Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Reginald Berkeley Cole (26 November 1882 - 27 April 1925) was a prominent Anglo-Irish aristocrat, soldier, and white settler in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. He is notable as the founder of the Muthaiga Club in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...

Biography

Cole was born in

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, England, the youngest child of Viscount Cole and his wife Charlotte Baird. He was commissioned into the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

on 23 February 1901, during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, and transferred to the

9th Lancers The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but ...

on 19 October. After the war, along with his brother Galbraith, he settled in Kenya. Their sister Florence had in 1899 married Lord Delamere, the pioneer of European settlement in Kenya. On 18th September 1914, he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain while serving in the East African Campaign of the First World War. He led an irregular unit known as Cole's Scouts, formed of Somali soldiers and soldiers from the 2nd Battalion

Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (until 1921 known as the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Lancashire Reg ...

. The unit was plagued by ill-discipline and friction with

regular The term regular can mean normal or in accordance with rules. It may refer to: People * Moses Regular (born 1971), America football player Arts, entertainment, and media Music * "Regular" (Badfinger song) * Regular tunings of stringed instrum ...

officers from the Lancashires, and was disbanded in August 1915. In 1920 he was elected as a Member of the Kenyan Legislative Council and he was re-elected unopposed in 1924. He was a charismatic figure amongst the early European settlers in Kenya and a close friend of

Karen Blixen Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen; 17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962) was a Danish author who wrote works in Danish and English. She is also known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countrie ...

who later featured him and their mutual friend

Denys Finch Hatton The Honourable Denys George Finch Hatton MC (24 April 1887 – 14 May 1931) was an English aristocratic big-game hunter and the lover of Baroness Karen Blixen (also known by her pen name, Isak Dinesen), a Danish noblewoman who wrote about him ...

in her memoir

Out of Africa ''Out of Africa'' is a memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on ...

. He was notable as the founder of the Muthaiga Club, a private Nairobi enclave of the colony's

demi-monde is French for "half-world". The term derives from a play called , by Alexandre Dumas , published in 1855. The play dealt with the way that prostitution at that time threatened the institution of marriage. The was the world occupied by elite me ...

Death

He died of heart failure at

Naro Moru Naro moru is a small market town in Nyeri County in central Kenya, lying on the Naromoru River, between Nyeri and Nanyukiits 21.8 km to Nanyuki town. Its main industry is tourism, as a base for hikers ascending Mount Kenya, to its east ...

on 27 April 1925 aged 42.Colony & Protectorate of Kenya, H.M. Stationery Office, 1922, p.3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Reginald Berkeley 1882 births 1925 deaths British emigrants to British Kenya Members of the Legislative Council of Kenya British Kenya people