Race for Distinction A Social History of Private Members' Clubs in Colonial Kenya Dominique Connan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 09 December 2015 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Race for Distinction A Social History of Private Members' Clubs in Colonial Kenya Dominique Connan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Stephen Smith (EUI Supervisor) Prof. Laura Lee Downs, EUI Prof. Romain Bertrand, Sciences Po Prof. Daniel Branch, Warwick University © Connan, 2015 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Race for Distinction. A Social History of Private Members’ Clubs in Colonial Kenya This thesis explores the institutional legacy of colonialism through the history of private members clubs in Kenya. In this colony, clubs developed as institutions which were crucial in assimilating Europeans to a race-based, ruling community. Funded and managed by a settler elite of British aristocrats and officers, clubs institutionalized European unity. This was fostered by the rivalry of Asian migrants, whose claims for respectability and equal rights accelerated settlers' cohesion along both political and cultural lines. Thanks to a very bureaucratic apparatus, clubs smoothed European class differences; they fostered a peculiar style of sociability, unique to the colonial context. Clubs were seen by Europeans as institutions which epitomized the virtues of British civilization against native customs. In the mid-1940s, a group of European liberals thought that opening a multi-racial club in Nairobi would expose educated Africans to the refinements of such sociability. The United Kenya Club only highlighted the strength of racial prejudice. It gave rise to much discomfort and awkwardness among its members, which reflected the contrast between European will to promote moderate, educated Africans and the brutality by which Kenya's most radical nationalists were crushed during the Mau Mau War. If Africans eventually took interest in joining European clubs, it was because these institutions had become entwined with state power. Settlers and officials met in clubs to discuss politics, within an Empire of which decorum, epitomized during official visits, almost recognized European clubs as official buildings. Africans eventually became members, torn between a nationalist rejection of the colonial past and the will to join institutions that conferred prestige and afforded connections. They abandoned Gilbert & Sullivan operas, yet they took over golf. On Kenya's fairways, white domination was challenged by black triumphs, while African elites appropriated clubs as an attribute of class, and no longer race, distinction. III Acknowledgements Researching and writing this dissertation has been a long journey. It started as a broad exam- ination of historical and contemporary elite sociability in Kenya, which eventually became two doctoral dissertations, one in Politics which I undertook in Paris and the present one. My first thoughts go to Prof. Stephen Smith; turning political sociology into history is never a smooth ride, and I wish to express my warm gratitude for his patience and encouragements. This work was only made possible thanks to the generosity of several institutions. Most of the research was funded by a fellowship from the French Ministry of Research and Higher Education, granted through the European University Institute. Additional travel and fieldwork grants were provided by the French Institute for Research in Africa in Nairobi, the Maison Francaise in Oxford and the Centre de Recherches Politiques de la Sorbonne in Paris. The research for this dissertation took place in Kenya and the United Kingdom, and in both countries I am indebted to the many individuals and institutions who made it possible. The staff at the Kenya National Archives deserves particular thanks; it has been extremely friendly and helpful. I think especially of Richard Ambani, and to his ability to find files which were presumed lost. At Rhodes House in Oxford, Lucy McCann was very supportive and helpful in obtaining access to some private collections, and in mailing to France photocopies of the manuscripts I needed. In Africa and Europe, several scholars have supported and generously accepted to comment on my work. David Anderson, Jean-François Bayart, Romain Bertrand, Hélène Charton, Fred Cooper, Jean-Hervé Jézéquel, Benjamin Kipkorir, Godfrey Muriuki, Chris Musambayi Katu- manga, Julius Simiyu Nabende, Kenneth Ombongi, Kiran Patel, Christopher Prior, Antonella Romano, Berny Sèbe, Vincent Simiyu, Justin Willis; John Lonsdale was supportive from the beginning, and extremely generous to provide his contacts in Nairobi. At la Sorbonne, the conceptual insights provided by Johanna Simeant, my politics supervisor, were invaluable. Besides the