Grandson of a Colonial Police officer and son of a P.C., Frank Thompson had a
childhood in Tanganyika before going to Bedford School. When his parents retired
to Nyeri he became a teacher at Nairobi European Primary School, then at an Arab
school near Mombasa, an African school at Waa, and Nakuru European Primary.
In 1936 he married a girl he had met in England, returning there shortly afterwards to
take a London Dip.Ed. On return he went first to Nakuru before becoming Headmaster
of a Nandi school, in Kapsabet. In the war he served as a Captain in the K.A.R. during
the Abyssinian campaign, before returning to be in charge of Education in the
Kapenguria district, spending much of his time on safari. At the African school much of
his work was concerned with the practicalities of shambas and dam construction. From
there he was moved to Kitui, Nakuru again and then to Kilimani as Head. Like others of
us he also served as a farm guard on the Kinangkop during the Mau Mau. His next post
was the Highlands School Eldoret with many Boer children, before going back to
Nairobi Primary where he was Head for 11 years. After Uhuru he founded a preparatory
school in 1966, followed by a secondary six years later.
This short book of only 54 pages is packed with incident and is a good read, with
black and white photographs reviving nostalgic memories of Tanganyika and Kenya.
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