End of an era as Baron Delamere takes bow

The death of Hugh George Cholmondeley, the 5th Baron Delamere, marks a significant turning point for a prominent British settler family, one that played a pivotal role in shaping Kenya into the country it is today.

According to a family statement, George passed away on Monday, October 7, at the expansive Soysambu Ranch, located on the outskirts of Nakuru City, following an illness.

He took over Soysambu Ranch in 1979 after the death of his father, Hugh Cholmondeley. He was named after his grandfather, Hugh, who famously walked more than 1,000 kilometres from Berbera in Somaliland and eventually settled in Naivasha.

The ranch gained national attention 15 years ago when George’s son, Tom Cholmondeley (now deceased), was involved in two separate shooting incidents that resulted in the deaths of two young men.

Until recently, the family’s relationship with neighbouring communities alternated between cordiality and tension. Despite these conflicts, the Delamere family was known for its social work, benefiting the local community through land donations for schools and support for other community-based projects.

The 2005 and 2006 killings at the ranch, involving Kenya Wildlife Service warden Samson Ole Sisina and mason Robert Njoya, respectively, brought the family into the national spotlight. These incidents reignited anger towards the family, and the government faced criticism  for allegedly protecting the suspect from prosecution.

Former Attorney General Amos Wako dropped charges against Tom for the murder of the KWS ranger, Samson Ole Sisina. However, he was later jailed for eight months for manslaughter following the shooting of Robert Njoya, a mason mistaken for a poacher. Tom, who had been serving as an honorary game warden, had previously received a Head of State Commendation for distinguished service to the nation.

In Naivasha, residents bordering Manera Farm, another Delamere property, have also experienced land disputes with the family. Some, identifying as squatters, have claimed a portion of the land, leading to confrontations. At one point, squatters attacked Tom Cholmondeley after he and farm workers attempted to evict them from a disputed 60-acre portion, which the squatters claimed their families had occupied since 1944.

Conflicts with the local population extended beyond the killings and land disputes. Complaints about unfair treatment by farm guards and allegations of trespassing on family property were frequent. Additionally, communities living near the Soysambu Ranch in the Mbaruk and Kiungururia areas expressed frustration over crop destruction caused by wild animals straying from the conservancy. The ranch hosts a variety of wildlife, including buffalo, impala, gazelles, Rothschild giraffes, warthogs, and baboons.

Accusations of government inaction regarding grievances against the influential Delamere family have been persistent. Hugh Cholmondeley was the grandson of the 3rd Baron Delamere, a key figure among British settlers in Kenya.

Lord Delamere first arrived in Kenya on a hunting expedition in 1895 and was instrumental in transforming the country into a modern economy. He persuaded the British government to permit his settlement in the new protectorate and to encourage further settler migration. The 3rd Baron Delamere, who died in 1931, played a major role in establishing Unga Limited, the Kenya Co-operative Creameries, the Kenya Farmers Association, and other institutions essential to the colony’s economic transformation.

George, Hugh’s grandson, renounced his British citizenship in 1964 to become Kenyan, forfeiting the privilege  of participating in debates at the House of Lords in London. In a previous interview with the Sunday Standard, George explained that his decision was driven by Kenyan law at the time, which did not allow for dual citizenship.

George was married to Lady Ann Renison Delamere, née Willoughby Tinne, the daughter of Sir Patrick Muir Renison, who served as Kenya’s colonial governor from 1959 to 1962. Lady Ann passed away on June 1, this year, at the family home in Soysambu. The couple, married since 1964, had one son, Tom Cholmondeley, whose frequent legal troubles brought the family into the public eye.

Tom, who served time for manslaughter, passed away on 17th August 2016 from complications following hip replacement surgery. He had been married to Dr Sally, with whom he had two children, Hugh and Henry, now aged 20 and 26, respectively.

Dr Sally, who lived at Soysambu in the late 2000s before her separation from Tom, ran a health clinic for ranch workers and was heavily involved in anti-HIV/AIDS initiatives in Naivasha. Her organisation, which operated a Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centre, focused on flower farms around Lake Naivasha.

Tom, who was in line to become the 6th Baron Delamere, was first arrested in April 2005 and charged with killing Kenya Wildlife Service ranger Samson Ole Sisina. In May 2006, Tom made headlines again after shooting stone mason Robert Njoya.

George, the son of Thomas Pitt Hamilton Cholmondeley, the 4th Baron Delamere, was born on 18th January 1934 in London. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Agriculture before moving to Kenya.

Soysambu Ranch, covering close to 50,000 acres, has recently been used as a Safari Rally circuit, attracting fans eager to watch the racing vehicles. The ranch, now a wildlife sanctuary, also supports a large herd of beef cattle and exclusive high-cost campsites for tourists. It has two airstrips for light aircraft bringing tourists from Nairobi.

The Manera Farm, another Delamere property, specialises in horticultural crops for local and export markets. The family has long been a significant supplier of beef to Nairobi and other regions. The Delamere family also owned the Ol Pejeta ranch, which was later sold, and had an interest in Ceres Estate, a coffee and tea farm in Subukia, which was sold a few years ago to high-ranking officials from the Mwai Kibaki administration. Soysambu Ranch is part of the 100,000 acres in the Naivasha constituency originally granted to the 3rd Baron Delamere by the colonial government in 1906. The family also the Buffalo Mall in Naivasha, and it once owned the popular Delamere Yoghurt brand, which was sold to a leading milk processing company.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, George was a key organiser of the Safari Rally and a familiar figure in Kenya’s car racing scene. In 1996, the Delamere family donated land for the establishment of Lady Ann Delamere Girls’ Secondary School, funded by the British government. They also donated 27 acres to the defunct Municipal Council of Naivasha for a stadium and offered 50 acres to Nakuru’s council for a cemetery and modern dump site, though the latter offer was later withdrawn after attempts by leaders to misappropriate the land.

In 2006, the family faced a dispute with parents, pupils, and teachers of Kiboko Primary School on the Soysambu Ranch after blocking an access road, forcing pupils and teachers to use a longer route prone to buffalo attacks.

In a previous interview, George said the family owned Delamere Flats in Nairobi, which they later sold to a prominent Kenyan family. He noted that the family could not return to the UK, as his grandfather had sold all his property in London and reinvested in Kenya. However, Lord Delamere’s financial troubles culminated in enormous loans, and by the time of his death in 1931, the family owed a significant sum to the National Bank of India, which placed Delamere Estates under receivership until 1951.

George’s father, Thomas Pitt Hamilton Cholmondeley, returned to Kenya after receiving a telegram from the bank informing him that the loan had been repaid. He then borrowed another loan to develop Ol Pejeta Ranch, which he eventually sold to focus on Soysambu and Manera farms. Thomas passed away in 1979.

Although George never sat in the House of Lords, he mentioned that his father delivered a speech there in the 1950s and attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 at Westminster Abbey.