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Name: ELMER, Leslie Arthur (Capt.)

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Birth Date: 19 Jan 1895 Elmswell, Suffolk

Death Date: 31 Jan 1945 Kitale

First Date: 1920

Last Date: 1945

Profession: Farmer. 1936 joined Agric Dept.

Area: Maboonde, Kitale

Married: In Kenya 1922 Katherine Osbourne Lack b. 14 Feb 1898 Lowestoft, d. 2 Oct 1978 Guildford

Children: Anne Elizabeth (Luck) (1924); John R. Lack (1925-1974)

Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Red 22, SS, Janet Keese, Les Elmer, Anne Elizabeth Luck, Gazette

War Service: Royal Artillery - WW1 in West Africa, South Africa, France & Russia

School: Framlingham College

General Information:

Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Trans Nzoia Voters List
Soldier Settlement Scheme after WW1 - Class B - Capt. L.A. Elmer, 39 St. Margarets Road, Brockley, London SE4 - Farm 1244.
Anne Elizabeth - 9 page story of the Elmer family in Kenya including E.W.D. Elmer who arrived in Kenya after WW2
Gazette 12/4/1922 - Brands Registered during quarter ending 31/3/1922 - Captain L.A. Elmer, Farm No 194B, PO Kitale - GE1
Anne Elizabeth - Leslie Arthur - Educated at Framlingham College. He was 19 or 20 when he was sent to South Africa as an agent for Fisons Fertilizer Co. At the outbreak of the 1914 war he enlisted with the Natal Mounted Rifles and served in both the German West African Campaign and the Boer Rebellion. In 1916 he returned to England  and commenced training in gunnery. In January 1917 he was posted to France as Captain with the 135 Heavy Battery RGA and was in occupied Germany until 1919. In October 1919 he was promoted to Major and was sent to Russia to advise Russian generals on artillery procedures. He spent 6 months in Southern Russia where the war with the Bolsheviks was raging, his diary records the indescribable chaos. He returned to England in March 1920. In his Russian diary there is no mention that he was ever involved with the escape of Princess Anastasia, the only princess (unnamed) mentioned in his diary was shot by the Bolsheviks early in 1919. Also the rumour based on fantasy that Leslie was engaged to a princess, either Russian or any other is very unlikely. In 1919 he had become engaged to Katherine Osbourne Lack whom he later married. In 1920 Leslie went out to Kenya as a 'soldier settler' assisted by the British Government which had to make Kenya viable to pay for the war administration and the Uganda Railway. The only economic possibility was farming the great empty areas of Kenya. Leslie Elmer was a pioneer farmer. Later he became a Government agricultural officer. Katherine Osbourne Lack married Leslie Elmer in 1922? She was a highly trained artist in London. She adapted to pioneer life in Kenya with very great courage. She ran the farm Maboonde after Leslie died for 20 years. She returned to England in 1965 and died at Guildford in 1979 [1978].
Barnes - Kitale Cemetery - Leslie Arthur Elmer - born 19 Jan 1895, died 31 Jan 1945
Red 25 - Honorary Permit Issuer
Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Plateau North - Capt. Leslie Arthur Elmer, Farmer, PO Kitale
Gazette 13 Feb 1946 obit.

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