A British Family in Kenya (early 1950s)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ต.ค. 2015
- A British family visit friends or relatives in Kenya to attend a wedding. With their cine camera they record aspects of the country which provide a fascinating insight into colonial life, and scenes of wildlife, Nairobi and Nakuru.
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I was born in Nairobi in 1944 and lived in Kenya until I got married in 1964 and left for University in Scotland. I then migrated to Australia and have been home to Kenya many times since. I always remembered Mzee Kenyatta's speech when Kenya achieved self government in 1963 and then full independence in December 1963. Mzee said that the settlers of which I was a member of a settler family would be welcome to stay and help build Kenya together. Mzee then went about keeping the colonial way of doing business with a bureaucracy that is today still the same. Mzee went to London University and also was educated in Moscow. I never felt superior in any way to my fellow Kenyans nor did I take sides with any religions. The past is just that the past and I have good friends still from those days so long ago. Kenya is growing so fast in the cities the population has grown from 7 million in the 60s to 50+ million today. I will always call Kenya home.
the colonial idea which included the settlers was a terrible scourge to the natives. their puppet kenyatta and his family was a much greater pain that entrenched modern neocolonialism to this day. the struggle for true independence goes on.
Impressive account. I grew up in Kericho tea plantations. As a student of history, I always wanted to learn more about how life was like back then. Sad that a number of the British homes we grew around have been demolished possibly due to being considered insecure. Still, impressive castles remain telling a story of British architectural ingenuity and workmanship.
Freedom is power which is not given but taken. @@africatodayke
Greetings to you can you help me come to Europe or Australia?
Descendant of your forefathers who went around the world to kill and steal from native people. Your days are numbered on this planet.
Thanks you for this posting and especially your considered commentary. Having been born there in the early 50’s and watched countless home movies of all the same subject matter, it has been an interesting journey. When you are a kid, you never understand things like race, class etc and it’s only in my later years that I realised what a privileged early life I enjoyed in that beautiful country .
When did you leave Kenya? Do yoou still visit?
wouh. was born about 25 years later. i love history. thank you. thank God for youtube
Thank you for this video ...lm obsessed with kenya's colonial history
mims you and me both!! fckin theives!!
mims I am as well. It seems rather nostalgic to me. I must say it seems so idyllic and beautiful.
Hey mims- any recommended reading? I’m reading ‘Leopard at the door’ by Jennifer mcveigh
+burnman which cancer?
lets start a history club@@TrancEndingMedia
thanks a lot for posting such memories....can you upload more?
Fantastic! Great that they took this video!
On the hills....thats GilGil town old highway Nakuru Nairobi road.
Beautifully narrated!
Those hills in Nakuru still look the same today ...this is wonderful
Bro hills and mountains don't change they will stay forever those are naturalade by God ,the ones that are artificial are the ones that will not last forever
Hahaha 🤣🤣!they migrate not!made my day
Funny the narator saying the majority of the people seems to be Africans while it's 60,000 British people came to Kenya. This is a black country.....very ironical say that
I'm white and I agree pretty stupid statement if that's what he meant?
True. Time to ship Africans out of Europe
Kenya is still ruled and controlled via proxy
To be quite honest,the outskirts of the towns looked better then than now !.
@Neon Dawn they do. Tuongee tu ukweli.
@Neon Dawn "empire is dead" which Empire? if you are referring the British Empire I think every person on planet has know this since it was dismantled 50 years ago.. so maybe you should stop the cultural appropriation and stop conversing in the English language of the dead Empire and start learning Chinese the new owners and imperial masters of Sub-Saharan states
@Neon Dawn Ah.. a Brit hater eh.. you seem to be the one doing the ranting most concerned about the demise of the British Empire and denial that China is the new Imperial overlord of post-colonial 'independent African sub-Saharan states..
geesh it only took a mere 50 years of 'Independence' for the inept murderous kleptocratic regimes to rob their countries blind and into abject poverty and invite their new Imperial masters in..at least with the British Africans had the excuse that the British were to strong while this time around they just sold the lot willingly.. what a useless load of morons..
tell you what do us all a favour and start conversing in language.other than English a people and a culture you dislike so much..
So what
3:58 on a tractor wearing a suit and a tie - priceless....
Their pride arrogance was through the roof and go they must!
This is amazing seeing our grand parents on screen
You have no shame, land grabber
Wonderful footage and narration .....
Has to say I liked it. I was not born then but to see how life was in colonial kenya,is amazing. I wish I could see a kenyan recording of the same with their perspective.....(a tall order considering how much a video camera cost those days relative to African incomes).
