Ross, William McGregor.

Kenya From Within – A Short Political History. With Eight Illustrations from Photographs, And Eighteen Maps and Diagrams.

London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1927. 14 cm x 22 cm. Frontispiece, 486 pages. 8 photographic plates including frontispiece. 11 maps, including those of Mombasa Island, Kenya Colony, Localities of Tribes in Kenya, The Insurrectionary Area (1922-1923), within the text. Hardcover [publisher’s original brown cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Blind stamp on lower front board. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Minor signs of foxing. Board corners slightly rubbed and bumped. Binding good and firm. Interior bright and clean and sharp cornered. Errata leaf inserted between p.96-97. Private gift-inscription dated “Christmas 1943” on endpaper by one William Wallace to [Captain] H.G. Gregory Smith [District Officer in Colonial Kenya].

Includes, for example, the following chapters: Labour Troubles / The Diseducated / The Marvelling Masai / The Miscarriage of the Public Works Program etc.
From the Author’s Preface: “This book deals with the political history, from the earliest times down to February 1927, of the tropical African Dependency which is now called the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.” (p.6)
William McGregor Ross (1876-1940) was a high-ranking colonial official in the British East African Protectorate, where he served as Director of Public Works between 1904 and 1923. From 1916 to 1922 he served as an ex officio member of the Legislative Council of the East African Protectorate. He was very critical of the exploitative treatment of the native population by the settlers and administration (Terence Craig, ‘The White Spaces of Kenyan Settler Writing’, p.xxx). After retirement he was a member of the Mandates Committee of the League of Nations and gave evidence to the Joint Select Committee on East Africa, 1930-31 (‘Description of the Papers of William McGregor and Isabel Ross’ at the Bodleian Library, Oxford website)

• Keywords: Africa – Rare · Africa, British East · Africana Collection of Rare Books · Agriculture · anti-colonialist · British Colonial Administration · British East Africa · British Empire · Colonial History · Colonial History – Rare · Economic Development · Economics · Kenya Colony and Protectorate · Maasai · Maasai Mara · Native, Rituals and Customs · Natives · Political activists · Political activity · Political history · Politics · Settler · Settler life · Settlers · Uganda
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 120062AB

EUR 240,--