45 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
46 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986. ‘I loved running about barefoot. The worst part about it was the jiggers, but the boys were very good about digging them out.’ Jiggers are tiny burrowing fleas which tunnel under the toenail where they lay their eggs. This creates a very painful and irritating sore. The Africans were adept at removing the infestation with a needle.
47 White Man’s Country, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1935.
48 Kenya Chronicles, Lord Cranworth, Macmillan, 1939.
49 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986. Beryl had talked to him of her hunting adventures saying that she ‘always kept her lower body covered with a lungi’.
50 Interview with Countess of Enniskillen, London, 1986.
51 West with the Night, Beryl Markham, Harrap, 1943 and Virago Press, 1986 (UK).
52 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
53 Ernest Hemingway – Selected Letters, ed. Carlos Baker, Granada Publishing, 1981.
54 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986 and Mrs Sybil Llewelyn, Salisbury, July 1986. Mrs Llewelyn’s syce is arap Ruta’s son.
55 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
56 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
57 White Man’s Country, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1935.
58 Letter to the author from Mrs Hilda Furse, May 1986.
59 East African Standard, 25 February 1919.
60 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
61 ibid; and story recounted by Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman in private correspondence with the author, spring 1986.
62 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
63 Letter to the author from Mrs Hilda Furse, May 1986.
64 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
65 Letter to the author from Mrs Hilda Furse, May 1986.
66 From transcript of filmed interview with the late Mr Sonny Bumpus by the film crew of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
67 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
68 ibid.; and interview with Beryl Markham who said she had merely encouraged ‘everyone to run away back to their homes’. The plan failed when a less daring pupil told a teacher.
69 Decree Absolute dated 24 November 1914, London. In 1916 Clara gave birth to a son, Ivone. In 1918 she was to bear another son, James, who was born shortly after Harry died of wounds received in action in France.
70 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
71 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
72 ibid.
73 The protectorate became a colony in 1920.
74 Letter from Mrs Hilda Furse, May 1986.
75 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
76 F.O.B. Wilson was one of several gentlemen who formed ‘cavalry units’ or ‘scout corps’ when war was announced in 1914. These units were given colourful names such as Monica’s Own (after the governor’s daughter), Bowker’s Horse, Wilson’s Scouts, etc.
77 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986, and excerpt from a page of discarded, unpublished manuscript written in 1943, part of which were later used in ‘The Captain and his Horse’ published in 1944.
78 ‘The Captain and his Horse’, a short story by Beryl Markham published in 1944.
79 ibid.
80 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986
CHAPTER 3
1 Letter to the author from Mrs Hilda Furse, June 1986.
2 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
3 Interview with Evanson Muwangi by the film crew of the television documentary World without Walls, 1984.
4 The late Sonny Bumpus, interviewed by the film crew of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
5 It is only comparatively recently that the spelling Maasai has been accepted as the accurate one. Throughout this book, when quoting from other works, the spelling used in the original work has been used.
6 The original Nairobi racecourse was sited in the present-day Racecourse Road; the Ngong Forest Course was not established until 1954 – see Then and Now – Nairobi’s Norfolk Hotel by Jan Hemsing.
7 Interview with Miss Pamela Scott, Deloraine, Kenya, March 1986.
8 Mr R.A. Cole-Hamilton, Keeper of the Register at Fettes College, 1986.
9 ibid.
10 Obituary: The Times, 1945.
11 Told to the author by Mrs Elspeth Huxley and others.
12 Racehorses do not add a year to their age on the anniversary of their birth, but on a specific date each year. Thus, in England, the unfortunate horse born on 1 December of one year would become a yearling four weeks later on 1 January, that is on the same day as a horse born in the previous spring. In an industry where huge sums of money are staked on the performance of two-year-olds, the more mature horse has an obvious advantage. In Kenya the ageing date was 1 August.
13 Story told to Miss Pamela Scott by her father.
14 Letter from Mr Barry Schlachter (Associated Press), May 1986.
15 Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman thought that it was tuberculosis that was responsible for Richard’s tragically early death. However there was a severe outbreak of cerebral malaria in the highlands in 1922 and Beryl told Buster Parnell that this was what killed her brother. Richard was already ill when the disease attacked.
16 White Man’s Country, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1935.
17 Remark by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, in letter to the author.
18 East African Standard, 8 January 1921.
19 ibid., 6 January 1921.
20 ibid., 21 January 1922.
21 ibid., 8 October 1921.
22 ibid., 10 December 1921.
23 ibid., 7 January 1922.
24 ibid., 14 January 1922.
25 ibid.
26 Interview with Mrs Rose Cartwright, Nairobi, March 1986.
27 Interview with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen, June 1986.
28 Interview with Mrs Rose Cartwright, Nairobi, March 1986.
29 The author of Out of Africa, Seven Gothic Tales, etc.; also known by the pen-name Isak Dinesen.
30 Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, April 1986.
31 Beryl always referred to Karen Blixen as Tania. To avoid confusion therefore I have also referred to her as Tania in the text, except when quoting from other works or when using her full name as an author.
