partner yet another mill with up-to-date equipment was built near the Kwoitobbos River.
Two of Odin's sons, Odin and Arthur, were by then helping in the family business, and in 1930 Mount Elgon Saw Mills was registered in Uganda. The following year Leigh Norman left the mill and bought a farm near Endebess which he called 'Dunmillin'. When his friends enquired as to the origin of this unusual name, he would only look at them with a twinkle in his very blue eye and we have been left to speculate ever since! In 1934 Edward Josselyn became the sole owner of what was by now a limited liability company, and his son Dick came out from England to learn the trade, which was a fortunate arrangement as Edward died that same year while on a business trip to Rhodesia. Since then the Mill has been run by his wife and son, but in 1937 'Tub' Roberts joined the firm as manager and in true tradition married the boss's daughter Mary.
Trans Nzoia Scrap Book - Visit of HRH The Prince of Wales - ….we waltzed and quick-stepped to such popular tunes of the time as "Ramona" and "A Room with a View", played with infectious enthusiasm and skill by the Kitale Four - Elsie Sale who later became Mrs Beric Brooksbank, Frank Narraway, Gerald Smallwood and Tub Roberts. This band was invited by Muthaiga Country Club to play at the Ball given in honour of HRH The Prince of Wales.
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Lieut. A.Q. Roberts, 21 St. Thomas's Mansions, Westminster Bridge, SE1 - Farm 228
Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Kikuyu - Allen Quinlan Roberts - Planter - Kegeria Estate - Kiambu
Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Plateau North - Allen Quinlan Roberts, Farmer PO Kitale
Gazette 27 Apr 1965 probate

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