Denys Finch Hatton

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Denys George Finch Hatton (April 24, 1887 - May 14, 1931) was a big-game hunter, and presumably the lover of Karen Blixen, who wrote about him in her autobiographical book Out of Africa first published in 1937. In the book, his 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 was educated 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. On his return to Kenya after The Armistice, he developed a close 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 Blixen had separated from her husband, and after their divorce in 1925, Finch-Hatton moved into her house and 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 Kĩkũyũ servant were killed.

In accordance with his wishes, Finch-Hatton was buried in the Ngong Hills overlooking Nairobi National Park. Later, his brother erected an obelisk at the gravesite upon which he placed a simple brass plaque inscribed with Denys's name, the dates of his birth and death and an extract from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's narrative poem 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 1985 film Out of Africa.

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