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Name: GAILEY, James Hamilton DSO (Major)
Birth Date: 1870 Edmonton, Middlesex
Death Date: 24.8.1938 Edinburgh
Nationality: British
First Date: 1896 December
Profession: Settler and merchant. Played a very important part in the construction of the Uganda Railway. He was also Engineer in charge of the Kilindini Wharf and constructed the deep water pier for the Uganda-Jinja-Namasagali Railway
Area: Nairobi, coffee farm at Ruiru
Married: In London 1921 Mrs Gladys Edith Annie Roberts née Chaplin b. 15 Sep 1879 London, d. 9 July 1946 Ruiru ( the widow of his partner David Owen Roberts 1871-1915)
Author: Bookref. cont. - Harmony, Globe, DSO, EAHB 1907, SKP, Leader14, Red 19
Book Reference: North, Gillett, HBEA, Permanent Way, Golf, Cranworth, Kenya Diary, White Man, Land 1903, Debrett, EAHB 1905, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, EAS, Hut, North, Playne, Macmillan, EA & Rhodesia, Pioneers, EA Diary 1903, Drumkey, Red 22, Ruiru, EAHB 1906, Gazette
War Service: RE Retd.; WW1 - OC EA Railway Corps with rank of Major
School: Private school and King's College School, London
General Information:
In 1904 he established the business of Gailey & Roberts in Nairobi which later had branches all over EA.
In WW1 he was OC of EA Railway Corps with the rank of Major and was responsible for the rapid construction of the Voi-Taveta Line on which the British Troops were transported to GEA. He also had a coffee farm at Ruiru and married latterly the widow of his partner Roberts.
HBEA 1912 - mentions Gailey and Roberts as having grown tobacco at the Red House Estate, near Nairobi for the last 5 years.
President of Muthaiga GC in 1923. President of Ruiru Sports Club in 1928, 1937/38
Kenya Diary - Mar 1903 - Muhoroni - met a railway engineer called Gailey, who kindly gave me lunch and gave me all the information I wanted about the country from a shooting point of view. .... Apr. 1904 - Muhoroni - met 2 railway engineers, Gailey and Roberts. The former has been out here since the railway started and has built most of the bridges between Nairobi and Muhoroni. He tells me he is fed up and is going into partnership with Roberts. They will import all sorts of hardware, electrical goods and machinery. He is hoping to get a special concession from the railway authorities for reduction in freight from Mombasa. I like Gailey. We dined together this evening in his private railway carriage.
White Man - At the first meeting of the Turf Club in EA in July 1900 - the first race was won by G.H. Gailey's [sic] 'Diablo' ridden by Gen. Cooper.
Land Grant 1903 - J.H. Gailey - Cultivation and building 10 acres - Nairobi - Sept 19 - Freehold. Further Grant 1905? - J.H. Gailey - Agricultural, 640 acres - Kikuyu - Feb 3 - Homestead, Freehold
KAD 1922 - Steward, Jockey Club of Kenya
Red 25 - President, Muthaiga Golf Club. Managing Director, Griffiths & Co. Ltd., Railway Contractors for Uasin Gishu Railway
The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa North - Uganda Railway - Junior Asst. Engineer; Snr. Asst. Engineer at Kilindini Feb 1899; in charge of bridge building between Nairobi and Muhoroni in 1899; On leave June 1899; at Muhoroni March 1903; District Engineer; Land Grant application 22/9/1903, Nairobi; Founder member of firm of Gailey & Roberts
Playne - Gailey and Roberts - "Enterprise is the keystone of success." Messrs Gailey and Roberts recognised this when, early in 1904, they established themselves as retail ironmongers and licensed surveyors. They had previously come to BEA under the Foreign Office, on railway construction, as executive engineers, and after leaving the railway they started as direct importers. .......... The firm occupies two plots in town and one plot on the railway line. Mr Allan Tompson and Mr R. Handcock came in as partners in 1905. The farmer can obtain anything from this firm for agricultural purposes, as they have, together with the Nairobi Engineering Works, practically the sole monopoly in that line. The firm also acts as bankers' agents etc. ........ At present they employ 8 Europeans and several Indians and natives.
Buildings are contracted for by the firm, and easy terms of payment can be arranged. Irrigation works are also carried out, both Messrs Gailey and Roberts having had considerable practical experience in this direction. Mr Gailey, at the time of writing, is in charge of the Kilindini Harbour Extension.
