Cuckoo - 1904 - i/c Kapsabet Boma. A former merchant ship skipper, who had come to E.A. in early times from Seychelles and joined the service of the Chartered Company. He was an interesting man and ruled the truculent Nandi with a firm hand; but even his rough and ready discipline, reminiscent of the quarter-deck, was unable to put a stop to the Nandi's wild ways. They were frequently much out of hand. Yet if Mayes could not control them, no other man in E.A. would have been capable of doing so.. I often paid Mayes a visit, and was most hospitably entertained at Kapsabet by him and his wife.  

Hobley - Sudanese Mutiny - Mumias - the only other European (besides Tomkins the DC) was an old merchant skipper named Walter Mayes, who was also transport agent for the firm of Smith, Mackenzie. .......... Mayes had about 50 armed Swahilis and Wanyamwezi porters, plucky fellows but quite untrained. Mayes was a stout-hearted fellow and marched his men into the station.

Moyes - 1903 - Collector of the Nandi District - trouble with Kamelilo  

Kenya Diary - May 1904 - Mayes is the administrative officer at Nandi Boma. ........ 5th May - Mayes arrived here today from Nandi Boma. I have seldom taken such a dislike to a man at first sight. He started life as a common seaman from Glasgow, was discharged, or deserted, his ship in Madagascar, and took to gold digging in that island and failed. He then drifted to the Seychelles, where he married a Creole, whom he at once deserted. He then, some 10 years ago, came to Mombasa and was employed in the Uganda Mutiny as a transport man; he did well, and received as reward a post in the Civil Administration. ....... I told Mayes this evening that I regarded him as mainly responsible for this unfortunate business [Murder of Dr. Wenthe] ........…..

May 1904 - Kabwuren - Hearing that Mayes was in Kabwuren I joined him with my detachment, and was not at all pleased to find that Mr & Mrs Cary were with him. Cary commands our detachment at Nandi Boma. (Cary was Master of Falkland, Grenadier Guards). ...........

1st June - Mayes and the Carys left for Nandi Boma early this morning and I was glad to see the last of them. I dislike and mistrust Mayes and have no use for an English lady under these conditions. ......…

Mar. 1905 - I told Mayes today that I considered his administrative methods brutal, and that in the interests of the safety of the station I must insist that in future reports of all police patrols which involve the killing of men or capture of animals shall be submitted to the sub-commissioner. He practically admitted his dishonesty by begging me not to be too hard on him as he depended on his job for his bread and butter. I told him that if he would play the game there would be no trouble. ........ Having travelled with Mayes during the past 10 days or so I have got to know him and his character rather well, and I have not altered my opinion. His ideas are those of an uneducated man. He is frankly out to make what he can out of his job and has been in the habit of robbing the Govt. at every opportunity. I have told him that I do not mean to stand by and do nothing.

4th May - the Boer squatters came in to see me, complaining bitterly about thefts of stock by Nandi. I told them they were lucky to be allowed to squat on Nanid land without paying any rent; to my surprise they told me they pay Mayes Rs. 60 a month rent, and in return for that they demanded protection. They have complained to Mayes, but he has refused to see them; worse still, he has threatened to turn them out if they do not pay their rent regularly. Mayes first appearance in EA was during the Uganda Mutiny, when he was a Distressed British Seaman in Zanzibar. The administration raked in every person they could, and Mayes was taken on as Transport Officer and did very well. At the end of the Mutiny he was given a job in the Administration. This evening he rushed into my house, hair dishevelled and in frantic excitement; he had run all the way from his own house. He screamed out: "A terrible thing has happened; my wife has arrived and upset everything! For Gawd's sake give me a bottle of whisky." I said I would come over and see her. She was a dirty looking slut of a woman and was weeping. I am not too good on these occasions. She called Mayes Wally and said she was bloody well going to stop here. Apparently Mayes deserted her in Mauritius - she is a Mauritian Creole - and she finally found out where he was and suddenly appeared. It is all a bit difficult as Mayes has half a dozen Nandi concubines in the house. I left them to fight it out among themselves. ...... (row with Mayes re Boers & rent etc. Told him to toe the line or else) ....... I have had so many complaints from natives about the way in which Mayes is robbing them of their cattle, sheep, goats, and even girls, that I have embodied them all in a report to Bagge, the Sub-Commissioner at Kisumu, asking him to send someone up here to verify what I suspect. .......... Mayes replaced by Isaac ........ court of enquiry.

