Denys Finch Hatton
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Denys George Finch Hatton (April 24, 1887 - May 14, 1931) was a big-game hunter, and the lover of Karen Blixen, who wrote about him in her book Out of Africa. In the book, his last name is hyphenated Finch-Hatton.
Finch-Hatton was the son of Henry Stormont Finch Hatton, Earl of Winchilsea, and Anne Coddrington, daughter of a former Admiral of the British Fleet. The second son and third child, he completed his education at Eton College, and Brasenose College, Oxford.
In 1911, after a trip to South Africa, he traveled to British East Africa, and bought some land on the western side of the Great Rift Valley near what is now Eldoret. He turned over the investment to a partner, and spent his time hunting.
Finch-Hatton was not known to have had any serious romances before he met Blixen. They were introduced at the Muthaiga Club on April 5, 1918. Soon afterwards, he was assigned to military service in Egypt. Upon his return to Africa after The Armistice, he developed a strong friendship with Karen and her husband Bror von Blixen-Finecke. He left Africa again in 1920, but returned in 1922, investing in a land development company. By this time, Karen had separated from her husband.
After Blixen's divorce in 1925, he moved into her house. Finch-Hatton began leading safaris for wealthy sportsmen. Among his clients were Marshall Field and The Prince of Wales.
On 14 May 1931, Finch-Hatton's Gypsy Moth crashed shortly after take-off from Voi airport. He and his Kikuyu servant were killed. Karen buried him in the Ngong Hills, where he had said he'd like to be buried. Later, Denys's brother erected a tall obelisk at the gravesite, which overlooks Nairobi National Park, upon which he placed a simple brass plaque inscribed with Denys's name, the dates of birth and death and an extract from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's the Rime of the Ancient Mariner "He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast"
Denys Finch-Hatton was played by Robert Redford in the film Out of Africa.
[edit] References
- Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton (2006) by Sara Wheeler
- Out of Isak Dinesen (1998) by Linda G. Donelson
- The Eton College Chronicle (May 21, 1931)
- Silence Will Speak (1977) by Errol Trzebinski
- The Lives of Beryl Markham (1993) by Errol Trzebinski
- Out of Africa (1937) by Isak Dinesen
