Mau Mau Emergency

[Nick]

I had a query from some one wanting to know more about the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya in the 50's. Anyone help ?

Thanks

[John]

Cripes. I know nothing about this theatre. I'll do some digging around.

[bigalni]

What exactly do you need to know......i was out there during the Mau Mau troubles(only 4 or 5 yrs old!) but my dad was an Inspector in the Kenya Police Special branch and im sure can answer most questions>

Alan

[Biscuit Brown]

Regards Bigalni.

A broad overview of the subject would be helpful as , I know nothing about this subject! :food-smiley-004:

BB

[Nick]

I agree an overal perspective would be helpful. ALso out of interest what medals did your father get for his time in the Kenya Police ? I believe the Africa General Service Medal was awarded with Kenya bar for the Mau Mau Emergency.

[bigalni]

The Emergency started just prior to 1950 and the shooting went on until 1958 or 9.
It involved in the main 3 local Kenyan tribes..The Kikuyu.the Embu and the Meru.
The Kikuyu being the prime beligerants who initally started slashing and maiming the cattle of White Farmers.
They wanted the whites out and the end of British imperial rule in Kenya.
The fighting took the form of a hit and run guerilla type war.They moved from killing cattle to intimidating and killing any black who worked for the whites and killing white farmers,and their families often in a gruesome and almost sadisitic manner.
The Mau Mau was the name of the secret organisation to which many of the local protagonists took an oath.
Quite often the servants of white families were forced to join the Mau Mau and when instructed to do so turned on their employers.
My father..who was in the Kenyan Police Special Branch and was involved in Jungle ambushes etc reckons that about a couple of dozen white Police lost their lives and perhaps 500 or so black Policeman were killed over the period of the emergency.
Large numbers of UK police volunteered for the Colonial Force and served alongside local whites who joined....women included.
The british Army and Airforce were involved in the actions in various capacities.
A system of internment was set up and hundreds of Mau Mau and their supporters were locked up in camps and many were hung for murders.
My father recalls being at a camp when 30 Mau Mau were hung for various offences...one after the other.
By 1959 after much slaughter... on both sides... the Police etc virtually had the Mau Mau eliminated or locked up with the last few members hiding in the jungles.

Despite this the British decided to grant independance in 1963..Jomo Kenyatta who was educated in England became President.Funnily enough his son was a camp interpreter working for the British Administration.
A Major figure in the war against the Mau Mau was a man called Ian Henderson who i believe had the George Medal and 2 bars!I stand to be corrected on this !!
The British Police and servicemen were awarded the Africa General Service medal Bar Kenya.Some of the Kenya Police received the Colonial Police Medal.
I hope this gives an outline of the Emergency...i cant be 100% sure of dates and spellings but my dad is pretty sure its correct...and he was there!

Alan

[Nick]

Alan

Cheers for the update.

It is something I new very little about, but I had heard it was a pretty bloody affair.

I find many of these tales of British Colonial Rule fascinating. If your can add any more input with regards specific events I would be most interested to hear about them.

Nick

Edited August 2, 2004 by Chairman

[bigalni]

Further to my last..i must eat humble pie!
Ian Henderson did not receive the George medal and 2 bars ...he only won the GM and 1 bar!
Only!!!!!
Apologies!

Alan

[John]

Excellent post, Bigalni.

Its very hard finding any straight facts on this topic. They hung 30 blokes one after the other? I wish they could do that here....
What did your Father end up doing after Kenyan Independence? He sounds fascinating. wub.gif

[Guest Masarobo]

I was in the Kenya Police during the Mau Mau Emergency, building Police posts in Meru (on the edge of he forest an in Tharaka) and Nyeri (i/c the Crime Squad and Nyeri Police Station. It was an interesting and difficult affair at times. I still have the African General Service Medal with the Kenya bar. We were a Police family, RIC since 1822 as wll as Australia and West Afica. I was the last to leave!

Emigrated to the US rather than return to Ireland and did the academic thing.

[Nick]

Welcome to the forum !

I would be interested to hear any of your experiences with the Mau Mau.

Have you done any research into your family history with the RIC ?

This is another area I am very interested in.

Nick

[John]

Welcome Masarobo,

Fascinating subject. There is very little published about this 'forgotten' conflict. I've also heard that many police officers were pretty much soldiers out there. I would love to hear more.

John wub.gif

[Guest Barwick]

Good Morning Gentlemen !

JOHN BERNARD BARWICK KENYA POLICE INSPECTOR (KILLED OCT 1954)

My brother was a Police Inspector in the Kenya Police

in 1954 and was killed on the road from Mweiga to

Nyeri in October 1954. ambush? accident?

I have been researching for details of my brother's

death and have visited Kenya several years ago, during

which time I renovated a couple of graves in Nyeri

Cemetery.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any of the

circumstances or actually knew him? His name is

John Bernard Barwick and was 23.

I would be very interested indeed to talk to any of

his contemporaries about those times. He was also in the RoyaI Artillery. I am

determined to have his life remembered. He also had a good friend called Humphrey.

It was the response by MASOROBO which caught my attention as he may well have been at the same post.

Can anyone help please?

Godfrey Barwick

High Wycombe

[kpm]

Hi there

This is a sited well worth looking at re the Kenyan Campaign:-

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/kenya/index.html

Ian.

[Nick]

I see that the Mau Mau Campaign has been in the press this week. More compensation claims it seems.

[John]

Yes, Its starting to smell abit. We seem to have opened the floodgates of 'compensation culture'......

[Laurence Strong]

Ha. You should see what we are going thru over here, in relation to compensation claims :wacko: The only book I have on the subject is called "Man Hunt in Kenya" by Ian Henderson and Philip Goodhart, an old book put out by Bantam Books

Edited March 31, 2005 by Laurence Strong

[Ulsterman]

What compensation claims?

The best book I read on the Mau Mau was Frank Kitson's "Bunch of Five". He later was GOC in Belfast in @1971-72 and a great bloke.

A guy at Cambridge-Randall Heather, a Canadian, wrote a cracker MpHil. Thesis on the Mau Mau in the late 1980s. They'll send you a copy if you write the University Library. They talked about it for years.

Also, there was an oral history of the Mau Mau done in the 1980s as well as t"The Savage Wars Of Peace" series on BBC radio4 (and book). A good general overview is "The Trumpets Departs"-another BBc production.