Trace and Tell your Family's Empire Stories
Research guide
A good starting point when researching your family in Kenya is to join a genealogy forum such as the 'Kenya Genealogy Forum', where you can post questions relating to your research, and also look at other people's questions and answers to help you progress further.
http://genforum.genealogy.com
/kenya/
You can also start off with a surname search. There are lots of websites that will help you find the surname origins of your Kenyan ancestors. 'SurnamesByTown.com' has a list of surnames arranged by town. Don't be despondent if your ancestors don't appear: the list isn't exhaustive.
http://kenya.surnamesbytown.c
om/
For a general overview of African history and roots, use 'Ancestry.com'. This site contains access to listings of African classified newspaper adverts, which you can search by geographical region. Within the 'Notices' section you can search births, engagements, death certificates, etc. These entries are changed daily and unfortunately there are no archived entries, so it is advisable to look at them routinely to keep up-to-date. This site also enables you to search a huge number of historical records for more information.
http://www.ancestry.com/learn
/library/article.aspx?article=
9503
Newspapers are a great resource for tracing your ancestors, as not only will they provide you with a rich picture of life at the time, but in most cases will contain notices for births, marriages and deaths. It can be a lengthy search, but if you know dates of events then they can be a very useful and reliable resource. ABZ Newspapers has links to newspapers from around the world, although these mainly cover the most recent history.
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/
kenya.htm
There are also a number of collections which you can visit and search in person. Some of these are in Kenya.
The British Library holds private papers and manuscript collections of prominent British administrators, statesmen and military men in Africa, and it covers Kenya. The subject coverage of this collection is wide-ranging and includes historical, political and administrative themes, observations on African society, culture and traditions travellers' accounts, maps, charts and topographical drawings.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/
african.html
The British Library Newspaper Collection: Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5HE Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7353
British Library newspaper library has an extensive holding of colonial newspapers, including Kenyan papers.
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/n
ewspapers
The 'Gazette of Kenya' holds important genealogical information that is not always found in newspapers. The Gazette is essentially a newspaper and one was published by the government of each colony. The amount of information available in the Gazette can vary according to the date and some time periods don't hold as much information as others. The Gazette may sometimes provide important genealogical information not always found in other newspapers.
Unfortunately the Gazette is not available on the web. For much of the nineteenth century, Gazettes had no contents page and are not indexed, so be prepared to spend some time looking through these records. The National Archives reference for Gazettes dating from 1908-1975 is CO 542. Earlier Gazettes dating from 1899-1907 can be found in CO 457.
Kenya National Archives: PO Box 49210, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: 254 02 228959
info@kenyarchives.go.ke
The Kenya National Archives contain a wealth of records, images, video and newspapers. Some collections have been microfilmed and are held at the National Archives, Kew.
Department of Civil Registration: Office of the President, PO Box 49179, Nairobi, Kenya.
You need to contact the Department of Civil Registration for copies of civil registration documents.
Asians tracing family history in Kenya may find relevant records in the National Archives, Kew, the Kenya National Archives or the National Archives of India or Pakistan.
The National Archives of Pakistan: Administrative Block Area Block N, Pakistan Secretariat Islamabad. Pakistan.
This may hold records relating to central government as well as various Gazetteers and public and private records relating specifically to post-1947 Pakistan. These records aren't available online, but they do have a website.
The National Archives of India: Director General of Archives, Janpath, New Delhi 110001 Telephone +91 11 23383436
The National Archives of India was established in 1891 as the Imperial Record Department. Pre-independence census records are available for the period 1871-1923. These can be useful in establishing household relationships, dates of birth and occupations for both Indian nationals and Britons born in India. Digitisation of some records is in progress but you will need to visit to view all records. The National Archives of India now has four regional offices at Bhopal, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Pondicherry. If you are planning to visit, call the Central Repository Regional Office, Bhopal on 0755 2660173. Full contact details for all offices are available on their website.
