His birth is not registered in Hull, One John Boys [sic] was born in Bramley, West Yorkshire in 1874.

In no records do the initials L and F appear.

SE - J. Boyes - Mar 1908

He made friends with the Kikuyu tribe, was admitted to their blood brotherhood, and became their uncrowned king. After a roving and adventurous career, he settled down first as a coffee grower and afterwards as a dairy farmer. For many years he was a Commandant in EA of the Legion of Frontiersmen.  

Stephen Ellis's ledger contains "Beavor Lime Works", John Boyes, Kiambu in July 1908.   

Cuckoo - He was a fascinating character and most likeable man. He was a quiet little man, shrewd of face and deeply tanned, unassuming in manner and not given much to speech. He was a man of action, not words. In his company one breathed the atmosphere of barren deserts and trackless plains. (more pp. 131-135.)    

Ainsworth - It was a year or so after his removal to Nairobi that Ainsworth first encountered John Boyes - story p.56/7. Ainsworth says - 'I believe that before proceeding to Karuri's Boyes was employed by a Colonel Broome as a headman in charge of porters for a journey to Uganda during the Uganda Mutiny.'   

Permanent Way - Introduced and first planted wattle seed in 1901

Jordan - .... [Nairobi] ... you could see old John Boyes, who was a great man among the Kikuyu, riding a small Abyssinian mule ..  

Boyes - C.W.L. Bulpett says -"He appears to have been harshly treated by the BEA authorities. Doubtless much that he did was grossly misrepresented to them by more or less interested parties. He certainly did yeoman's service to the colony in its early days by opening up an unknown and hostile country which lay right on the borderland of the Uganda Railway, at that time in course of construction. His energetic action enabled the coolies on the line to work safe from many hostile attacks. He supplied them with the food without which they would have starved - all for a very small reward, and at great personal risk to himself. But the love of adventure was in him, and such people do not work for profit alone. The life itself brings its own reward. ............. after school returned to England and joined the RNR. Landed in Durban, Natal just after the Jameson raid - Matabele War where he met Baden-Powell. Thence to Zanzibar and Mombasa about 1900? [1898]. ......... Joined up with a trader called Gibbons. At Ravine Gibbons went on to Uganda and stayed there so Boyes inherited waggons and donkeys and started transporting rice for porters accompanying railway surveyors. ............ Back to Kikuyuland then more food to Naivasha and down to Mombasa. Bought trade goods. Sub Commissioner told Boyes that white men were not wanted in the country! ....... Went to Mt Kenya area, to what became later Nyeri, collecting ivory from the Kikuyu, made blood brotherhood with Kikuyu chiefs. ....... to Naivasha to sell food and ivory to indian storekeeper. ..... After 2 1/2 years in Kikuyu country with no white visitors learned that 2 white men were camped at Mberri with a lot of troops and building a fort. This was Mr Francis George Hall and Capt. Longfield. Mr Hall charged Boyes with waging war, setting shauris, personating Government, going on 6 punitive expeditions and committing dacoity. Taken to Nairobi and then Mombasa and jailed ... A friend Mr Claude Smith (trader & hunter) came down to Mombasa to see Boyes. Secured his release on bail of 10,000 rupees. ....... At his trial all charges were withdrawn except dacoity. He was acquitted. ...... Later Boyes took the Governor of BEA, Sir Charles Eliot on a personally conducted tour to the scenes of his adventures ........ Altogether Boyes spent some 3-4 years in Kikuyuland.      

Adventurers - Foreword - John Boyes, as far as EA is concerned, belongs in truth to the small grey company, before the pioneers, and, comparatively young though he is in years, must nevertheless be one of the few survivors of that gallant band ........ Far from being the least distinguished of this notable company was John Boyes, known throughout EA for the last 25 years as 'King of the Wa-Kikuyu'. Indeed, in some ways he appears to me to have been the most remarkable of all. He had less advantages, and smaller - indeed, almost microscopic - resources, than any of his compeers. Although of amazingly strong and resilient constitution, there was nothing outstandingly impressive in his appearance and physique. ...... [Lord Cranworth]  1909 - to the Congo for gold .... hunting elephant in the Congo and the Lado Enclave ....... 1911 - home on leave ... 1901 - safari to Karamoja district in Uganda buying donkeys to trade ........ 1902 - trading in GEA. ..... engaged to act as guide, interpreter and hunter on a safari with Northrup McMillan, Mr Bulpett, Dr. Groat, Mr Marlow and Major Ringer. .............Trading safari to Abyssinia in competition with the Boma Trading Co. Boyes got there and back - The Boma Trading Co. met with all sorts of trouble and reached Marsabit but did not succeed in getting to the frontier.

Cranworth - 'I have often sat spell-bound before his small spare frame and twinkling humorous eyes while he related the tight places he had been in .....…..'  

