EA Stud Book 1954 - Cattle - Jerseys - A.W. Symes, Kitale

Who's Who 63 - farming in England and Kenya since 1927; Sub-Committee Chairman SE Ward Trans Nzoia for 10 years; member KFA Board for 9 years; Company Director

Letter from Max Shaw to Max Elliot Symes: Another new pupil arrived from England. He lived in a separate little shack and was rarely, if ever, asked into the main house - nor probably did he want to go there. This was your father. He was a young, good looking healthy person. He went nowhere and saw nobody. He was kept very hard at work and seemed to be living on nearly nothing a month, and this was entirely his intention. It appeared that he had been farming in England and, after losing about £10000, had had to give it up. It was, of course, his father's money, so he decided to get out of England and seek his fortune on his own without any further financial aid from his father, and came to Kenya to do it - sooner than work in any office in England. I think he was right in believing himself quite unsuited to office work and that his real vocation was with animals and the land. His father was a self-made man (Albert Eli Symes), whose money had been made in building and contracting. He had four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons were working in his business (Gordon & Brien). Two of the daughters were married (Olive & Ivy), one had died (Muriel) and one had adopted the religious life (Phyllis). The eldest daughter's husband (John MacLachlan) had a successful business in Smithfield Meat Market.