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Name: BROOMHEAD, Frederick Ranson Fairles OBE (Lieut.-Commander)
Photo Source: Nicholas Broomhead
Birth Date: 14 July 1905 Seaton Carew, Durham
Death Date: 18 Feb 1964 Newton Abbot
First Date: 1935
Last Date: 1960
Profession: Tugmaster, KUR&H 1935; Pilot 1942; Harbourmaster EAR&H 1951; Senior 1955; Port Manager 1956; Asst. to chief Port Manager 1956
Area: Mombasa
Married: In Mombasa 21 Apr 1937 Jean Eileen b. 14.7.1908 Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia, d. 4 Jan 1977 Beccles
Children: Sally Jane (MacRae) (23 June 1938 Stockton on Tees-6 Oct 2011 Houston, Texas); Nicholas George (16 Oct 1943 Mombasa)
Book Reference: Colonial
War Service: RN
School: Xaverian College, Mayfield
General Information:
Blue Book 1939 1st appt 23.1.1935
Masters and Mates certificate 8 July 1935
Nicholas Broomhead: Fairles Broomhead, or ‘Broom’ as he was more often known, went to sea as a cadet with the BI (British India) line, upon leaving school at age 15. He qualified with them as a Master Mariner. Whilst sailing with the BI in the early 1930's, he visited Sydney, Australia, where he met Eileen Clarke They corresponded for several years. He proposed marriage: she declined as she didn’t want to be married to a man who would be away from home so much of the time. He got a job in Mombasa as captain of the tug ’Nguvu’. He proposed again; she accepted. She sailed, on her own, from Sydney to Mombasa, arriving on 20 April 1937. They got married the next day (which was a social requirement at the time), from the home of Captain Alastair Smith, who was then Port Manager (and is included on this database). Broom designed the lighthouse in Mombasa. He also had two stints, in 1953 and 1956, as Port Manager, Dar-es-salaam. He was eventually promoted to Port Manager, Mombasa. He was awarded the OBE upon retirement. He also earned the Royal Humane Society medal for diving from the deck of a ship into ’shark infested waters’ to save the life of a cadet, who had fallen overboard.
Eileen’s father, George Clarke, joined the family from Australia, in the late 40’s and lived with them, in Mombasa, until his death in July 1953. The whole family were keen members of Mombasa Sports Club.