|
.
Joss
Erroll WAS NEVER
a traitor OR A fascist
PART
SIX OF A SIX PART
SPECIAL
ARTICLE by
ERROL TRZEBINSKI
.
Coastweek
- - One, whose role had been to interrogate
Broughton before his arrest, so as to establish how he might stand up
under pressure, had been Trafford's own father.
This
dual agenda had been highly secret and afterwards Trafford Snr.,
had once more been required to take the 'Official Secrets
Act' so as to establish that he would never talk about the
Erroll case to anyone.
Luckily
for me, old men do not wish to go to their graves with blood
on their consciences.
Another
man, cover name, 'Edmund' wanted the record set straight
because he deplored the fact that Erroll, had been wiped out
in cold blood, simply because he had known too much for his
own good and might have talked.
Obviously
the unravelling of the Erroll murder has been far more
tortuous than it is possible to relate in a few columns.
|
|
|
|
|
Coastweek
- - Erroll and his
lover, Diana Broughton, on
the Kilifi Ferry during their
six week romance.
(PHOTO:
COURTESY - ERROL TRZEBINSKI) |
My
strange route back to that turf in Karen where in the early hours of
24 January in 1941 when the female agent pulled the trigger, killing
the 22 Earl of Erroll, with all the expertise of her profession, has
convinced me that Erroll was dealt with by his own Government, because
those in power feared his indiscretion.
In
fact his knowledge could have brought about its resignation.
There
was never any question of Joss Erroll being a traitor, fascist or
otherwise.
He
was a brilliant man with a photographic memory who simply knew too
much for his own good. While it is generally accepted that 'all is
fair in love and war' it does not make the knowledge any less shocking
that within minutes of his death, a British agent transmitted the
signal: "Ich hatte einen kamraden. 24 0255" beside
Lord Erroll's hired Buick, which had come to an abrupt and unexplained
halt.
This
message was relayed by wireless from Nairobi to Pretoria, from
Pretoria to Cairo, from Cairo to London, in confirmation to those who
were awaiting the news that Scotland's Hereditary High Constable was
dead.
I
have now lived in Kenya for almost half a century myself, becoming
bored and non-plussed by the way in which the 'Happy Valley'
cliché has continued to evoke glamour and decadence in equal measure.
Like
the grand-children and great-grand children of third generation
settlers, my own three offspring are just as irritated by this 'cache'
and justifiably.
Anyone
who lives in post Colonial Africa, lives on the edge of uncertainty
and never more so than since Independence.
But
everyone I know who lives out here, loves Kenya and they work very
hard.
Because
we employ servants, have early morning tea brought to our bed-side,
have our mosquito nets let down each night, in the hope of preventing
ever threatening, malaria, because dirty laundry is whisked away, to
be returned to pristine freshness, next day, I prefer to couch these
benefits as luxury rather than decadence.
As
for my own youth I do recall how at the age of sixteen, at the height
of the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya, being shocked myself at the ease
with which Europeans appeared to lead their lives.
They
seemed so carefree, and spontaneous with no household chores of any
sort to deaden the soul.
In
fact, the height of 'decadence' in my day, was to dance the night away
at Torr's Hotel just as Erroll and his lover, Diana Broughton
had done.
After
a 4.00 am breakfast we also used drive out from Nairobi to watch the
dawn rise over the Rift Valley with one's latest admirer.
If
this was romantic it was also quite commonplace among the young.
And
I cannot for the life of me sixty odd years on, find any sin in that
youthful and relatively innocent activity.
(c)
Errol Trzebinski 2000.
'The
Life And Death Of Lord Erroll',
the new book by Errol Trzebinski, is now on sale at bookshops in
Mombasa and Nairobi.
.
|
