Langata cemetery, Nairobi - in loving memory / of / John Williamson Milligan D.S.O. / born 7 September 1875 / died 1 July 1965 / for over 50 years a settler / and devoted servant / of Kenya

At one time Capt. of KGS, Pres. Caledonian Soc., official of KLTA, he was also Pres. Muthaiga G.C., Steward of Jockey Club & official of Royal Agric. & Hort. Soc. of Kenya.

In 1913 he established the Anglo Baltic Timber Co. and his own firm of John W. Milligan & Co. Ltd. increased their importation of machinery and agricultural implements and expended into the handling of coffee and maize for export. He lived in retirement in Kenya.  

Golf - President of the Golf Union of EA in 1940.

Muthaiga - due to the keenness of certain members, including Major J.W. Milligan and Mr S.A. Mortiboys and especially to the efforts of Major Dudgeon to save the Course, the Muthaiga Country Club agreed in 1921 to admit Associate members for golf ..... on Committee formed to run Muthaiga Golf Course at Muthaiga Country Club in the early 1920's. Captain of Muthaiga GC in 1928. President of Muthaiga GC from 1932-34. Captain of Muthaiga GC in 1928.                                

Elephant Stone - 'Met Milligan, manager of the Societa Coloniale Italiana Trading Co. and he offered me trade goods to go into Lumbwa country so I went to Kericho.'

Debrett- formerly Major E. Africa Supply Corps; European War 1914-19 as Capt. E. African Mounted Rifles, and as Assist. Director Requisitioning Sers. E. African Force (despatches, DSO)       

Red 25 - Hon. Treasurer, Assoc. of EA Chambers of Commerce;

Red 25 - Steward, Jockey Club of Kenya

Keen sportsman. Capt. KGS, Pres Caledonian Soc. official KLTA, Pres Muthaiga GC, Steward Jockey Club. President of the Oxford & Cambridge Society - 1946

EAMR - Photo - The Regimental Soccer Team

Macmillan - 1930 - The business of J.W. Milligan and Co., Export & Import Merchants, Land, Estate and Managing Agents, was started in 1912 by the gentleman whose name it bears, Major J.W. Milligan, DSO and who, in 1912 took into partnership Mr A.G. Nourse.

Macmillan - 1930 - The Anglo-Baltic Timber Co. Ltd., Importers of Building Materials, Saw-Millers - Directors:- Sir John Ramsden Bart., Lord Egerton of Tatton, The Hon. D.G. Finch Hatton, MC, Major J.W. Milligan, DSO (Chairman), and Mr Donald F. Seth Smith, MC. The General Manager at Nairobi is Mr L.P. Robinson

Thurston - CO 533, 391/12 - 1929-30 - Major J.W. Milligan: application for re-allotment of farm refused

EAMR - Member of Officers, and Sergeants, Cricket Team - Christmas 1915 

Gazette - 23/9/1914 - Appt. - To be Lieutenant, East Africa Mounted Rifles - J.W. Milligan - To be Quartermaster

Gazette - 11/8/1915 - Appt. - EAMR - To be Captain - Lieut. & Quartermaster John Williamson Milligan

Carnelley - Naivasha - Major Milligan's house. He was a Nairobi Estate Agent in the twenties and came up to the lake {Naivasha} at the week ends. It is now Elsamere.

Mills - John Williamson Milligan was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England in 1876, the second son of Wyndham Carmichael Anstruther Milligan, merchant ship-owner of Birkenhead and Margaret Whiston Gibson. After Birkenhead School, he went up to St. John's College Oxford, and the first of 5 universities he attended, the others being Caen, the Sorbonne, Heidelberg and Berlin. John Milligan arrived in East Africa in 1911, where he founded the firm J.W. Milligan & Co. Ltd. Land, Estate and Insurance Agents, Importers and Exporters with Mr A.G. Nourse which specialised in the importation of machinery and agricultural implements and then expanded into the handling of coffee and maize for export. ……… [more]

A keen sportsman, long-serving member of the Muthaiga Club Committee, one time Captain of the Kenya Golfing Society, President of the Caledonian Society and an official of the Kenya Lawn Tennis Association, he was Captain of Muthaiga Golf Club (1928), President of Muthaiga Golf Club (1932-34), President, Golf Union (1940) and a member of the Bath Club in London and past Jockey Club Steward and Clerk of the Course 1913-48 and an Official of the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of Kenya. He also served as Treasurer of the EA Chamber of Commerce for many years. John Williamson Milligan lived in retirement in Kenya and died in 1965, unmarried.

Nairobi Club - President 1957

Nairobi Club - Honorary Life Member

Gazette 16 Nov 1936 Voters List - John Williamson Milligan, Merchant, Muthaiga

Gazette 2 Nov 1965 probate