Gabriel Oguda

Francis Hall's letters are among the earliest colonial records of daily life in British East Africa. In 1892 he commanded Fort Smith in the days before the Uganda railway was built and before Nairobi existed. His orders were to keep the peace between the Kikuyu and the Maasai, to build 150 miles of road, and to re-supply caravans between the coast and Uganda. It was a lonely, hard life in difficult conditions and everyday was an adventure. Supplies were carried by porters from Mombasa, a thirty day march. He was gored by a rhino and mauled by a leopard which he strangled with his rifle, and survived bush surgery and frequent bouts of fever. He made friends with Kikuyu and Maasai chiefs and earned their trust, affection and respect.While on convalescent leave in England he met and later married Beatrice Russell, a colleague's sister, and they walked from the coast to set up house together in Fort Smith. As the railway line from Mombasa inched closer, so the early European settlers started to arrive. But the railway changed everything, and when Nairobi suddenly appeared on their doorstep in 1900, Fort Smith became redundant. The colonial government moved the Halls to Machakos and then to Mbirri in the heart of Kikuyuland to establish a new fort. Six months later Francis Hall was dead from blackwater fever at the age of 40. Mbirri was renamed Fort Hall in his memory and today the town is called Muranga.Kikuyu District is a fascinating account of the life of an early English administrator and settler. It is part adventure story, part love story, part historical document and a true story.