Some Plateau Personalities
J McNab Mundell
... arrived at the place where Eldoret now stands in 1910. His uncle, John,
was Chief of the Clan McNab and the Mundells claim direct descent from Robert
the Bruce. He opened a little trading store with Wreford Smith which soon
afterwards acquired the dignity and importance of becoming the local post
office. To this
was added a bar, the 'Ratpit', which had its door broken about 3 a.m. one
night by a very thirsty person. The door was not replaced for a whole year and
during that time the few settlers in the vicinity helped themselves to the stock
when they pleased and left in payment either cash or chits. It is interesting to
note that not a cent was lost.
J C Shaw
... came to open a branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa in a room
adjoining Eddie's Bar (the Ratpit). When the safe was off-loaded from the wagon
it fell against the mud wall and knocked over the bank. The bank was then
rebuilt round the safe. It had a counter, and Mr Shaw used to take his morning
bath behind it before starting business, after a preliminary visit in his
dressing-gown and slippers to Eddie's Bar.
 |
The first bank in Eldoret was
this mud-walled, tin-roofed structure erected in 1912 for the Standard
Bank of South Africa. On the left is the original manager, Mr JC Shaw,
with his wife and an onlooker. The building continued on the left (not
shown in photograph) into Eddie's Bar and early citizens of the township
used the bank for cashing cheques and the bar next door for spending
their money |
H C Kirk
... trekked up here in 1907 and ran the Sergoit Store for A C Hoey. He
married Amy in the District Commissioner's office. The DC N E F Corbett, did not
like marrying people, so he went on safari and they were married by j C Shaw. A
quarter of the way through the service he decided it was enough. There was no
marriage register in those days. Twenty-two years later friends were surprised
to see an announcement of their marriage; their son, Rex, had gone to America to
learn under Massey Harris and had been asked for the marriage certificate of his
parents. Rex was later Mayor of Eldoret.
Mrs John de Waal
.... then Mrs Dreyer, arrived on 31 January 1911 and travelled all over the
countryside as a District Nurse on a mule, in all weathers. There was only one
doctor, Dr Heard, who also went everywhere on a mule, and it was said that no
call was ever refused. Mrs Dreyer delivered nine of Mrs A Cloete's 13 children.
She was the first to have light from the power station (built in 1933) in her
nursing home.
Juma Rajee
... a Muslim with 3 sons and 6 daughters, came to Kenya in 1904 from India.
In 1907 he came up to the Plateau and lived 11 miles from Eldoret at what is
still called Hajee's Drift, where he had a store on van Breda's land. Later he
also had shops at Kakamega, Sergoit, Karuna, Marakwet and Eldama Ravine. There
was no bridge over the river at Farm 64 then, only one fallen tree, and to cross
the river people went as far as Hajee's Drift. Mr Hajee served on the Eldoret
Municipal Council for ten years.
J van Rensburg
... brought up the first large trek in the'Windhoek'. Those pioneers
consisted of 47 families including two Predikants. From Mombasa they arrived at
Nakuru in five special trains on 18 June 1908. They brought with them 42 wagons
and 72 horses and from Nakuru they travelled in two columns and blazed the wagon
trail to their new home.
Abraham Joubert
... owned farm No. 1 on the plateau. He lived to be 97, and at 90 still made
his own shoes.
L. A. Johnson
... an American, was celebrated for his hospitality. One day Mr Mayer,
proprietor and editor of the East African Standard, arrived and was invited for
the night. At breakfast the next morning he said to LA, 'Do you get your East
African Weekly regularly ?' LA said, 'Sometimes it don't hap up.' He was asked
what he did then, and replied, 'We just use grass.' In 1930 LA discovered gold
at Kakamega and started the first farmers' syndicate. A few months later there
were over 1000 prospectors.
Mr Barker
... used to ride round and tell everyone the news. He was much put out when
wireless came in and there was no news to tell. He died through taking a three
months' supply of sleeping pills in one dose.
Mrs Ortlepp
... was a widow who had her face lifted several times and had permanent pink
on her cheeks. She had married wealthy Mr Ortlepp, a surveyor from South Africa
who built a township which he called Ortleppville (now part of Eldoret). When he
died in 1932 he was buried in Eldoret, but Mrs Ortlepp wished him to be
re-buried in South Africa. She asked the DC whether, in view of the high cost of
transporting coffins, she could put the remains in a box marked 'Bones'. The
answer was no, so Mr Ortlepp remained where he was. Mrs Ortlepp kept a tame
cheetah, and at 60 years old won a competition for the best lady's legs.
E L Steyn Snr
... worked as hard as any, ploughing with a team of 16 oxen, broadcasting the
seed himself by hand from an old buckskin apron, and reaping wheat with a
sickle. Then came the visiting threshing machine which would thresh 50 to 100
bags at a time. He would buy this amount from the farmer there and then - no
middlemen, forms, restrictions, regulations or red tape to reduce profits.
Lt-Col G A Swinton-Home
... took up land at Soy after coming from India on a shooting safari before
the First World War. By 1914 his place at Soy had become quite a village with
his flour and posho mills, stores and hotel. He served with distinction in the
First World War, gaining a DSO, and returned to develop cattle and sheep
rearing, maize, coffee and other crops, and to be at the forefront of every
enterprise in the Soy area. He died in 1960, in his 85th year.