pleasures and torments of fieldwork in Kenya, I am indebted to Claire, Flemmo and Tony to have welcomed me in Ngara as one of them, and to Sue and Rose for their Kiswahili lessons and translations. Finally, far from academia, my parents and my sister have been a constant support to my endeavours over the years. List of Tables 1 Non-native population in colonial Kenya 19 2 Gender balance among Europeans, 1911-1931 28 3 Percentage of Europeans by occupation, 1926-1931 33 4 Balance of European migration to Kenya, 1923-1938 35 5 Length of residence of Europeans in Kenya, 1931 35 6 Kenya’s delegates at the Salima Convention 134 7 The First Generation of African Golfers (late 1960s) 164 8 First non-European club chairmen 174 IV List of Figures 1 King George V Silver Jubilee Celebrations, Nyeri Club (1935) 42 2 The Muthaiga Country Club (1914) and the Nairobi Club (1932) 51 3 Arac in Princess Ida or, Castle Adamant, Nyeri Club 65 4 S. Wood at the Salima Convention, 1956 134 V VI Archives References • CAP CAS: Capricorn Papers at the Borthwick Institute for Archives Library, York CAP CAS 42, Capricorn, 1962 CAP CAS 50, Kenya Branch Correspondence CAP CAS 54, Kenya File CAP CAS 90, Kenya 1959-60 CAP CAS 101 Colleges of Citizenship, Kenya & Rhodesias CAP CAS 127, Kenya Branch CAP CAS 131, Capricorn Newsletters • ICOMM: Library of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London ICOMM PP.KE.CAS 3-7, Capricorn Africa Society Files • KNA : Kenya National Archives, Nairobi Private Manuscripts: KNA MSS 3/19, United Kenya Club KNA MSS 3/189, Kenya Colleges of Citizenship KNA MSS 4/272, Muthaiga Country Club KNA MSS 111/7, S.V. Cooke papers, 1944-66 KNA MSS 128/30, Koru Farmers Association KNA MSS 128/32, Gilgil Country Club KNA MSS 128/39-40, Koru Club KNA MSS 128/41 Songhor Club KNA MSS 129/18 Capricorn Africa Society Government: KNA (MAA), Ministry of African Affairs KNA AB, Ministry of Community Development KNA ADM, Administration KNA CS, Chief Secretary KNA DAO KBU, Agricultural Officer, Kiambu KNA DC KSM, District Commissioner, Kisumu KNA DC KMG, District Commissioner, Kakamega VII KNA DC MUR, District Commissioner Murang’a KNA DC KAPT, District Commissioner, Nandi KNA DC NKU, District Commissioner, Nakuru KNA DC UG, District Commissioner, Uasin Gishu KNA GH, Governor’s House KNA MV, District Commissioner, Kitui KNA PC NKU, Provincial Commissioner, Nakuru KNA PC NGONG, Provincial Commissioner, Ngong KNA PC NZA, Provincial Commissioner, Nyanza KNA RZ, Ministry of Home Affairs • Public Records Office, Kew PRO CO, Colonial Office • RCMS : Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Cambridge RCMS 178/1/21-33 Papers of Arnold Paice • RHO : Rhodes House Library for Commonwealth and African Studies, Oxford (now moved to Weston Library) RHO MSS.Brit.Emp.s. 390, Clarence Buxton Papers RHO MSS.Brit.Emp.s. 524, The Memoirs of Robin Wainwright, Vol.I RHO MSS.Brit.Emp.s. 466, Diaries and Letters of Lady Daphne Moore RHO MSS.Brit.Emp.s. 518, P. Sweeney Recollections RHO MSS.Brit.Emp.s. 584, Memoirs of R. Wainwright RHO MSS.Afr.s. 570 Greaves Papers RHO Micr.Afr.s. 576, A.F. Levy Memoirs, “The Snows of Yesteryear” RHO Micr.Afr.s. 595, Titus Oates: History of the Muthaiga Country Club RHO MSS.Micr.Afr.s. 598, E. Vasey Papers RHO MSS.Afr.s. 614, Lumbwa Farmers Association RHO MSS.Afr.s. 746, Michael Blundell Papers RHO MSS.Afr.s. 799, Letters from and to Philip Wheatley RHO MSS.Afr.s. 881, Papers of the Turbo-Kipkarren Association RHO MSS.Afr.s. 917, C.T. Todd Memoirs: Kenya Red Sunset VIII RHO MSS.Afr.s. 950, Brindley Papers RHO MSS.Afr.s. 1086, Ray Nestor, Reminiscences RHO MSS.Afr.s. 1506, Njoro Settlers Association RHO MSS.Afr.s. 1540, Jeanette Pierce Papers, History of the Thomson Falls Coun- try Club RHO MSS.Afr.s. 1653, C.F. Anderson: Reminiscences RHO MSS.Afr.s. 1676, Christie Miller Papers RHO MSS.Afr.s 1784 (23) Law Enforcement (Kenya), T.W. Jenkins RHO MSS.Afr.s. 2154, Huxley Papers RHO MSS, non catalogued item, E. Vasey Papers (formerly SOAS PP MS 48) IX Map of Kenya X A Map of Kenyan Clubs Contents Acknowledgements III List of Tables IV List of Figures V Archives References VI Map of Kenya IX A Map of Kenyan Clubs X Contents XI Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Everyday Production of Settlers’ Culture 16 I. Settlers & Officials 19 II. Racial Privilege and Gentility Culture 24 III. Cultural Entrepreneurs 29 IV. Inequalities, Assimilation & Exclusion 32 V. Native Labour and Racial Violence 37 VI. Rural Kenya : A Community of Aspirations 40 VII. A Bureaucratization of Weak Ties 45 VIII. Nairobi’s Sociability 51 IX. A Recomposition of Gender Roles 60 Chapter 2 An Impossible Multi-Racialism 68 I. The New Spirit of British Imperialism 69 XI XII II. Unorthodox Founding Members 75 III. The Implications of Belonging 79 IV. An Impossible Sociability 83 V.