Macmillan - 1930 - The business of Messrs Gailey & Roberts Ltd., was started in 1904 by Major J.H. Gailey who played a very important part in the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway. In 1921 the firm employed 11 Europeans; and the fact that they now employ nearly 80 Europeans is sufficiently indicative of the expansion to which their business has attained. ….. Major Gailey was joined in partnership in the early days by Mr D.O. Roberts, who died in 1916. In 1924 the firm was formed into a private limited company, with Major Gailey as Chairman, Mr G.E. Ramsay, Managing Director, and Mr A.L. Gladwell as General Manager
East Africa & Rhodesia - 25/3/54 - Just 50 years ago two young surveyors, James Gailey and D.O. ("Robby") Roberts, went into partnership as estate agents and surveyors in the hamlet which was to grow into the capital city of Kenya. Commemorative celebrations began in East Africa on Monday, and East Africa & Rhodesia must tender its good wishes and congratulations to those who direct and serve what is now the greatest concern of the kind in East Africa, with 7 branches in Kenya, 5 in Tanganyika, and 3 in Uganda.
I have known the successive and successful chairmen of this outstanding company - James Gailey, G.E. Ramsay, A.L. Gladwell (all now dead) and J.L. Riddoch each of them a leader by right of achievement. They represent as powerful a quartette as the commerce of a young country could be expected to provide; and the best possible testimony that could have been paid to their policy was its adoption without alteration by the great United Africa Company when it acquired control and provided substantial new capital. Foresight, initiative, courage, and character have marked this enterprise throughout.
Red 22 - Steward, The Jockey Club of Kenya
EA & Rhodesia - 15/4/1954 - The Story of Gailey & Roberts - Two young men sat in the light of a hurricane lamp in a tiny shack, one of a hundred or more that made up the shanty town of Nairobi in 1904. They were James Hamilton Gailey and D.O. Roberts, two young railway engineers, heavily moustached in the Edwardian style - survivors who had helped drive a railway from the Indian Ocean to the shores of Lake Victoria …….. Railway … the work was still in its early stages when young Gailey arrived from Britain to join the railway as a surveyor. ……
In 1897 Robby Roberts came to join the survey staff ….. Completed their contracts with the railway and went into partnership as estate agents and surveyors. They had no office; they did their business in the lobby of Nairobi's only hotel. Gailey and Roberts became acknowledged experts. "If you want land, see Gailey. If you want to know where to settle, ask Roberts." [much more]
EAS - 15/1/1903 - Nairobi Races - Entries - Xmas Handicap - Diablo - J.H. Gailey
EAS - 15/1/1903 - Nairobi Races - Entries - East African Stakes - Rabbit - J.H. Gailey
Pioneers - Margaret Elkington - …..Major Gailey had come to work on the Railway and once, when he had been out of a job, he and a companion had sung themselves across South America, singing English music-hall songs.
Gazette - 11/8/1915 - Appt. - Unattached List - To be Major - Mr John [sic] Hamilton Gailey
Member of Lodge Harmony - Initiated 3/7/05, age 36, Engineer, Nairobi
The Globe Trotter 6/3/07 - Mr Gailey made a record trip to Zanzibar last week, the time in which it was encompassed being 95 hours. There was not much time for gossip at stopping places.
North - Licensed to practice as surveyor with D.O. Roberts, Government Road Nairobi 20-2-1904; Surveying for EA Syndicate 30-1-1905; Member of the Nairobi Mounted Section of the EAP Volunteer Reserve June 1905
Barnes - James Gailey became a Freemason at Lodge Harmony in Nairobi on 3 July 1905 at the age of 36. On 7 May 1927 he joined Donyo Sabuk Lodge. According to their records he died on 1 August 1938.
SKP - 1938 - Society of Kenya Pioneers - over 30 years in Colony - arrived 1896
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Nairobi, North Area - James Hamilton Gailey - Planter and Merchant, Kirawa Farm
Red Book 1919 - East Africa Turf Club - Nairobi - Vice-President
Gazette - 4/7/1917 - Birthday Honours - DSO - Temp Major J H Gailey, UL, EAPF
Gazette - 4/5/1921 - Presentation of Honours by Governor - Major J H Gailey - DSO
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Kiambu Voters List
Gazette 10 Aug 1965 probate