Straight on Till Morning (52 page)

33
Out in the Midday Sun
, Elspeth Huxley, Chatto & Windus, 1985; unpublished memoir by Miss Margaret Elkington, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, ref. AFR s.1558.

34
Even in those days, when the accounts of killing ‘big game' read like unmitigated carnage, it was considered wrong or ‘unsporting' to kill any animal ‘in milk'.

35
Unpublished memoir by Miss Margaret Elkington, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, ref. AFR s.1558.

36
West with the Night
, Beryl Markham, Harrap, 1943 and Virago Press, 1986 (UK).

37
Unpublished memoir by Miss Margaret Elkington, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, ref. AFR s.1558.

38
ibid.

39
Interview with Mr Nigel N. Clutterbuck, Salisbury, 1986.

40
Short story by Beryl Markham, entitled ‘Brothers are the Same' written in 1944.

41
Black Laughter
, Llewelyn Powys, Macdonald, 1953.

42
Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986.

43
ibid.

44
Interview with Beryl Markham, Nairobi, March 1986 and letter from Doreen Bathurst Norman to author, April 1986.

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.