Enniskillen & Delamere

I viewed quite an interesting programme last night on BBC4 called Last White Man Standing. It concerned the story of the Hon. Tom Cholmondeley, only child and heir to the Lord Delamere.

The Delamere family live at their vast ranch, Soysambu, near Elmenteita in Kenya. Tom Cholmondeley was arrested for shooting and killing a poacher he had encountered on their estate. He was eventually sent to prison for eight months on the lesser charge of manslaughter; and was released after about six months, having served more than three years in custody.

Intriguingly, Lord and Lady Enniskillen featured in the documentary. It transpires that the Enniskillens are neighbours of the Delameres. Lord Enniskillen was dressed in black denims and a kind of light-coloured cowboy shirt.

The Lake Elmenteita area saw its first white settlement when 3rd Baron Delamere (1879-1931) established his Soysambu, a 48,000-acre ranch, on the western side of the lake. Delamere gifted the land nearest the lake to his brother-in-law, the Hon. Galbraith Cole (1881-1929), part of whose "Kekopey Ranch", where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge.

Nancy, Countess of Enniskillen (d. 1998) and stepmother of the present Lord Enniskillen, wrote: "Galbraith Cole and his bride made their home on Kekopey. Their ranch adjoined the Delameres' Soysambu in the Rift Valley sharing the flamingo lake of Elmenteita between them."

The Earls of Enniskillen are related, through marriage, to the Barons Delamere: Lady Florence Anne Cole, who died in 1914, daughter of the 4th Earl of Enniskillen, was the first wife of the 3rd Baron Delamere.