Philip Hope Percival (1886-1966) was a renowned white hunter and early safari guide in colonial Kenya. During his career he guided Teddy Roosevelt, Baron Rothschild, and Ernest Hemingway on African hunts. In fact, Hemingway modeled the fictional hunter Robert Wilson, in his story "“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" after Percival. Percival also worked with well known white hunters like Bror von Blixen-Finecke and mentored Sydney Downey and Harry Selby, and was known in African hunting circles as the "Dean of Hunters."
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Philip was born in England, in the tail end of the 19th Century.[1] When Philip was still quite young his older brother Blaney went off to East Africa, and proceeded to send Philip several exciting accounts of his life as a game warden there. When Philip turned 21 he inherited a small sum of money and struck out to join his brother in Africa, sailing to Mombasa.[2] Percival settled in Limuru where he grew coffee and wheat and bred ostriches, cattle and horses.[1]
Upon reaching Africa, Percival was quick to pick up hunting with his brother, and Harold and Clifford Hill who were also ostrich farmers. The ostriches they raised were used as bait to lure lion and other big game. At first Percival mainly hunted lion with the Hills, but in time he started to lead hunting trips of his own. Initially he charged clients a fee of ten pounds per week and an additional twenty five pounds per lion and in those days guides like Percival only provided the wagon, pack animals and a couple of assistants, leaving the clients to provide their own food, drink, tents and bedding.[3]
In 1909 Philip's brother Blaney had been instrumental in bringing then Colonel Teddy Roosevelt to East Africa for a safari and Philip was given the opportunity to work as an assistant hunter on the trip.[4] Roosevelt remembered Percival well, writing about him:
After the Roosevelt safari Percival decided to become a full-time white hunter and one of is first solo clients was Baron Rothschild, but he also conducted safaris for other royals like the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.[5]
As he became more ingrained into the hunting life, Percival joined the safari company, Newland and Tarlton, along with other hunters like Alan Black.[6] When Newland and Tarlton dissolved in 1919, and Safariland was created out of its ashes he stayed on with that outfit as well.[7] During this time he mentored a new generation of hunters like Sydney Downey and Harry Selby.[8] Percival also went onto to become the first president of the East African Professional Hunter’s Association, a position he served in for 15 years.[9][10] In 1930, before his tenure as EAPHA president Percival left Safariland to team up with Bror von Blixen-Finecke in the joint venture, Tanganyika Guides Ltd., of which he was the Kenya director, with Bror heading up the Tanganyika operation.[11][1]
During his partnership with von Blixen, Percival guided Ernest Hemingway on both of Hemingway's African safaris, the first coming in 1934. Hemingway struck up a friendship with Percival, effectionately calling him "Pop," a name they used for each other,[12] and also one of the monikers Hemingway gave to Jackson Philips in The Green Hills of Africa, a character modeled on Percival.[13] Hemingway also considered the Percival a great teacher,[12] and most notably molded the Percival he knew into the character of Robert Wilson, in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."[1] Yet Percival was not the only model for Wilson, and indeed critics have identified Bror von Blixen as another influence,[14] especially in terms of Wilson's "cynicism and womanizing."[15]
The legacy of Philip Percival, the "Dean of Hunters,"[14][16] runs deeper than his influence on Hemingway. Percival also mentored a new generation of African Hunters, including Sydney Downey, who called him "the greatest white hunter of all time," and Harry Selby, who himself went on to captivate a new generation of foreigners through the travel writings of Robert Ruark.[17]