Histories
of the
Hanged
Histories
of the
Hanged
The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire
David Anderson
Copyright © 2005 by David Anderson
Published in Great Britain under the title Histories of the
Hanged:
Britain’s Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections
from this book, write to Permissions, W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anderson, David, 1957–
Histories of the hanged: the dirty war in Kenya and the end
of empire / David Anderson.—1st American ed.
p. cm.—
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-393-07974-6
1. Kenya—History—Mau Mau Emergency, 1952–1960. I.
Title.
DT433.577.A53 2005
967.62'03—dc22
2004024804
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
[Link]
W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
Contents
List of Maps and Tables
Prologue: The Hanged
1 The Hidden History of an Anti-Colonial Rebellion
Making a Rebellion
Emerging Violence
2 Burying the Past
Chief Waruhiu
Jock Scott and Judge Thacker
Going to War
Christmas Eve in Nyeri
3 ‘Parasites in Paradise’: Race, Violence and Mau
Mau
‘A sunny land for shady people’
Killing Bwana
‘Them or us’
Paradise Postponed
4 Death at Lari: The Story of an African Massacre
Victims and Vengeance
A Deeper History
Courtroom Dramas
Executions
Colonial Consequences
5 Struggles in the City: Mau Mau in Nairobi
African Life in Eastlands
Terrorizing the Tai-tai
Operation Anvil
Fighting Back
Corruption at City Hall
6 General China’s War: Freedom Fighters in the
Forests
Flight to the Forests
Bugles and Battles
Surrenders
Psycho Docs and Pseudo Ops
7 Crimes of Punishment: Law and Disorder in
Kikuyuland
Carrots and Sticks
Ruthagathi: Kenya’s Belsen
Excessive Force
The Gulag
8 Spoils of War: Decolonizing Kenya, Memorializing
Mau Mau
Coming Home
Kenyatta: ‘The Reconciler’
Monuments, Museums, Movies
Mathenge’s Return
Appendix: Tables
Notes
Glossary
Chronology
Acknowledgements
Maps and Tables
Maps
1.i Kikuyuland, c. 1952
4.i Kiambu District, showing Lari and Tigoni, c. 1952
[Link] Tigoni Township Reserve, c. 1929, showing Kikuyu
githakas
5.i Nairobi’s Eastlands in the 1950s
[Link] Nairobi and its environs, c. 1954
6.i The forest camps of the Aberdares (from Barnett &
Njama)
Tables
1.i Kenya’s population by race, selected years 1905–63
2.i Nyeri Christmas Eve attacks, December 1952: the
convictions
3.i Murders of European settlers: the accused and their
sentences
4.i The Lari hanged
5.i African population in Nairobi, by origin
[Link] Closure of shops in Pumwani, 1954
7.i Convictions for Mau Mau offences, October 1952 to
March 1958
[Link] Capital punishment convictions in Kenya, October 1952
to October 1959
[Link] Monthly returns of Special Emergency Assize Courts,
March 1954 to December 1956
[Link] Selected collective punishments in Kirinyaga, 1952–6
7.v Comparative prison populations, East and Central Africa,
1938
[Link] Daily average number of Mau Mau detainees and
convicts, December 1954 to August 1959
Jomo Kenyatta, photographed at the Pan-African Congress
meeting in Manchester, 1945.
The co-defendants at the Kapenguria trial; Paul Ngei, Fred
Kubai, Jomo Kenyatta, Achieng Oneko, Kungu Karumba and
Bildad Kaggia wait to enter the courtroom.
A scene from Chief Waruhiu’s funeral, Kiambu, October
1952.
Kikuyu woman preparing to assist the security forces in a
sweep through the forest in search of Mau Mau, November
1952.
Cattle confiscated from the Kikuyu of Nyeri under the
collective punishment laws, because they had failed to co-
operate in operations against Mau Mau, November 1952.
A scene from the white highlanders’ protest at Government
House following the Ruck murders, January 1953.
Defendants in the courtroom during one of the Lari mass
trials, each identified by a number draped around their
neck.
Defendants in the Lari trials, waiting to go into the
courtroom at Githunguri, 1953.
Venasio Wakahangare’s body, trussed up in a sack, and left
in the back of his delivery van parked on a Nairobi street
corner, October 1953.
Evelyn Baring and Oliver Lyttelton at Nairobi airport, April
1953.
‘The redoubtable Chief Njiri’ an image of the foremost
Loyalist chief, proudly wearing his government medals.
Michael Blundell in 1959.
General China in the courtroom at Nyeri, flanked by armed
policemen and still wearing his hospital gown.
The portrait of himself that Dedan Kimathi sent to the British
security forces on learning that they did not possess a
photograph of Kenya’s most-wanted Mau Mau leader.
Kenya’s War Council, 1954: Deputy Governor Frederick
Crawford, Governor Evelyn Baring, General George Erskine
and Michael Blundell.
A fortified Home Guard post in Murang’a, late 1953.
A fortified Home Guard post, at Kiajogu in Nyeri District,
with watchtower and staked moat.
Police examine a dead Mau Mau fighter killed in the attack
on Othaya Police Post.
Local Kikuyu residents leaving Kamiritho Home Guard Post,
having gathered there overnight for protection against Mau
Mau attack.
General Erskine (centre) relaxing with Chief Njiri (far left)
and members of the district administration, late 1954.