Yes,I agree with all you wrote.
You wouldn't be free to move around. You'd be in a concentration camp if they found you site seeing the highlands. Or worse.
You seem 2 be but out of touch with the reality back then. Nothing was 'amazing' about a trail of innocent blood of natives by your exalted race of peoples of an organized crime syndicate!
awesome channel!!
At 4:35 this is the Menengai Crater near Nakuru (actually a caldera). You can see smoke rising from it. I've been there several times. Great to watch.
This is a national treasure. History that we cannot afford to lose.
National treasure? You savor watching nasty colonialists roaming your backyard? What is wrong with u
National treasure ur ass
Thank you. Fascinating.
Nope. unfascinated by colonialists in my backyard.
If you ever wanted to read a book that chronicled the cruelty of the colonial government, Imperial Reckoning is that book. It's very difficult to get through.
Very difficult. Esepecially to the locals who were held in camps.
even this video doesnt sit right with me it's fascinating to the descendants of our slave masters though
@@MrKenanthebossI wonder what your reaction would be if you did a dna test and found your ancestors sold slaves. Old footage is indeed fascinating.
@@boocackeedquackhead8454 that isn’t true since there was no Slave trade in Eastern Africa, West Africans had the transatlantic Slave trade. When East Africans were slaves they were traded to the Omani Kingdom in the Middle East thats the only slave trade that happened in EA. This Video only shows what the Brits enjoyed on Stolen land, its no reason to argue about it now but that’s the truth, my own Grandma saw her parents killed by Monsterous british soldiers after they refused to take their religion and to this day that religion is all she has to remember them.
@@leonshamalla05 You are a moron.
I've stayed and lectured at Egerton University in Njoro in this region. This is one of the most amazing countries on earth.
Sic donec
Thank you! Almost like having a time machine
That was splendid, Sir! cant believe i was born in the 90s missed so much!!! Almost made tear a bit.
you want to be have been born during colonialism?
Your mad!!
You would have been a servant boy back then, and is that what you wish for dumbass! 😂
Missed a lot of ass whoppings and torture. How's that for something to tear up about.
Poor boy you must be thinking you'd be a lord living in a palace in the white highlands of Nakuru 😂😂😂😂😂😂
A tea boy would be your best occupation at that time
And after feeling the cruelty and suppression of the colonizer; then you could tear for the right reasons
You’re kidding me
The town at 7.45 is definitely Nakuru. Alot has changed.
Felt like I was there, good narration
At 10:41 I think I see a pupil from 'Duke of York' School in school uniform as he walks quickly by the camera.. I attended the Duke of York in the mid 1960s
thanks for posting .
Are you still alive
+Ibrahim Gerrard hehehehehehe thats funny
@@ibrahimgerrard611 fuck off
@Lameck K go and be unpleasant to someone else.. silly little boy
@@MartinIDavies Can I please interview you?
Was this the case 2 years after vid was taken # MAU?
My home. Nakuru my childhood home. Previous white owner of our farm was Hugh's.
Very interesting clip...any family here that lived in Embu district in the 40/50s?
Someone please educate me on the music. Who composed “Finlandia”? Jean Sybileus.
This orchestration May be from theScandinavian Chorale(?)
I think it’s by Mendelssohn, the Hebrides Suite.
Those 'British' kids are all grown up and speaking Swahili
After working for white people, I now know these people were probably broke back in England
And here I am thinking they are all dead and in hell.
Bwana Wade's relatives all perished in the Mau Mau uprising. Such was life in Africa in the those old days.Bwana Wade and his family certainly knew how to dress sensibly for the tropics with their suits, ties and jackets. Mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun.
I spent 27 years of my life in Kenya (not KEENYA as pronounced here!) So glad I arrived during 1973, well after Independence!.
Where do you live now? If i may.
Oh, so you r leeegal smh!
The british has enjoy a nice life..grabed the white highlands and the kenyan ppl was get poor.
white highlands.. as it happens Africans did not like the highlands as it got to cold for them
@@MartinIDavies JA JA JA. So basically justifying that the people they found and tortured in the highlands were non-existent😂 next level white appropriation
@@makanaki513 "people they found and tortured in the highlands"
provide specific examples of both the 'torture'' and African farming practices in the white highlands prior to European arrival in early 1900s.. you wont be able to because Africans shunned the cold of the highlands and the 'tortures; never happened, I await your enlightened revelations
@@MartinIDaviesyou are delusional
@@florencemaelo7393 go away
The Hypocrisy in this Video is sickening
The commentary tries to avoid comment whiles offering a level of. Explanation about what the family are seeing and doing. Of course they are part of a sickening era in Britain’s dealings with the countries it colonialistes, and it reflects the British family’s values rather than ours.
