Africa miscellanea

Sir Ernest James Lennox Berkeley (1857-1932) was born on 31 May 1857 and educated at the Royal Academy, Gosport, and Sandhurst. He joined the 57th Foot in 1876, transferred to the 60th Rifles in 1877, and resigned later in the year. Berkeley became Vice Consul for the East Coast of Africa, in 1885, and Consul for Zanzibar in 1891. He was Administrator of the British East Africa Company Territories, 1891-1892, and H.M. Commissioner and Consul-General for Uganda, 1895-1899. He was Consul-General for Tunis, 1899-1920. Berkeley retired in 1920. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He died on 24 October 1932.

Sir Henry Percy Anderson (1831-1896) was a civil servant.

Two frank and informal letters written from Mumia's, 26 June 1896 (18 pages) and 25 July 1896 (11 pages), on the outward and return journey to Nandi, including comments on administrative matters, personnel and political and religious problems in Uganda. There is an undated transcript of the first letter. The papers are accompanied by correspondence with D.H. Simpson, R.C.S. Librarian, regarding the collection, 1965.

The letters were received in London after the death of Sir Percy Anderson. They were presented to the Society by Col. P.A. Fellowes, grandson of Sir Percy Anderson, 1958.

'Letters of an East African administrator' in 'Royal Commonwealth Society library notes', no. 99 (March 1965), pp. 1-7, includes complete transcripts of the letters with an introduction and notes.

The R.C.S. Manuscripts Collection also includes Sir Percy Anderson's papers on East Africa, RCMS 113/31.

Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), pp. 95-96. Indexed