Cocker - Mayes, the District Collector in the Nandi Territory, had led an adventurer's life in the islands of the Indian Ocean before drifting into government employment ten years previously. On account of his excellent service during the Uganda Mutiny he had been rewarded with a permanent post in EA. He was largely an uneducated man not above defrauding the administration, but in the early days, hard-pressed for good employees, they were prepared to tolerate his rough and ready methods. There is little doubt that, through long years of residence among them, Mayes had evolved an effective authority over the Nandi, and had helped pacify a troublesome people during a critical period for colonial government.  .....   

Matson - 1896 - Walter Mayes, agent of Smith Mackenzie & Co. arrived at Mumias at the head of a caravan to inaugurate the Nandi route for trading parties.   

EAHB 1905 - Asst. Collector, Nandi. Assistant, Uganda Protectorate, Mar. 12th 1901; transferred, EAP, April 1st 1902; East and Central Africa medal, with Lumbwa and Uganda (1897-98) clasps

KAD 1922 - Hon. Sec. & Treasurer, Tanaland Traders & Planters Association (and Red 25)

The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa

North - Smith, Mackenzie & Co., UP/EAP - Former seaman from Glasgow; left sea after ship was wrecked 1891; worked for Charlesworth, Pilling & Co., Zanzibar for 4 years; trading for Smith, Mackenzie & Co. between coast and Uganda 1894; Arr. Fort Smith with loads from Uganda 8/4/1896, returned to Uganda 23/4/1896; Mumia's at start of Sudanese mutiny, volunteered to help troops, dep. for Luba's 11/10/1897; Luba's during fighting Oct., Nov. 1897; employed to carry loads for the Maj. J.R.L. Macdonald "Jubaland" expedition's return to coast from Uganda; arr. Mombasa 4/3/1899; Appt. Transport Officer UP, Oct 1900; Appt. 3rd Class Asst. UP 12/3/1901; Based at Nandi May 1901; Collector at Nandi June 1902; Political Officer of Nandi punitive expedition the Kamalilo Field Force, dep. Ravine 28-4-1903; Listed as Asst. Collector Nandi 1-4-1904; Firearm registered at Mombasa 27-1-1905; Appt. Collector EAP 1-4-1905; Public Officers Game Licence Kisumu 28-6-1905; Found guilty of gross negligence by CO enquiry - reduced in rank from Collector to Asst. Collector & fined 3 weeks wages 26-7-1905; 1906 resident at Lamu; - "a character as bad as it can be" (Ainsworth) 'An uneducated Scotsman, dirty and slovenly to look at and can scarcely write' (Meinertzhagen, RH); 'He is a well educated man, very good at accounts, and speaks the native languages with fluency' (Sir Harry Johnston, FO 2)

Red 22 - Hon. Secretary, Tanaland Traders' and Planters' Association - Lamu

EAHB 1906 - Acting Collector - Kisumu CO 848/15 - retired 12/12/11

EA Diary 1903 - 3rd Asst. Uganda Protectorate March 12 1901; transferred EA Protectorate April 1 1892; East & Central Africa medals, with Lumbwa and Uganda 1897 and 1898 clasps

EAHB 1907 - Asst. Collector (Kipini), Tanaland

EAHB 1907 - Kipini Ujiji - 1877 - F.L.M. Moir, John Moir and W. Mayes were in East Africa to attempt building a road from Dar es Salaam toward Lake Nyasa. Mayes left the work in 1877.

Red Book 1912 - W. Mayes - Shimoni

Red 25 - JP, Lamu

Gazette - 1/5/1928 - Probate and Administration - Walter Mayes who died at Lamu on 27 January 1928

Gazette - 7/5/1929 - Expunged from Coast Register of Voters - Deceased - Walter Mayes - Planter, Lamu

Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Coast - Walter Mayes, Planter, Lamu

Masters and Mates certificate 17 Dec 1884