I love my country
Send more videos 😃 or I must time travel and see it for myself
The British did this all over the world. America, Australia, Africa. The manor houses of England were built with the wealth from resources of lands and people they conquered. It's amazing what a heavy footprint such a small country had in the world. Language is their longest lasting legacy.
The narrator and video shots seem as though you are talking about North Korea.
The tractor is a 1952-53 Ford Jubilee Model. We farmed with one and still own it.
Would be glad to see it
I remember our arrival in Kenya🇰🇪 in those fun days and remember first sight of Rift Valley en route to Olkalou wanjoi valley
do you remember a farm in lanet on your way to olkalou?
Fun days you mean colonial? F**k you
What do you remember white man?
@@kemetancientafrica Great scenery and landscapes plus wonderful people
@@JETPROPify Bullshit. How many people did you kill under colonial rule?
7:48 that's THIKA town what a wonder
The Church at 2:19 looks like the All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi...
Fascinating. It all looks so peaceful and civilized and the people are well dressed. Nobody seems to be armed. I wonder if the Mau Maus had started their uprising when this was filmed.
can't help but notice an undertone of disapproval and disdain toward these fortunate British visitors as if they are doing something wrong or bad by recording what must sure'y have been their holiday of a lifetime
Id love to converse with you! You studied in Duke of York?
@@Kenyan_Lady Yes I did indeed attend DUKO in the mid 60s.. I loved Kenya.. pronounced in the colonial fashion Keenya.. don't you know.. as we sat on the veranda at the Norfolk Hotel as the sun went down.. :-) do you know anyone who was also a pupil at that country club prison that was DUKO or our sister school Princo
@@MartinIDavies No sorry, I dont know anyone who did. It must have been a good life. I was just curious to listen to what you have to say
YOU WERE OCCUPYING LAND THAT WAS FORCEFULLY ACQUIRED!!!!!
@@makanaki513 I don't understand your point. All land in Africa was acquired as each African tribe displaced weaker tribes
Very beautiful
Settlers not tourists;)
Myfather employed by the Kenyan govt as a teacher
I found it very interesting, what a pity it was poor photography ( Cameras ) I was there from 1952 to 55 in and around the white Highlands and Nairobi.
ooh wow really?
Write something about your experiences??
Welcome back again colm m., it's a great pleasure to hear that as a youth of the Land, write something else that you saw going on or any experience
... some of us witnessed in real time the tail end of the Muzungu's privileged life in Colonial Kenya !!!
If only the words of Mogo wa Kebiro would of been heeded, warning about the British, to be courteous to them but be suspicious of their intent, to keep them far from Gikuyu home land. That they would bring a great Iron snake that would stretch from the Ocean to what we know as Lake Victoria. He warned that Gikuyu and their neighbors would suffer because of them. There was a saying - Gtire ondo wa dneriri, nagowo Coomba no okainoka. / "the Europeans will no doubt, eventually go back to their own country." Well so much for that. I do have to say that Kenya owes a lot to how it is today because of Colonialism, still it upsets me though today. NOW Kenya welcomes China, building a NEW Iron snake. I wonder what Mogo wa Kebiro would have to say about them? China is rapidly becoming the new Colonialism. Sadly I could see the resurrection of the Mau Mau happening all over again. I guess we get what we desirve, we are friendly and kind to our own fault. Africa does not belong to them, it belongs to the children of Ngai.
Remembering of course that the Kikuyu only migrated to around Mt Kenya 400 years ago
The ciengere will keep coming until the day we build shrines for our wise counsellors, our ancestors. That is what The great Mugo said.
I have a question, would you rather be ruled by the British or the Chinese?
@@memegod4433 Would you rather be a slave or free man? Some questions are silly
I was with you up to this pint: "I do have to say that Kenya owes a lot to how it is today because of Colonialism," What EXACTLY do we OWE people who stole our land, plundered our resources; tortured & killed our people, castrated our men & raped our women with broken glass & put cayen pepper in their private parts?!? And these monsters dared to call us "savages"? The thought of what these godless thieves/murderers did to my people turn my stomach! And all this white washed narration rendered in a sweet tone by obviously someone who agrees with the evils the colonialists brought to Keya & the rest of Africa also sickens me!!!! And, yes, re the Chinese poses same danger ro the whole of Africa. It's another menace already happening, alas, but I guess our so-called leaders never learned about history being repeated.
Thanks for these colonial relics which we swallowed, hook, bait and sinker. We must start decolonising our way of doing things. Give us one on kimathi
Looks so British...
