‘White Mischief’ aristocrat dies
THOMAS Cholmondeley, who has died of complications after hip replacement surgery aged 48, was the aristocratic scion of one of Kenya’s wealthiest white families, whose colonial-era escapades came back to haunt him after he shot dead two black men on his ranch.
Cholmondeley was the only child of the 5th Lord Delamere. It was the 3rd Lord Delamere who moved to Africa permanently, buying the family farm Soysambu (now a nature reserve), which was carved out of Masai tribal grazing areas.
In recent years, Kenya’s white minority has felt under siege from criminals and workers driven out of cities.
So there was sympathy for Cholmondeley in 2005 when he was charged with murdering a Masai on his estate. Cholmondeley said he thought the man was a robber and the prosecution dropped the charges.
Opinions of Cholmondeley were divided. Those close to him described a charming man, a brilliant farmer and conservationist who spoke Swahili and Kikuyu.
A very different impression, however, was given in the Kenyan press, which featured stories of his fierce temper and his alleged abuse of people venturing on to his land. James Fox’s bestselling book
White Mischief, later made into a film, would dramatise the trial of Sir Jock Delves Broughton for the murder in 1941 of the 22nd Earl of Erroll, who had been conducting an affair with Sir Jock’s wife Diana. Sir Jock was acquitted. In 1955 the 4th Lord Delamere, Cholmondeley’s grandfather, married Diana.
Then Cholmondeley shot dead another black man.
He spent nearly three years in detention as the trial proceeded. In 2009 he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight months in jail. — ©