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Name: FIGGIS, Edward Allen Keene KC
Birth Date: 9 Feb 1876 Dublin
Death Date: 26 Nov 1948 Nairobi
Nationality: Irish
First Date: 1911
Profession: Advocate. A well known Nairobi figure in legal circles, partner of Messrs. Daly & Figgis, Nairobi, he was a prominent Freemason. A Member of Irish Bar. Was a resident of Kenya for more than 30 years.
Area: Nairobi, 1930 Box 34, Nairobi
Married: In Rathdown, Ireland 1911 Claudia Florence Grace Campbell b. 16 Apr 1886 Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland, d. 29 Dec 1960 Havant
Children: Edith Joan (23 Apr 1912); Brian Edward Keene (14 Aug 1915 Nairobi-13 Feb 1981 London); Larry; Sheila Marie (Horton) (8 Jan 1914 Nairobi-8 Dec 1996 Auckland, New Zealand)
Book Reference: Gillett, HBEA, Golf, Irish, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Karen 50, Red 22, Harmony, Foster, Barnes, Masonic, Leader14, Red Book 1912, Red 19
School: Aravon School and Dublin University. Junior Moderator Modern Literature, Dublin University; called to Irish Bar 1901
General Information:
Golf - President of the Golf Union of EA in 1933. Vocal efforts on the occasion of the Easter Tournament remind us of another great figure in local golf - the late E.K. Figgis. "Molly Maloney" and "The Mountains of Mourne" were always called for and rendered in his fine tenor voice. As a golfer, Figgis was a staunch Tory who regarded the game as a match between man and man or team and team and who had little sympathy for the modern "card and pencil". He was probably one of the best exponents of the game we have had in Kenya with a great reputation from his native Ireland.
President of Nairobi Golf Club in 1934. Captain of Nairobi Golf Club in 1915. Assisted with the laying out of Muthaiga Golf Course in 1928. Captain of Muthaiga GC in 1927. Men's Champion, Muthaiga GC 1924/5. Winner of Amateur Golf Championship of EA in 1911
Irish - Came to Kenya to join Oscar Daly. A founder member and first President of the EA Irish Society in 1924. Eddie as he was known to his friends was born in Dublin in 1876 and came to Kenya in 1911, in the same year he married Claudine Campbell. He was a well known and well liked personality among the legal profession and elsewhere in Nairobi. Undoubtedly he was the driving force among the founder fathers of the Society. Claudine and Eddie were both keen musicians and were renowned for their soirées where the guests were entertained to supper followed by Claudine accompanying Eddie on the piano while he sang from his large repertoire of Irish and other songs. Guests were encouraged to join in and apparently there was lots of talent among the residents of Nairobi. .......
Claudie and Eddie had 3 children. Brian, who later joined his father's firm of Daly and Figgis, but did not seem to inherit the family musical talents. Larry, who was a most gregarious character, could not read music but was a competent jazz pianist playing entirely by ear. Larry could get a swinging party going in no time at all if a piano was handy. Eventually he became a journalist and left Kenya to work in England. Their daughter Sheila, was indeed musical, singing and playing the piano delightfully. When Sheila married she went to live in New Zealand and ended up as Lady Mayoress of Auckland. A very talented family who originated from the Hodges Figgis family who owned the superb bookshop of the same name in Dawson St. in Dublin.
Karen 50 - One of the original members of Karen Club in 1937
Member of Lodge Harmony - Joined 5/2/12, age 36, Advocate, Nairobi
Foster - Registrar of the diocese of Mombasa from 1917 he was succeeded by Daly in 1937. Figgis died in 1948. He was a partner in the law firm in 1921 Daly, Figgis and Ross
Nairobi City Park cemetery - Edward Keene Figgis KC, died 26 Nov 1948 aged 72
Masonic - District Grand Lodge of East Africa - District Grand Master - 1948
Foster - Church Warden of All Saints
Red Book 1912 - Hon Secretary - Nairobi Golf Club
Red Book 1919 - Nairobi Orchestral Society - Vice President - E.K. Figgis and F.G. Hamilton
HBEA 1912 - Tonks & Grant, Nbi.
Gazette 16 Nov 1936 Voters List 1936 - Nairobi South - Edward Keane Figgis, Advocate, Box 34, Girouard Rd., Nbi. And Mrs Claudie Figgis, Married woman, Box 34, Girouard Rd., Nbi
J.H. Wilkinson-Guillemard, Haidhuru: Mr Figgis was an ebullient quick-witted Irishman, with a ready wit and a fine Irish tenor voice. He had, as a young man, been offered a job by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, in which he would certainly have done well. He and his wife held musical evenings.'
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