The book review:
This is a meticulously researched and well written biography of the legendary Ewart Grogan, explorer, Kenya pioneer, politician, entrepreneur and extraordinary character.

One of twenty-one children, Grogan hustled off to South Africa as a young man where he joined Cecil Rhodes in the fight for Matabeleland. Afterwards, searching for a mechanism to make himself a name, he seized on the idea of walking from Cape Town to Cairo. This he did in 1898, saying that he undertook the quest so he could ask for the hand of the lady he loved, Gertrude Watt. The exploit of the exploration coupled with the romanticism of the motive, did indeed make Grogan known. However, ailments contracted during the trek were to plague Grogan for the rest of his long life. Certainly given the list of medical difficulties to come and the number of times the man was reported to be at death’s door, his longevity—he died at 94 in 1967—was simply amazing.

An early pioneer, Grogan arrived in Kenya in 1904. A man of enormous vision and able throughout his life to tap sources of finances for his schemes, Grogan ultimately developed a modern port at Mbaraki, Mombasa, exploited a timber concession that encompassed hundreds of square miles on the western slopes of the Rift Valley—through which he ultimately succeeded in having the Nakuru-to-Eldoret rail line built—owned hundreds of acres of land in what would become downtown Nairobi, built expansive houses and hotels, controlled a sheep farm at Naivasha and dabbled in other ventures; the most magnificent was irrigating a vast area around Taveta for sisal and citrus production. His personal economic cycle went repeatedly from boom to bust, but Grogan armed with charm, know-how, wit and connections always landed on his feet.

Grogan’s nemesis was the British Colonial Office, which he accused—undoubtedly correctly—of incompetence regarding the establishment of clear-cut policies for Kenya. Issues such as the role of English settlers, land policies, the presence of Indians, welfare, education and development of native populations and, of course, the future of the Colony were topics that preoccupied Grogan. Serving off and on for nearly forty years on Kenya’s Legislative Council, Grogan was a thorn in the government’s side as chief spokesman for the settlers. As in economic matters, Grogan’s political vision was prescient. He warned of violence if better native polices were not adopted and foresaw the need to accommodate all the communities in Kenya. Blessed with piercing eyes, bold stature and a scathing wit, Grogan more than held his own when speaking. He was often compared to Churchill, whom he knew and disdained in earlier years on account of Churchill’s political opportunism and vacillation regarding the empire.

Paice’s book is a somewhat heavy tome, especially when dealing with complicated British politics and how party rivalries and old-boy networks in London affected the far-flung empire, including Kenya. Also, perhaps to complement the fact that one of Grogan’s debating strengths was an enormous vocabulary, the author employs many little used words such as “piffle,” “condign” and “excrescence,” as well as “slangly” and “yomping,” which are not in my dictionary. However, I was most distressed by the fact that “fulsome” was misused three times. A final nit-pick is that the aerial photo of “Mbaraki” pier in 1925 is really a shot of Kilindini.

I enjoyed this book. It is an excellent history of Kenya’s early days. In the 1980s, I visited the abandoned Grogan’s castle near Taveta on several occasions and thought about the audacity that the man must have had to undertake such a project. I was delighted to learn that the man’s audacity, and his humanity, were genuine.