Happy Valley set

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Nyeri, Kenya
Nyeri
Nyeri, Kenya (click to enlarge map)
Nyeri, Kenya in the Central Province was the
center of the Happy Valley set (click to enlarge map)

The Happy Valley set was a group of privileged British colonials living in the Happy Valley region of the Wanjohi Valley, [1] near the Aberdare mountain range, in the colonies of Kenya and Uganda during the 1920s - 1940s. The elite social group became notorious for stories of drug use and promiscuous sexual encounters.

The white community in Kenya in the pre-WWII period was divided into two distinct factions: settlers, on the one side, and colonial officials and tradesmen, on the other. Among both groups there was a dominance of upper-middle-class and upper-class British citizens, but the two groups often disagreed on issues ranging from land allocation to how to deal with the natives.

Typically, the officials and tradesmen looked on the Happy Valley set with disdain and embarrassment. The height of the Happy Valley set's influence was in the late 1920s. The recession sparked by the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash greatly decreased the number of new arrivals to Kenya and the influx of capital. Nevertheless, by 1939 Kenya had a white community of 21,000 people.

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[edit] Location

The Wanjohi Valley is near Aberdare National Park,[1] east of the Great Rift Valley.[1] The area around Naivasha, Kenya was one of the first to be settled by white people and one of the hunting grounds of the hedonistic Happy Valley set. [2] In fact Delamere Estates, originally owned by the eccentric Lord Delamere, surrounds the town.[2]

Some members of the Happy Valley set lived in Gilgil, Kenya, just north of Lake Naivasha.

The colonial town of Nyeri, Kenya, to the east of the Aberdare Range, was the center of Happy Valley settlers, [3] the group of British aristocrats and adventurers who later became infamous for decadent lifestyles and exploits in the 1930s and 1940s. The town has had the atmosphere of a sleepy English village, an impression fostered by the cool air and morning mists.[3]

Outside Nyeri is the Outspan Hotel, a colonial landmark which became a place of pilgrimage for the world's Scouts.[3] A small cottage on the hotel grounds was the final home of Baden-Powell and his wife, founder of the scouting movement, and he is buried outside Nyeri. The cottage has a small museum dedicated to Baden-Powell's life and memory.[3]

[edit] Popular culture

The antics of the Happy Valley set were highlighted in books and films such as White Mischief, which dramatised the trial of Sir 'Jock' Delves Broughton for the murder of the 22nd Earl of Erroll; and The Happy Valley, Juanita Carberry's account of her adolescence and later involvement with the Delves Broughton case.

[edit] Notables

Some notable members of the Happy Valley set in Kenya, 1926. From left to right: Raymond de Trafford, Frédéric de Janzé, Alice de Janzé and Lord Delamere.
Some notable members of the Happy Valley set in Kenya, 1926. From left to right: Raymond de Trafford, Frédéric de Janzé, Alice de Janzé and Lord Delamere.

Among the members of the Happy Valley set were:

[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Around the Aberdares - Home with Hostelbookers" (Aberdare Range), Rough Guides Ltd., Hostelbookers.com, 2006, webpage: HBookers-Kenya-Aberdares.
  2. ^ a b "Naivasha, Kenya" (tourist information), go2africa.com, 2006, webpage: Go2Africa-Naivasha.
  3. ^ a b c d "Cultural Safari" (concerning Aberdare & Happy Valley settlers), MagicalKenya.com, webpage: MK.
  4. ^ a b c d "Corpun - Book Reviews Page 4" (description), "CHILD OF THE HAPPY VALLEY: A Memoir" (memoir), CorPun, Colin Farrell, January 2004, webpage: CP-Carberry.

[edit] References