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Military records
From 1888 the Imperial British East Africa (IBEA) Company established a military force in Kenya. Many troops were brought from India to serve in East Africa. In August 1895 the British government sanctioned the establishment of the East African Rifles, a force composed of 300 Punjabi, 300 Swahili, 100 Sudanese and 200 soldiers from various ethnic groups in the region. This force was formed from the former IBEA Company force in Mombasa and was used in quelling local rebellions.
The King's African Rifles was the largest force of African troops in British Africa. It was first formed in 1902 when the East African Rifles was united with the Uganda Rifles and Central African Regiment. It was commanded by British officers and saw action throughout the continent during the war, particularly in East Africa. Many thousands of British, African and Indian troops were killed during the First World War.
After independence in 1963, the Kenyan battalions of the King's African Rifles became the Kenya Rifles. A history of the King's African Rifles and the Kenya Rifles can be found at 'Regiments.org'.
http://www.regiments.org/regiments/africaeast/reg
ts/kar.htm
If your ancestor served with the King's African Rifles or another regiment in the British Army, you may be able to get hold of the regimental history of his unit from the National Army Museum. The museum is located at Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HT Tel: +44 (0) 20 7730 0717
http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/
Military records are very useful in providing details of a person's life and history. Although the records can vary from person to person, the military records can usually tell you dates and places of birth, next of kin, and in some cases a physical description of your ancestor. They can be useful for verifying facts that you have already discovered, but be careful as sometimes people lied about their age in order to sign up.
The Colonial Office (CO) records at the National Archives contain some material on soldiers who fought in the King's African Rifles. They are held in CO 534. If service records survive for men from these regiments or regiments of the Kenya Rifles, they are most likely to be at the Kenya National Archives.
War Diaries or Campaign Records for the British Army are held in the National Archives, Kew, and although they rarely mention individuals, they can give an interesting insight into the movements of specific regiments on a daily basis.
In response to the pressure from the British community in the country, the colonial government launched Operation Anvil in 1954 in an attempt to sever rebel supply lines during the Mau Mau Uprising. In January 1954 the King's African Rifles began Operation Hammer. The British central government records for Operation Anvil and Operation Hammer are available at the National Archives, among the Cabinet Office series (CAB). This will be of particular interest if you had an ancestor involved in the Mau Mau Uprising, or if you had an ancestor in the military or central government.
If your ancestor served in the British Royal Navy, you can find these records at the National Archives, Kew. Registration of naval ratings was centralised in 1853, and the National Archives has records available from 1853 to 1923. There is an index to service numbers in ADM139, and from this, you can access the records in ADM188 (they are arranged by service number). After 1923 the records are held at the Ministry of Defence and are not on open access to the public.
The Royal East African Navy was formed in 1952 but disbanded ten years later. The Kenya Navy was inaugurated by Jomo Kenyatta, the new president of independent Kenya, in 1964. The National Archives holds a number of records relating to the Royal East African Navy.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/searchthearchi
ves/?source=searcharchives
If you had an ancestor who served in the British Merchant Navy, you can trace these records at the National Archives, Kew. Before 1835 the records are hard to trace, but from 1835-1857 you will find the records in the registers of seamen. These are listed by date under BT112, BT113, BT114, BT116 and BT120. The entries are arranged alphabetically and give date and place of birth, as well as a physical description.
From 1857-1913 there was no official registration of Merchant Seamen, but you can trace the service records from 1913-1941 in BT350 and BT364. However, unfortunately there are few surviving records for the years 1913 to 1920.
If your ancestor served in the Merchant Navy after 1941, you may be able to find the seaman's pouch in BT372. The pouch usually contains lots of detail, including a physical description, date and place of birth as well as a photo or fingerprint. These records have been indexed by name, and you can search the online catalogue to see if the record survives.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue
The Kenya Air Force was established in 1964 with the assistance of the British. The RAF established stations from 1940 at Eastleigh, Kisumu, Thika and Mombasa. These were all part of the larger Air Headquarters, East Africa (Nairobi) that controlled the territories of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and a number of the western Indian Ocean islands. Some records relating to the Kenya Air Force are held at the National Archives, Kew.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/searchthearchi
ves/?source=searcharchives
