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Name: WOLLEN, Ernest Russell Storey KBE, Sir
Photo Source: Portrait painting of Wollen by Arthur Wolseley-Lewis
Birth Date: 9 June 1902 Torquay
Death Date: 28 May 1986 Perth, W. Australia
First Date: 1922
Profession: Dir. of Companies. Dir. Teita Concessions Ltd., and Sisal Proct. (EA) Ltd. Supt. For EA for Dalgety & Co. Ltd., Coffee planter, Thika Kenya 1922-39; Chairman Coffee Board of Kenya 1932-44
Area: Nairobi, 1930 Thika, Hut 1937 Benita Kiambu partner with Coldham, 1930 Buckholt Est. Thika
Married: In Newton Abbot 11 Sep 1924 Maise Adamson b. 6 June 1904 Durham, d. 1984 Perth, W. Australia
Children: Ann (Keane) (7 July 1926 Nairobi); Giles Grant (7 Nov 1933 Nairobi); Belinda Jane (Walker) (7 July 1944); Simon Russell (1 Oct 1930)
Book Reference: Who's Who, Red 25, Red 31, Hut, Who's Who 63, Wolseley-Lewis, Wed
School: Marlborough College
General Information:
Whos Who 63 - Came to Kenya 1922 to Buckholt Estate Thika; founded KPCU 1932; Chairman Coffee Board 1933-41; Chairman Coffee Marketing Board from 1956; Superintendent Dalgety & Co. Ltd 1944-51; Director Teita Sisal Estates Ltd., EA Bag & Cordage Co. Ltd.
Wolseley-Lewis - 1930s Kiambu - Across the road there was Russ Wollen who later became Chairman of the Coffee Board, and I painted his portrait for the boardroom.
Red 25 - Hon. Secretary & Treasurer, Thika Sports Club
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Ukamba Voters List
KBE 1959 fro services to Kenya coffee industry.
Retired to Western Australia
Old Africa magazine Dec 2022-Jan 2023 ' Karangaita Promotes Kenya Coffee' by Jane Walker (Wollen's daughter)
In the 1950s they built a house at Updown Farm, Limuru
Jane Walker, Karangaita Kenya Coffee, a Biography of Sir Russell Wollen KBE, 2023
Old Africa 113 June-July 2024 The stock market crash of 1929 left Wollen and other farmers strapped for cash finding themselves in debt. To answer this, Wollen founded the Thika Planters' Cooperative Union in 1932, allowing coffee farmers to buy farm inputs as a group, thus reducing costs. This grew to include coffee farmers from all over Kenya and was later renamed the Kenya Planters' Cooperative Union. In 1933 the Coffee Board of Kenya was formed. Wollen's administrative skills were recognized and he was soon recruited to head the Coffee Board.The KPCU did much to help African farmers grow coffee. In 1930 t the first African coffee growers' cooperative applied for membership in the KPCU, which welcomed it and supplied practical support and advic. Wollen was keenly interested in the progress of the African coffee grower and gave the African growers the support they're needed to produce quality coffee.
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