Chapter 4: The Bonny Earl Of Erroll

1928:

• Joss' father died
• Joss becomes the Earl of Erroll
• his marriage to Idina was coming to an end (her closest friend had been Alice de Janzé who had affair with Joss; Alice voted off the island;
• Idina tolerated casual affairs, but not serious romances

Oserian -- see wiki entry; a flower farm;

• Joss now in love with Molly Ramsay-Hill, another married heiress and a beauty (should go without saying); also older than Joss; married to a rancher, Major Cyril Ramsay-Hill, lived at the edge of Lake Naivasha = Oserian, a Moorish-style estate

Story of Ramsay-Hill horsewhipping Joss over the affair -- p. 40.

Mentions that from Oserian/Djinn Palace, it was over a 100 miles to Nairobi.

Joss and Molly tented at Narok on safari.

Molly and Ramsay-Hill divorced; Molly kept the Djinn Palace.

1930: Molly and Erroll married; moved into Djinn Palace (Oserian); now a rose farm; on the beautiful lake;

Description of Djinn Palace begins page 45;
sunken marble bath in the main suite; vomiting guests
financially secure; Molly's estate provided £8,000 per year

Erroll realizes he has some political clout; notes Lord Francis Scott

1934: paid-up member of the British Union of Fascists

Molly expected Joss to become dictator of Kenya

1935: Mussolini invaded Abyssinia

• Joss: drops his membership in the British Union of Fascists
• Joss: elected, age 34, to the Presidency of the Convention of Associations, the "settlers" parliament -- a separate and unofficial rival to the Legislative Council

Eileen Scott: looked more favorably on Joss by this time -- page 46.

By now, Erroll losing interest in his second countess, Molly. Molly unable to get pregnant, afraid of losing Erroll becomes an alcoholic and morphine addict -- p. 47.

Erroll hoped she would die and she did, August 1939.

Flow of money to Erroll stopped. Erroll closed down the house.

Moved to a bungalow in Muthaiga, near the entrance to the Club.

Erroll: broke now, living on credit. His father had left him £100 / year.

Down to Molly's pearls.

Erroll becomes engaged in politics.

1939:
Erroll elected to the Legislative Council, as the member for Kiambu
now opposed appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain

1940:
Erroll, 39 years old
military secretary of the Colony
joined the Kenya African Rifles with the rank of Captain
head of the Manpower Board
soon marshalling the East African fighting force for the Abyssinian campaing

1940: love affair
with a married woman from Happy Valley whom the author will call Nancy Wirewater -- p. 48.
noon trysts with champagne in the Norfolk Hotel
once caught by Auntie, "having his way with Mrs Wirewater on the billiard table"

Another love affair, another mistress, who never got over Erroll: Gwladys (pronounced Gladys), Lady Delamere, widow of Hugh Delamere.

In 1920, Gwladys had married Sir Charles Markham, six years younger than she, and considered a waster. The marriage lasted seven years with some conspicuous unfaithfulness on both sides.

She married Hugh Delamere in 1928, three years before he died (1931). In 1928 she had traveled to Kenya as the girldfriend of Edward, Prince of Wales on the first of his safaris.

On the Prince's next safari, Gwladys was dropped from the entourage.

By 1940, Gwladys had become somewhat more unbalanced -- from typhoid (?) and unhappiness in love (?) -- p. 49. She was impossible, an exhibitionist, a racist, really, really, really bad.

But, she was the Mayor of Nairobi.

Meanwhile Alice -- remember Alice -- Raymond and Alice at the Gare du Nord -- had been allowed to return to Kenya and she took up residence in Wanjohi Valley.

1932: Alice had married Raymond de Trafford -- five years after the shooting at the Gare du Nord; three months later, at Neuilly, they were separated -- page 50

Never saw each other again:
1939: Raymond jailed for three years for manslaughter
1946: in court for bankruptch

Meanwhile, Alice in the Wanjohi, resumed her life of ease and bouts of depression; lived alone, mostly with her pet eland; and dogs, notably her precious Dachshund "Minnie"

1940: Alice adopted a new friend: Julian "Lizzie" Lezard -- a celebrated figure in London socieity
a compulsive gambler; an inspired buffoon
sent to Kenya by his wife,
men found him an exhausting joke
women were obsessed with him -- a real playboy

Lezard story complete Chapter 4

• playboy in London society
• new friend for Alice (Gare du Nord fame) 
• an inspired buffoon
• a gifted tennis player; came from South Africa with the Davis Cup team
• the privileged outsider, the victim of merciless teasing
• first moneyed woman: Hilda Wardell, Leicestershire
• rode with Quorn and Pytchley (bottom of page 51)
• after several years, Hilda could take no more; divorced amicably;
• she sent Lezard to Kenza without a penny
• he was told that Alice de Trafford, now divorced from Raymond an living in Happy Valley, would look after him
• Alice brought him back to the Wanjhi Valley in her box-body car
• Erroll and Lezard were perfectly matched: the comedian and the Earl, both broke, both mad about women
• Lezard was fascinated by Erroll; and the obvious place to stay was at the center of activity, Erroll's house at Muthaiga