NAIROBI NEWS: 1920 “CARS IN NAIROBI – part 1

In Jade del Cameron’s first adventure, MARK OF THE LION, most of the colonists took a native-pulled rickshaw to get around in town. Those that had cars, were put together jobs often made up of several cars left over from the Great War. With sides built up of wooden frameworks, these “box-bodied” cars were utilitarian rather than pretty. By the 1920’s that changed.

More people came to the Kenya Colony to make their home and a great many of them lived in Nairobi. The once swamp-ridden railroad stop had grown into a capital city, still swamp-ridden in parts, but growing none-the-less. And a lot of those citizens wanted an automobile.

Advertisements in both the newspapers and in The South and East African Year Book and Guide showed that Ford and Hupmobile were popular makes.
The ads were taken from The East African Standard, June 12 and September 4, 1920

NEXT WEEK: More Nairobi Cars – IMPORTING A CAR.

NOTE: These blogs are meant to give some insight into the life and times of my fictional character, Jade del Cameron. Jade’s mystery adventures take place in post WWI Africa. To date they are: Mark of the Lion, Stalking Ivory, and The Serpent’s Daughter, all available in trade paperback.. The fourth book The Leopard’s Prey, is available in hardcover. TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN CHEETAH will be released Sept. 1, 2009. An excerpt and information on pre-ordering signed copies is available at the website: www.suzannearruda.com. Follow short updates on http://twitter.com/SuzanneArruda

NAIROBI NEWS: 1920 “SHOP NAIROBI”

Most businesses do their best to keep the townsfolk from shopping away from home. Convenience is definitely a factor, and that especially held true in 1920 Nairobi. If you didn’t want to shop in town, you needed to take the train down to Mombassa which involved traveling overnight. But still, Mombassa’s shops often claimed to have the latest imported fashions, something the Nairobi stores did their best to counter at the counter.

And so Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Company, Ltd, did their best to attract the local buyers by featuring large ads on the front of each issue of The East African Standard newspaper. In the June 19, 1920 issue, the store was appealing to the women of Nairobi with a display of delicate underclothing in fine silk, cambric, and cotton.


But corsets, camisoles, sleeveless vests, and nightdresses were only a few of the items listed.
Whiteaways also advertised (without pictures) a satin lined fur coat in “coney seal” for only 975 rupees. If one didn’t want a full coat, they also had a “handsome fur wrap in natural skunk” with a broad pillow muff to match for a mere 750 rupees. Perfect for an evening at the Theatre Royal. Of course, if you were of a more practical nature and just needed a good lady’s sport coat, one was available in assorted colors for 95 rupees.

The ads were taken from The East African Standard, June 19, 1920

NEXT WEEK: More Nairobi Shopping – for cars.

NOTE: These blogs are meant to give some insight into the life and times of my fictional character, Jade del Cameron. Jade’s mystery adventures take place in post WWI Africa. To date they are: Mark of the Lion, Stalking Ivory, and The Serpent’s Daughter, all available in trade paperback.. The fourth book The Leopard’s Prey, is available in hardcover. TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN CHEETAH will be released Sept. 1, 2009. An excerpt and information on pre-ordering signed copies is available at the website: www.suzannearruda.com. Follow short updates on http://twitter.com/SuzanneArruda