Kenya Diary - 1902 - Yesterday I paid a visit to Karurie, a major chief of the WaKikuyu ..... He used to have a large store of ivory, but was robbed of this by a white trader called Boyes. This adventurer offered to take the ivory to the coast and sell it. Karurie allowed him to do this, but never saw Boyes again. Boyes is now living in England on the proceeds, and calls himself the King of the WaKikuyu. His kingship would cease very suddenly if he ever put his nose into Karurie's village again. .......... 6th Nov. 1902 - Nairobi - Met a man called John Boyes, a cheerful rogue who some years ago impersonated the Govt. at Karurie's in Kikuyu. The Govt. foolishly brought all sorts of charges against him, but Boyes was acquitted. But I believe he got away with a lot of Karurie's ivory, which he sold at the coast, and never refunded Karurie. I sold Boyes a rifle, but he has never paid me for it; he says he cannot do so as he is broke - a slippery customer.

Stoneham - Mau - John Boyes, whom I knew well, and who died recently at a ripe age. He deserted from a ship at Mombasa, made his way inland, and eventually found his way 400 miles into the savage continent, at length finding refuge among the Kikuyu, who gave him land and made him one of their chiefs. This they did because he showed them how to defeat a Masai war-party, much to their jubilation. He was the representative of the tribe in their negotiations with the Govt. when it was found necessary to run the railway through Kikuyu territory. Boyes had no high opinion of the people among whom he had spent most of his life; he said they were mean, treacherous and disloyal. He told me that a race who mutilated their women (referring to the practice of female circumcision) would never amount to anything. It is a great pity this staunch and wily pioneer is no longer alive to give counsel and information. Perhaps the Mau Mau would never have been able to reach its present proportions had old John been there to scotch its first shoots. But perhaps one of its first victims would have been old John himself.

Curtis - p. 148 - 'A Trading Safari to Marsabit in 1907' - ' ...... John Boyes, who was up in Golbo to relieve Zaphiro, had a very narrow escape. While riding his mule he was seized round the waist by an elephant and thrown to the ground. Not being stunned, he proceeded to get up. The elephant again grabbed him, this time throwing him in the air, and with presence of mind Boyes caught hold of a tree. The elephant, not seeing him, looked round and, finding a boulder which he mistook for a man, sat down and rubbed away until scared off. The stone was fairly rubbed into the earth. .…

Drumkey 1909 - Live-Stock Dealer and Breeder - c/o Norfolk Stores, Nairobi

Land - 1908 - John Boyes - Grazing, 3000 acres, Nairobi River, 5-12-06, Registered 13-6-08

Land - 1907 - J. Boyes - Agricultural, 640 acres, Kiambu, 9-2-04, Homestead, Registered 2-4-07

Advertiser - 19/3/1909 - Big Fire at John Boyes farm - he is in Uganda

Gazette - 4/11/1914 - Appt. - Carrier Corps - To be Lieutenant - John Boyes

Nairobi Forest Road cemetery - Ellen Fredike Boyes, British, age 69, died 2/8/57 and John Boyes, British, age 78, died 19/7/51

Nicholls - WW2 - Nyeri was not an easy administrative posting, having as it did such eccentric residents as John Boyes, self-styled king of the Kikuyu (no Kikuyu ever accepted his claim that members of their tribe had made him king) who was at perpetual war with his aggressive neighbour Paul Clarke, through whose land Boyes unfortunately had to pass to get to his farm.

Verandah - Thika Road - On this road we passed the house of John Boyes, self-styled King of the Wakikuyu. My parents were rather reticent about John Boyes, I suspect because he had a Kikuyu wife. He was a withdrawn mysterious character in 1929 but he had been something of a power in the land, especially among the Kikuyu

Nairobi South cemetery - Child of JB, buried 22 August 1913

SKP - 1938 - Society of Kenya Pioneers - over 30 years in Colony - arrived 1897

mini-SITREP XXXIII - Legion of Frontiersmen - On the 22 June 1951, the Commandant of the Kenya Command, Lieutenant-Colonel John Boyes passed away. His service was conducted by the Reverend G.H.W. Bevington, with wreaths from the Governor, Sir Philip Mitchell, the Nairobi City Council, the Royal British Legion and the Legion of Frontiersmen.

Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Kikuyu - John Boyes, Planter, Kasarini Estate, Kiambu

Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Kikuyu - Helen Frederica Boyes, Married, Kasarini Estate, Nairobi

Red Book 1919 - John Boyes - Settler - Nairobi

Mills Norfolk - Boyes used to say that the things that secured his success were an alarm clock, a bottle of iodoform, and a bottle of fruit salts. When he drank them when they were fizzing hard he convinced the natives that he was a magician able to drink boiling water. At the time the Kikuyu were frequently raided by the Maasai and Boyes became a blood brother, disciplined their warriors and helped maintain peace. .….….….…..

John Boyes was a very keen Frontiersman and said it was the uniform he best liked to wear, because of its asssociation with the great frontier campaigners of the past. He was a common sight in Kenya marching around in full Frontiersmen uniform.

Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Kiambu Voters List

Gazette 4 Sep 1951 probate