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Name: DOBBIE, Matthew Ewart
Nee: bro of Howard Dobbie
Birth Date: 1880 Hamilton, Lanarkshire
Death Date: 19.10.1926 killed in motor accident on Kiambu Road
First Date: 1904
Last Date: 1926
Profession: Established a business as Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith in 1906 and through his skill and craftmanship it prospered and became renowned throughout EA.
Area: Nairobi, Hut - E. Dobbie 1920 Changet Est. Koru
Married: Helena Anne Stephen b. 14 Oct 1884 Kilmarnock, d. Nairobi 31 Mar 1915
Book Reference: Gillett, HBEA, Cuckoo, KAD, Red 25, Hut, Playne, Macmillan, Drumkey, Red 22, Land, Kiambu Scrapbook, Thurston, Gazette, Leader14, Red Book 1912, Barnes
General Information:
Gazette 19/10/1921 - Dissolution of Partnership between Alexander Ferrier and Matthew Ewart Dobbie carrying on business as Farmers and Planters at the Chauget Estate Koru. Dissolved by mutual consent 12/9/1921
Gazette - 27/10/1926 - Probate and Administration - Matthew Ewart Dobbie who died at Nairobi on 19 October 1926
His shop is situated in a central position in the Govt. Rd., Nairobi and he employs one European assistant. There is a good stock of watches, clocks, jewellery etc., of every description, as well as a fine selection of cups, shields etc. for sports, all of which can be engraved as required on the premises. Elephant-hair bracelets, lion claws as hatpins etc as well as ivory cuff-links, are specialities, while general repairs of jewellery, watches etc. are effected. The workshop is fitted with electro-plating and polishing plant, and engraving is done by hand or machinery.
Drumkey 1909 - Jeweller, Optician - Grant's Buildings, Nairobi
Land - 1907 - E. Dobbie - Building, 1 acre (92), Parklands, 8-10-07, Registered 28-11-07
Kiambu Scrapbook - Roads - A murram surface was at least all-weather, its main disadvantage being the tendency to break into corrugations under heavy lorry traffic. One was often advised as a new-comer "to take the corrugations at 40 miles an hour, then you don’t feel them," but this was more like Famous Last Words than good advice when taking a corner (where, incidentally, the corrugations were always the worst) and more than one car went over the causeway in the Karura Forest known as "Dobbie's Drop." It was called by this name after Mr Dobbie, the founder of the still existing jeweller's shop in Nairobi, whose car was the first to go over it and who was tragically killed in this accident.
Thurston - Official Records - CO533 - 475/4 - 1936 - Public Trustee: administration of property of S.E. Dobbie
Thurston - Official Records - CO533 - 484/10 - 1937 - Estate of Mr Stephen Dobbie: Investments made by public trustee of Kenya
Gazette - 16/6/15 - Probate & Admin. - Helen Ann Dobbie, wife of Mathew Ewart Dobbie, died Nairobi 31/3/15 at Nairobi
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Nairobi District - Ewart Dobbie
Nairobi South cemetery Ellen [sic] Anne Dobbie, died 31 Mar 1915, aged 30, wife of the late E. Dobbie?
Red Book 1912 - E. Dobbie - Nairobi
Gazette 21/4/1920 - Registration of Brands - Changet Estate, Koru - TD1
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Nairobi, North Area - Ewart Dobbie - Jeweller, Salisbury Road, Parklands
Hut - car dropped off causeway Karura Forest
Forest Road cemetery, Nairobi Mathew Ewart Dobie [sic] d. 19 Oct 1926