Back to search results
Name: HARTLEY, Thomas Augustus Corke 'Carr'
Nee: eldest son of Lionel James Hartley
Birth Date: 31 Oct 1910 Nairobi
Death Date: 7 Dec 1992 Durban, South Africa
First Date: parents arrived EA 1906
Profession: Wild animal catcher for films and zoos. Cattle farmer, big game trapper and rancher. Elephant control officer 1930-36
Area: Pesi Estates, Rumuruti for 46 years
Married: 12 Dec 1935 Claudia Daphne Randall who arrived EA 1917, b. 1 Mar 1913 S. Africa, d. 19 June 1991
Children: Brian George Carr (24 Apr 1938); Robert Michael Carr 'Mike' (3 Feb 1942), Kenneth Patrick Carr (28 Oct 1936 Rumuruti-15 Feb 2016 Kasane, Botswana), Ian Roy Carr (24 Mar 1940). See under Carr-Hartley
Book Reference: Hut, Baptism, Sheardown, Who's Who, Chandler, Gillett, Sitrep 2, Patricia Smart, Breath, Hut, Sitrep 1, Funga
War Service: EA Campaign in World War 2
General Information:
One of the original '500' men in the Kenya Regt. in 1937. (KR 215).
Sheardown - Between ourselves [Calvie Forrester] and the so-called main road there was Carr Hartley, whose main source of income came from catching and exporting wild animals. He was a friendly sort of chap and his wife, Daphne, was a jolly good sort.
Who's Who 1956 - Game Trapper and armer; Mem. original Kenya Regt., and of first party of EA Recc. Sqdn. at outbreak WW2; EA Campaign; Elephant Control Officer 1930-36; Lassoed and captured 4 white rhino, Sudan 1949; Captured 20 young hippos Rungwa River, Lake Rukwa, late 1954, where hundreds died through drought.
Chandler - A strongly built man, Carr Hartley was a natural for wrangling wild animals. He started out as a white hunter while a teenager but soon achieved prominence as a "catcher" of wild animals for zoos and for translocation efforts. By 1926 he was manager of a 26,000 acre farm near Mount Kenya. Like many young men of his time, he supplemented his income by shooting his 2 legal elephant a year and selling the ivory. One of his bulls had monster tusks that tipped the scales at 164 and 167 pounds. His hunting prowess quickly got him a job doing control work for the game department.
In 1934 Hartley bought a ranch at Rumuruti. He began to specialize in trapping game alive and shipping them out to zoos and circuses. That business expanded until Rumuruti was being used as a quarantine station plus a great place to obtain a tame animal for movie footage. The biggest stars of Rumuruti were some white rhino that appeared in many Hollywood films. Hartley started out with 2 but at one time had as many as 5.
Life on the ranch wasn't always easy, however. Hartley was twice gored by rhino and once went hand-to-paw with a wounded adult male lion. He claimed to have no fear of lion but admitted being terrified of snakes.
Patricia Smart comments - Daphne Carr-Hartley - 'older than I thought. Remember the Randall family at Rumuruti. She looked very worn, with good reason I expect, and Seaford Ian remembers her as very bad tempered.
Funga - Brian Carr-Hartley - In 1936, when I was born at Athi River, the second eldest of four brothers. My father worked for the Kenya Meat Commission at the time ….. I was referred to as the 'Bully Beef' baby
Back to search results