Nakuru, Kenya's second City...
Juddie Charity - Not yet a City dear.It is a work in great progress.Almost there,though.
It was at that time.
Machakos was also Kenya's capital at some point. Things change over time.
Wonderful footage, I enjoyed watching, thanks for sharing.....However, I did not notice any race/class divide in the footage.......I simply saw different cultures at work......Different dress, different ways.....:)
People tend to fuel division that way, instead they shu'd just say diversity
@@tonnyanthonys2159 Stop denying reality racial divide in British Kenya was so evident in the workplace. Your father and mother would have died as a servant of a British family till today.
If you’re white that is so easy to say or not notice but from the native perspective that’s a very different story. There was a huge divide between race and class, it’s what the British brought with them and they promoted it in all their colonies since they first arrived as a way of dividing, conquering and ruling. They excelled at it and they caused much damage with it.
@@gregoryemmanuel9168, I couldn't say it better. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.
@@gregoryemmanuel9168why do you say that? There's only a such thing as white or "native"? Fascinating, is this a global phenomenon?
I wonder if Richard Dawkins remembers this Kenya?
He doesn't. He left at an early age
Nakuru my childhood Town HOME OF FLAMINGOES!!!
I can clearly see Jamia Mosque
So, the majority shouldn't be Africans? Or am I confused, maybe this is a London borough 🤔
As far as I gather, he is not talking generally about Kenya, there, but about that specific town/city, which I believe is Nakuru. Which was founded by the British and located in the so called White Highlands, the area reserved for European settlement. So the statement is not as stupid as some here make it out to be.
@@guiltydwarf495 delusional
Apart from Nairobi Kenya has not changed much
Are you blind?!
@@MaddoxKillgore i don't she's a Kenyan. Probably a Somali
@@neilnelson7603 and what's the problem of being a Kenyan somali? Are we not natives of Kenya? Actually we settle in 21% of total Kenyan land
Kenyans could have suffered from apartheid like South Africa.
Not in a month of sundays.
I actually doubt that.
Don’t get me wrong, the British were quite racist in Kenya back then but segregation wasn’t a thing like in SA at the time
@Mundia Kamau how is the problem in relation to our skin color?
@Welsh Rebel 😂😂 Britain today is a joke, get out of the EU then talk
theTurkanaBus we are trying. I do hope PST brexit we will look to the commonwealth for our future, as equals, we could work together for our own good!
most of the people in this film are long gone.
Not really, I'm one of them, I was born in 1953 and I'm now 68. I'm one of the little boys you can see in the swahili village, present day Pumwani.
@@mutuuramwangi1913 what was it like then?
Abu nuwasi yuwapi hapa???
@Ali Ali we mbona mkundu wa kawaida tu, mkundu wako ulio jaa mishushu , kumamako , msenge sugu wewe mwenyewe mkundu wa malengelenge . mwanaharamu mkubwa laana za molana ziwe juu yako
@Ali Ali kumamako , mkundu wako wavunja damu , kanyonye mboro wewe umezoea kunyonya kisha ushushiwe mdomoni shoga mkubwa , mwanaharamu , umezoea kukalia mboro msenge wewe , mi sitombi masenge katombwe huko mbele mbele , mkundu wako umefumuliwa vibaya sana mpaka hauezi zuia ushuzi kazi kujishutia ovyo ovyo tu kumamako, Shoga mkubwa,
Toeni astaghfirullah waislamu nyinyi kweli? Hatoingia peponi mwenye mdomo mchafu!
I wonder what Kenya would have been like without British invasion?
@@thonks8729 i disagree. Kenya is in the mess it is right now because of colonialism. Instead of allowing us to develop our own systems, institutions and way of life, they imposed their imperfect western one on us. A system where the elite few (back then the white Brits) ruled and everyone else suffered. Up to now, it is still the same story, except the elite few are our corrupt leaders and a few others. Decades later we still suffer from corruption, poverty and tribalism because of THEIR systems. Don't ever believe that the British 'saved' us from anything. Maybe it would have taken more time, but we are forever worse off because of them.
@@Blabla6676 I couldn't agree more!
@@thonks8729 if you define a functioning society as one of social segregation, discrimination and white supremacy then, yes, Rhodesia was. They did take great lengths to develop it for themselves and only them. They never cared about us.
Also, how could tribalism exist before colonialism? It's a direct result of forcing over 40 tribes into one country. Are you also a Kenyan?
White people at it again. Kenya would be just fine without British invasion
True and foolish sending them away they could let then stay like south African
No video footage of the british concentration camps there then ?
