Cecil Moves to Zanzibar

By 1934 Cecil had had enough of Beira and was able to get a job in Mombasa through contacts he had made there when he passed through the town on his way from Port Sudan to Beira. He accepted a job with the African Mercantile (AMCo), a big, London-based ships’ agency and general trading company covering East Africa, on condition that he could have 'home' leave early as he hadn't seen England since leaving Port Sudan. He moved first to Zanzibar, leaving all his possessions, including a car and some very fine Persian rugs from his Port Sudan days, with his fiancee, Frances.

In this picture, my father is, very unusually, in a swimsuit. He had quickly made friends in the very cheerful environment of Zanzibar, including with Bunch Jones (left), who was later Helen's great friend and who worked in the Education Department. This picture from Cecil's album shows a group of them at Mangapwani (top picture) on a picnic.

He didn't stay long in Zanzibar before moving to Mombasa to the AMCo shipping department. While the office was much happier place than the one in Beira there were still problems: Cecil's immediate senior in the shipping department drank and was terrified of the general manager, and the assistant general manager spent most of his time on the shipping side, of which he sadly knew very little, which caused Cecil considerable irritation. To make up for it, the bachelors in the Mombasa mess had some pretty hilarious times.

Not very long after his arrival in Mombasa he received a letter from Frances breaking off the engagement as she had fallen in love with a young man employed by the Shell Company, and offering to return the engagement ring. Cecil told her to keep it and all the things he had left with her, including the brass trays and Persian rugs he had bought in Port Sudan; and he threw a party in the mess to celebrate the end of the engagement.

Cecil was soon courting Camilla, the daughter of the Manager of African Wharfage. She had a collection of young men and Cecil maintained that he got up to No.1 but fell from grace when he arrived somewhat inebriated to collect her for a party at the mess and she refused to come.

In 1936 the manager of the AMCo branch in Zanzibar went on leave and Cecil moved there to take over the office while he was away. By that time Helen Wilson had arrived in Zanzibar.