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Claude Guiness Palgrave (Simmy) Simpson F/Mc Married Mabel Dickson F/Mc | ||||||||
| John Charles Palgrave Simpson [CFT #7007] Born: 1926 Died: 2014 |
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| b Burstow, Surrey John's father was in tea as was his Simpson grandfather. As an East India merchant his father worked in the City and they moved house quite frequently. He was sent to Fettes as a boarder which I think he didn’t enjoy much as he said his efforts were directed towards reaching the VIth form, thereby being allowed to leave. He joined the 3rd Hussars and was posted to Burma but when in Cairo on the way there, the Atom bombs were dropped on Japan resulting in their surrender on 15th August 1945 and he was diverted to Palestine. In 1948 having left the Army he went to work for a tea company in Assam, India which was owned by some French people who lived in Morocco. He became the manager and had two or three assistants. Perhaps he was recommended to the owners by his father but it was around this time that he married his first wife who was Indian and started his first family. By 1956 the British Government was encouraging people to go to Kenya but John chose Uganda where he bought some land in the west, near Fort Portal, in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. Here, he built up a tea plantation and factory from nothing. He had a business partner in the factory and it seems that the King of Toro had a share in the enterprise also, but John ran it all. Around this time he married secondly, Mary Kajoina Mpanja who was a daughter of the King’s second wife (described as his ‘love’ wife) and was therefore a Princess. They had two boys, Julius and Brian. Interested in the huge opportunities available in Australia, John decided to move his family there. His brother, Fraser was already there, but has subsequently moved on to New Zealand. John went ahead to purchase land in North Queensland and made the necessary arrangements for Kajoina and the boys to join him. They went to Nairobi ready to catch the flight to Australia the following day and booked into a hotel. That evening the two boys went upstairs for their bath before going to bed and were poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from a water heater. They were found dead in the bath. John and Kajoina stayed in Uganda and John says it gave them a good life, except perhaps for the 4 or 5 years in the 1970s when their estate was taken over by Idi Amin. Presumably, because of his age, John sold up in 2011, keeping just 30 acres out of the 280 that he had developed. The product packaging gives the address as P O Box 58, Fort Portal, Uganda and carries a picture of Kajoina holding 2 leaves and a bud. Anthony Cobbold May 2012 |
1: Julius James Palgrave Simpsonc 2: Brian Charles Palgrave Simpsonc | |||||||
| 2 Children | ||||||||
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