And your point is ?
You compare those camps like they were like the ones in Germany, they weren't, the were internment camps! To try and stop the mau mau from massacring innocent villages, full of Africans, not whites!
and no video footage of the Mau Mau atrocities against the thousands of innocent Africans that were savagely murdered. by Mau Mau
This was in the early 50s mahn mau mau uprising was in the making but the actual struggle for independence started in the late 50s and commenced all the way to the early 60s
God's own country.Such a great life in those days!!!😢
Back in the days when Africans couldn't own property in their own country... It's infuriating how ignorant you are-a total disgrace.
It's not "Keen-yah", it's "Ken-yah"
no its Keenya thats how any Britanian would say it
Mzee Kenyatta once said " We had the land & The Missionaries had the bible,they taught us to pray with our eyes shut, & when we opened them we had the bible & they had the land!"
How ironic, Kenyatta ended keeping the grabbed land for himself and his cronies
@@timtalk6285 just like his son, Uhuru gave a speech to some international investors of how Africa is not for the taking but the guy has awarded his family with state contracts and pushing a sham referendum called BBI
It was absolute and true, unless you are sober and alert even your closest friend or neighbor will rob you everything you have or even your religious Leaders#the world is evil,no trust exists
that Mzee after our independence decided to take a large portion of his for himself and his tribesmen
His family ndio wahizi
Kenyans did not choose to live in Shanti towns. It's funny how you didn't record apartheid going on or the ongoing racism. You didn't even go near the small black children on their land. It's not this family's property. It belongs to a black kenyan family that was stolen as usual.
This should come with a trigger warning
Grabs popcorn
Kenya, like all other former British colonies in Africa, has thrived since independence, with greater prosperity, better infrastructure, health services, education, rule of law, and much less corruption than they would ever have had if British rule had contimued.
yes kenya of today and the the kenya of 1950 are vastly different, there is greater prosperity, kenya is now a middle income country with alot better infrastructure,health,education,rule of law than there ever was during to the colonial period, a visit to nairobi city should open your mind so you can reflect on the growth and changes, yes so indeed kenya has made alot of progress
Legends says that that hyena is long gone and dead
All these folks in this video are probably dead by now
All these people are probably now dead
not the kids. my grandad was there in the early 50s, his father working in the military. he's 70 now.
Where is the segregation camp
To me it looks as if the whole country was a segregation camp.
The narrator's dripping condescension and latent contempt is distracting.....
the fucking nerve of these Caucasians
They stole from us
I can't! These people don't even belong there. So disrespectful to these African.
Tiresome, politically affected commentary. So droll, so lame.
Fact is, the British made Kenya, brought hope, law and order, investment, opportunity and prosperity for the future.
Life was good by then ,,mzee jomo was fool to send White pple ,yet he could do like Mandela Kenya was good place like south Africa
There is nothing i hate more than an African that glorifies institutional racism imposed by Europeans. South Africans form majority of poor in South Africa right now. Nothing to be proud of.
@@neilnelson7603 that’s the lowest form of a person in society… they can’t think 🤦🏾♂️ they should experience some racism and then follow up with reviewed comments
get your facts right Jomo Kenyatta did not chase any whites
they themselves decided to left the country the killings of the whites by the maumau was so out of their expectations they thought they were safe but maumau proved to be slick with their killings even to the extent of killing their own tribesmen and women who were siding with the whites
now tell me who would like to stay in a place where they will be in fear of what the people might do to them no British would have done so if you ask me
and I agree with you the beauty of this country back during the colonial times was all because of the whites but the labour was from the Africans like you I wish that a good percentage of them should have remained in the country instead of fleeing back to britain
Seem watu wa lake side hawana akili, ndio maana wanajiita lueopena, seem you like to be huma toilet
There will always be a race,/class divide. There has always been. There has always been a religious divide. There will always be. It is not a great problem until one side or the other shoves their religion/race/class into another's face. Kenya at that time seems, emphasis on seems, to be prosperous for some but not poverty stricken for the natives. It is more usual for natives to emphasise the divide on nationalist grounds rather than on economic or racial grounds. Kenya got a lot of benefits from the hated Brits. Cars, buildings, architecture, agriculture. The little Ferguson tractor..so very British. Lots of cars .. so very British. Road development. So on. They should have used colonialism to their advantage. Anyway the clock has ticked on. Africans like to play drums and dance and fight. Islam is taking advantage of their complacency, and is becoming the oppression of the future
Hardly went through your lengthy snooty British rant. Glad the likes of you don't exist in modern day Kenya.
If there was a hard truth this is it! Africans never learn!