The Muthaiga Country Club is a

country club A country club is a privately-owned Club (organization), club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Ty ...

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. It is located in the suburb of Muthaiga, about 15 minutes’ drive from the city centre. The Muthaiga Country Club opened on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

in 1913, and became a gathering place for the colonial

British settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After th ...

British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was a British protectorate in the African Great Lakes, occupying roughly the same area as present-day Kenya, from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Cont ...

, which became the

Colony of Kenya A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often o ...

in 1920.

Founding history

One of the club's main founders was

The Hon ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...

Berkeley Cole (1882–1925), an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

from

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. Cole was a son of the 4th Earl of Enniskillen and was a brother of

Lowry Cole General Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole (1 May 1772 – 4 October 1842) was a British Army officer and politician. Early life Cole was the second son of an Irish peer, William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen (1 March 1736 – 22 May 1803), an ...

(1881–1929). Berkeley Cole was also the

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling or the sibling of one’s spouse. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred to as a brother-in-law for a male sibling-in-law and a sister-in-law for a female sibling-in-law. Sibling-in-law al ...

of Hugh, Lord Delamere, effective 'founder' of the White community in Kenya.

Caroline Elkins Caroline Elkins (American, born Caroline Fox, 1969) is Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Harvard University, the Thomas Henry Carroll/Ford Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, ...

describes the club as having had a reputation during colonial times as "the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...

of Africa", where the elite "drank champagne and pink gin for breakfast, played cards, danced through the night, and generally woke up with someone else's spouse in the morning". According to Ulf Aschan, "The club had a rule, still in force today, that a member is entitled to damage any loose property as long as he pays double its value". Today, the club is still frequented by the upper echelons of Kenyan society. In addition to social gatherings, the club offers accommodation. Many of its members play golf at the nearby Muthaiga Golf Club.

In popular culture

The Muthaiga Country Club is described in

Beryl Markham Beryl Markham (born Clutterbuck; 26 October 1902 – 3 August 1986) was a Kenyan aviator born in England (one of the first bush pilots), adventurer, racehorse trainer and author. She was the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlant ...

's 1942 memoir ''

West with the Night ''West with the Night'' is a 1942 memoir by Beryl Markham, chronicling her experiences growing up in Kenya (then British East Africa) in the early 1900s, leading to celebrated careers as a racehorse trainer and bush pilot there. It is considere ...

'': "'Na Kupa Hati M'zuri' (I Bring You Good Fortune) was, in my time, engraved in the stone of its great fireplace. Its broad lounge, its bar, its dining-room—none so elaborately furnished as to make a rough-handed hunter pause at its door, nor yet so dowdy as to make a diamond pendant swing ill at ease—were rooms in which the people who made the Africa I knew danced and talked and laughed, hour after hour."

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

describes the Muthaiga Country Club in his 1931 travel book '' Remote People'' (also included in the anthology '' When the Going Was Good''). Whilst Waugh was unable to find accommodation on the premises, he discovered, upon his arrival in Nairobi, to be already a temporary member, as he had been registered by the secretary of the club who knew about his arrival. The club is featured in

Lucinda Riley Lucinda Kate Riley (; 16 February 1965 – 11 June 2021) was a Northern Irish author of popular historical fiction, formerly an actress and ballet dancer. Biography Lucinda Edmonds was born in Lisburn and spent the first few years of her life i ...

's 2019 novel ''The Sun Sister'', the sixth book in the author's ''The Seven Sisters'' series. The club is also mentioned in

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's short story ''The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber'', a story centered around big game hunting in Kenya.

References

*"Welcome to Muthaiga Country Club" (website), Muthaiga Country Club, 2003. {{Authority control Hotels established in 1913 Sports venues completed in 1913 1913 establishments in Kenya Nairobi Hotels in Kenya Golf clubs and courses

Founding history

In popular culture

See also

References