32 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 29 April 1923. All translations of Blixen letters from Danish to English were made by Ms Anne Born.
33 Lord Carbery had renounced his title and called himself John Carberry (additional ‘r’ added by deed poll) before this date.
34 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 6 May 1923.
35 ibid., 21 May 1923.
36 ibid., 15 July 1923.
37 Interview with Sir Charles Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
38 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 29 December 1923.
39 Papers of E.A. Dutton, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, ref. Mss AFR s.782.
40 Interview with Mrs Rose Cartwright, Nairobi, April 1986.
41 Beryl repeated this accusation several times to me, saying that Jock became very ‘kali’ (a Swahili word which can mean tough, fierce, hard or angry) when he drank too much.
42 Interviews with Mr Hugh Barclay, Mrs Rose Cartwright and Mrs Molly Hodge, Nairobi, March and April 1986.
43 Report of the court proceedings, East African Standard.
44 I was not able to locate any papers for this divorce despite research in archives in Nairobi. Eventually I ran out of time. Formal research is more difficult in Kenya because of the change in administration after 1963.
45 Obituary, The Times, April 1945.
46 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 27 January 1924.
47 Born Jaqueline Alexander. First married Ben Birkbeck, second by Baron Bror von Blixen, and finally Jan Hoogtery.
48 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, Newbury, May 1986.
49 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 29 July 1924.
50 Mr Carsdale-Luck had a firm conviction that the Maasai belong to one of the lost tribes of Israel and wrote a lengthy book in support of his theory.
51 Letter to the author from Mrs Hilda Furse, June 1986.
52 Interview with the late Mr Sonny Bumpus by the production team of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
53 She was Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, later HRH Duchess of Gloucester. See her autobiography, Duchess of Gloucester.
54 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
55 Letter to the author from Gwyneth, Duchess of Portland, 1986.
56 East African Standard, 27 June 1925.
57 Interviews with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986, and Miss Florence Desmond and Miss Greta Nissen, Surrey, February 1986.
58 Sju Ar I Talt – Bland vita och Svarta, Hjalmar Frisell, Lars Hokerbergs, Stockholm, 1937. Translated for the author by Anneleise Bang.
59 Letter to the author from Doreen Bathurst Norman, September 1986.
60 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 27 April 1926.
61 Interview with the late Mr Sonny Bumpus by the production team of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
62 ibid.
63 Reports in the East African Standard and information provided by Mr Muraguri, the Jockey Club, Nairobi, April 1986.
64 East African Standard, 25 December 1936.
65 East African Standard, 6 February 1926, ‘Bending race won by Beryl Purves on Pegasus’.
66 In fact Wrack did eventually live up to his early promise and won many races as a six-year-old in the hands of a different trainer.
67 Interview with Miss Pamela Scott, Deloraine, Kenya, April 1986.
68 Happy Valley, Nicholas Best, Secker & Warburg, 1979.
69 Interviews with Doreen Bathurst Norman and Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, 1986.
70 White Mischief, James Fox, Jonathan Cape, 1982.
71 Interview with the late Mr Sonny Bumpus by the production team of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
72 Oserian was a vast and beautiful white castle on the shores of Lake Naivasha, a resort about fifty miles north of Nairobi. Built in Moroccan style with minarets, christened the Djinn Palace, and predictably mispronounced Gin Palace, it was the home of Lord Erroll and his second wife Molly, and reputed to be the site of the wilder Happy Valley parties. Story related to the author during interviews with Mr Ryan ‘Buster’ Parnell, Copenhagen June 1986.
73 In an interview with Beryl, I referred to ‘your brother’. ‘Which brother?’ Beryl asked. ‘I had three, you know.’ Further questions revealed that she was talking of Ivone and James Kirkpatrick, her half-brothers by Clara’s second marriage.
74 Interview with Miss Pamela Scott, Deloraine, Kenya, March 1986. Beryl subsequently lightened her dark blonde hair by several shades.
75 Karen Blixen to her mother, 29 May 1927: ‘…The engagement is still on despite all the spiteful rumours.’
76 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 10 July 1927.
77 Interview with Mrs Rose Cartwright, Nairobi, April 1986.
78 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 21 August 1927.
79 East African Standard, 3 September 1927.
80 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 28 August 1927.
81 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 9 September 1927.
CHAPTER 4
1 From the – as yet – unpublished memoirs ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ by Sir Charles Markham, kindly loaned to the author during research.
2 Interview with Sir Charles Markham Bt, Nairobi, April 1986.
3 The former US president Theodore Roosevelt. His safari in autumn 1909 set up a record for its size and organization. There were 500 porters each carrying a 60-pound load.
4 Private correspondence with Mr Bunny Allen, June 1986.
5 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, Berkshire, August 1986.
6 Interviews with Mrs Rose Cartwright, Nairobi, March 1986, and Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
7 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 1 November 1927.
8 ibid., 9 September 1927.
9 Interview with Mrs Cockie Hoogterp, May 1986.
10 Interview with Sir Charles Markham Bt, Nairobi, April 1986.
11 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
12 Interview with Sir Charles Markham Bt, Nairobi, April 1986.
13 ibid.
