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Name: HARRISON, Charles Newton Maberly

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Nee: cousin of Col. Edgar Garston Harrison comm. 3 KAR, bro of James Kay Maberly Harrison

Birth Date: 29.4.1872 Newby Bridge, Lancs.

Death Date: 17.5.1952 Nairobi

First Date: 1904 January

Profession: Advocate, Solicitor and Notary Public

Area: Nairobi, 1937 Kipsogur Nandi Hills

Married: 1909 Ethel Sandiford who arrived EA 1904 (dau. of Charles Thomas Sandiford of the Railway) b. 1875 India, d. 14 Apr 1969 Thornton Heath, Surrey

Children: Barbara Mary (Larby) (6 Oct 1911 Nairobi-5 Mar 1867 Wiltshire); Althea Nina (Ellis) (23 May 1917 Nairobi-2001 Alveston, Warks.)

Author: Bookref cont: Fox Davies

Book Reference: Gillett, HBEA, Cuckoo, Brewery, O&C, Golf, EAHB 1905, KAD, Red 25, Red 31, Karen 50, Hut, Playne, EA & Rhodesia, Pioneers, Drumkey, Red 22, Land, Advertiser, Pioneers, EAHB 1906, Harmony, North, EAHB 1907, SKP, Masonic, Leader14, Foster, Red Book 1912,

War Service: Paget's Horse, Boer War

School: St Mark's School, Windsor, and Trinity College, Oxford

General Information:

1st residential sec. Nairobi Club, Freemason.
Brewery - Took the Chair at the Annual Meeting of Kenya Breweries in 1926 when the first dividend was declared.  
Golf - Captain of Nairobi Golf Club in 1919
Karen 50 - Founder Member and Debenture Holder of Karen Club in 1937
Playne - The second son of James Harrison, JP for Westmoreland and Lancashire, Mr Harrison was born at Newby Bridge, near Ulverston, Lancashire, on April 29, 1872. Educated at Windermere and at St. Mark's School, Windsor, he was articled to a solicitor in Kendal in 1890; and after passing his intermediate solicitor's examination, entered Trinity College, Oxford taking an honour degree in the Final Law School in 1896. A lover of  the river, he provides the only instance of a medal having been won for coxing (Thames Cup) and rowing (Wyfold Cup) at Henley by the same man after leaving school. He completed his articles and passed his final solicitor's examination in June 1898, with honours. In January, 1901, he joined the ranks of "Paget's Horse", and went out to the war in South Africa, returning temporarily disabled with the rank of Sergeant after 14 months' service, and was granted a pension for six months. Later he joined the firm of Wilson and Mead, practising in Zanzibar and Mombasa, and arrived in Zanzibar in Dec. 1903, finally settling in practice in Nairobi in May 1904, in conjunction with G.H. Mead in Zanzibar and R.M. Byron in Mombasa.
He has been Hon. Sec. of the Nairobi Club since Feb. 1906 ......... and has also held the positions of Secretary and Treasurer to the English Lodge of Freemasons in Nairobi.
East Africa & Rhodesia - 5/6/52 - Mr Charles Newton Maberley Harrison, who died at his home in Nairobi on May 17 in his 81st year, first went to Zanzibar in 1903 to join Wilson and Mead, solicitors, to whose Mombasa branch he was soon transferred. Not many months later the partnership was dissolved, and he settled in Nairobi, then in its early pioneer stages, as one of the first advocates to reach the Kenya Highlands. He continued in practice until 1929. He was the first honorary (residential) secretary of the Nairobi Club, of which he was afterwards chairman for some years, and he knew and was known by almost all the Europeans up-country in Kenya until war broke out in 1914.
Born at Newby Bridge, Lancashire, he was educated at St. Mark's School, Windsor (now the Imperial Service College), and Trinity College, Oxford, and then qualified as a solicitor. Soon afterwards he went to South Africa with the Imperial Yeomanry for the South African War, throughout which he served with Paget's Horse, receiving the medal and 5 clasps for his services. In the 1914-18 war he was in the Nairobi Defence Force.
At Oxford he coxed the Trinity boat which won the Thames cup in 1893, and he rowed in the boat which won the Wyfold Cup at Henley 3 years later. For many years in East Africa he did much shooting and fishing, and he had a wide range of literary and other interests. It was his initiative which led to the formation of Sukari Ltd. He was among the earliest Kenya settlers to use aircraft for his journeys, and some years ago, before that mode of travel had grown customary, he had made 12 return trips by air between Nairobi and London and 25 by sea between Mombasa and this country.
He was a keen Freemason, having been seventh Master of Lodge Harmony, Nairobi, and from 1925 to 1928 he served on the Nairobi Municipal Council.
East Africa & Rhodesia - 13/12/56 - Mrs C.N.M. Harrison, who at the age of 82 has left Nairobi to live in England, has given her house in Kenya to the East Africa Women's League for use as a home for old people.
Drumkey 1909 - Pleader, (Mead, Byron & Harrison), Nairobi
Land - 1909 - C.N.M. Harrison - Building Plot, 0.0676 acres (extension), Nairobi Township, 19-4-09, Registered 3-6-09 Web - History of Royal Nairobi Golf Club - At a General Meeting on 18th April 1911, it was resolved to erect a new club-house "somewhere near the fourth Brown". This suggested site was about half a mile further along Ngong Road and was, for that reason, strenuously opposed by Messrs A.C. Tannahill and C.N.M. Harrison who maintained that "only plutocrats with automobiles would be able to enjoy the course as the ordinary person with only a pedal bicycle as means of transport would arrive so jaded as to be quite incapable of properly enjoying his game."
Land - 1906 - C.N. Harrison - Residential 5.14 acres - Nairobi Hill - Freehold - 8/5/1905 - Registered 21/5/1906
Land - 1906 - Mead, Byron & Harrison - Buidling, 1 acre - Nakuru Township - 25 years lease from 1/9/1905 - Registered  28/4/1906
Advertiser - 2/10/1908 - Nairobi Amateur Dramatic Society - "Bluebeard in East Africa" - C.N.M. Harrison - Major Domo
Advertiser - 22/1/1909 - Wedding - C.N.M. Harrison, Solicitor, Nairobi to Miss Ethel Sandiford, daughter of Mr Sandiford, CB, MIAE, MIME, Loco Superintendent of Uganda Railways
Pioneers - The Coopers of Kirawa - Jim Cooper - My uncle Archie Cooper, went to BEA in 1896 as assistant accountant to the Uganda Railway. In 1904 he suggested to my father, Douglas Cooper, that he should take up land in partnership with himself, two Harrison cousins and J.H. Gailey. The immediate object was to grow potatoes for the South African market. Their capital was £500 and a lot of hope. ……. C.N.M. Harrison was a lawyer and founder partner of the Nairobi law firm. His cousin Edgar, was a cowboy in Texas before getting a commission in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. He was seconded to the Sultan of Zanzibar's army in 1896 and took part in the Arab revolt and the Uganda Mutiny. Amongst other exploits he marched from Machakos to Jinja in 21 days with his company, fighting an action at Ravine and at Mumias on the way. He was awarded a CB and DSO for his services.
Member of Lodge Harmony - Joined 3/7/05, age 33, Solicitor, Nairobi
North - Land Grant application, Kiboko River (withdrawn) 24-1-1904; Partnership of Mead, Byron and Harrison formed Mombasa April 1904; Land Grant application, Nairobi Hill 7-7-1904; Secretary of the Masonic Lodge Nairobi Dec 1905
SKP - 1938 - Society of Kenya Pioneers - over 30 years in Colony - arrived Jan 1904
Masonic - The Progress Lodge, Nairobi, consecrated by W. Bro. C.N.M. Harrison P.PRES, DBGP, on 16 Dec 1914
Foster - partner with H.D. Cooper on 3000 acre coffee farm - Thirwa Farm - at Kabete; later founded the legal firm Hamilton, Harrison and Matthews.
Red Book 1912 - C.N.M. Harrison - Nairobi
Fox Davies - second son of James Harrison Esq., b. 29 Apr 1872 - brother of J K M Harrison
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Nairobi, South Area - Charles Newton Maberly Harrison - Solicitor, 1st Ngong Avenue and Mrs Ethel Harrison - 1st Ngong Avenue
Cuckoo - Firm called Harrison and Grant. President of the Oxford & Cambridge Society - 1926
Gazette - Voters List 1936 - Nairobi South - Charles Newton Maberly Harrison, Solicitor, 1st Ngong Ave., Box 521, Nbi and Mrs Ethel Harrison, married woman, 1st Ngong Ave., Nbi
EAWL.org/weal-house Ethel Harrison: WEAL HOUSE 1957 For many years the EAWL had been hoping and planning for some land and a building of its own in Nairobi. This hope crystallized into a plan when Mrs. Anderson, President of the League, put forward the scheme for a residential Club as a home for pioneer women. Soon after the resolution "that the time had come when the League should consider a home for the pioneer women of Kenya” had been passed Mrs. Ethel Harrison offered the EAWL her house and grounds in 3rd Ngong Avenue as a gift in trust for this purpose, to be known as Harrison House. Mrs. Harrison was herself a pioneer, for she came to Kenya in 1904, and the house she offered as a memorial to her husband had been her home since 1911.

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