14 ibid.
15 ibid.
16 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 18 March 1928.
17 The English trainer Fred Darling regarded Hurry On as the best racehorse he ever trained: the horse was never beaten on the English turf, won the St Leger in 1916 and sired three Derby winners. Fifinella, the dam of Messenger Boy (he was originally named For’ard) was equally impressive. She was the last filly to win the English Derby and she won the Oaks in the same year (1916). Messenger Boy foaled in 1924 and was shipped to Kenya in 1928 where he became a significant sire. Ref: The Stud Book.
18 Short story entitled ‘The Splendid Outcast’, written by Beryl Markham in 1944.
19 Interview with Sir Charles Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.
20 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
21 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 25 March 1928.
22 ibid., 1 April 1928.
23 Beryl had previously secured an abortion (with the help of Cockie Hoogterp) in London during her visit there in the spring of 1924. Information given to Elspeth Huxley by Cockie Hoogterp, June 1986.
24 Interview with Mme Viviane Markham, widow of Gervase Markham and Beryl’s daughter-in-law, London, June 1986.
25 Gervase told his wife that Mansfield had never behaved to him ‘as a father’. There was never any outward show of love until the last few weeks of Mansfield’s life. See Chapter 16.
26 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother, 22 July 1928.
27 ibid, 16 September 1928.
28 Private correspondence with Mr Bunny Allen, June 1986.
29 Interview with Mrs Doris Smart, Sussex, May 1986.
30 Private correspondence with Mr Bunny Allen, July 1986.
31 Sport and Travel in East Africa, compiled from the Prince of Wales’s diaries by Patrick R. Chalmers, Philip Allan, 1934.
32 Private correspondence with Mr Bunny Allen, June 1986.
33 ibid.
34 Interview with Sir Charles Markham Bt, Nairobi, April 1986.
35 Extract of filmed interview with Mr Bunny Allen by the film crew of World without Walls, Kenya, 1984.
36 Private correspondence with Mr Bunny Allen, July 1986.
37 ibid.
38 This was written some years after the events referred to. Beryl had not learned to fly at the time of the royal safari.
39 Prince Henry: Duke of Gloucester, Noble Frankland, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
40 Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, Penguin, 1984.
41 Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen, Judith Thurman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
42 Lord Dawson of Penn, the king’s surgeon.
43 Out in the Midday Sun, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985.
44 Sport and Travel in East Africa, compiled from the Prince of Wales’s diaries by Patrick R. Chalmers, Philip Allan, 1934.
45 ibid.
46 Prince Henry: Duke of Gloucester, Noble Frankland, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
47 Private correspondence with the General Register Office, 1986.
48 When th
is writer asked Beryl Markham why she had not denied the rumours surrounding Gervase’s birth, though she knew they were widely believed, she said, ‘I didn’t think it was any of their business.’ This attitude was also conveyed by Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman: ‘Beryl never stopped to think how her behaviour must look to other people, and if she had she wouldn’t have cared.’
49 A comedy by Ludwig Holberg. Information kindly supplied by Ms Anne Born during translation of Karen Blixen letters.
50 Extract from letter: Karen Blixen to her mother 17 March 1929.
51 The Compleat Jockey and the most exact Rules and Methods to be Observ’d in Training up of Racehorses, Gervase Markham, 1568, reprinted by London Woodstock Press, 1933.
52 Prince Henry: Duke of Gloucester, Noble Frankland, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
53 Obituary for Prince Henry, The Times, 11 June 1974.
54 ‘Who is Beryl Markham?’, James Fox, Observer Magazine, 30 September 1984.
55 This silver cigarette box was returned to Beryl by Prince Henry. She kept it with her until her death and it is now in the possession of Mr George Bathurst Norman.
56 Interviews with Mme Viviane Markham, London, June 1986, and Sir Charles Markham Bt, Nairobi, March 1986. Many people stated that Beryl saw almost nothing of Gervase during his infancy but of these informants both Sir Charles Markham and Mme Viviane Markham are in a position to know this for fact.
57 Interview with Mrs Doreen Bathurst Norman, Jersey, May 1986.
58 Prince Henry: Duke of Gloucester, Noble Frankland, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
59 ‘Who is Beryl Markham?’, James Fox, Observer Magazine, 30 September 1984. In this article James Fox refers to the RAF Club in Piccadilly as the place where Beryl was living. Since Beryl was a member of the Royal Aero Club also in Piccadilly, this is more likely to have been her address after her separation from Mansfield.
60 Beryl had been a frequent visitor to this club since 1928 – interview with Mrs Doris Smart, Sussex, May 1986.
61 Prince Henry: Duke of Gloucester, Noble Frankland, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
62 Sir James Ulick Alexander CGB, GCVO, CMG, OBE, was educated at Eton and served in the Coldstream Guards. He was Comptroller to HRH the Duke of Kent 1928–36, Keeper of HM’s Privy Purse and Treasurer to His Majesty the King 1936–52, and to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1952.
63 Mr C.D.S. Clogg died on 5 June 1986.
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