The Africa House by Christina Lamb

In the last decades of the British Empire, Stewart Gore-Browne built himself a feudal paradise in Northern Rhodesia, a sprawling country estate modelled on the finest homes of England, complete with uniformed servants, daily muster parades, rose gardens and lavish dinners finished off with vintage port in the well-stocked library and music room.

He wanted to share it with the love of his life, the beautiful unconventional Ethel Locke King. She, however, was nearly twenty years his senior, married and his aunt. They kept up an almost daily correspondence for the whole of their lives and their letters provided a detailed picture of Gore-Browne's inner and outer lives.

After leading a border surveying project, he found his paradise on the edge of a crocodile-infested lake, one of whose inhabitents had made a meal of Livingston's dog. Then he had to postpone his dream for six years when the First World War broke out. He served with distinction in France, but saw the friend who was to partner him in his adventure killed on the Somme.

He loved two women named Lorna, mother and daughter. He eventually married the daughter, taking her to Africa where they had two children. For awhile, Lorna the Second shared his dream. She ran the estate with him and, in his absences, managed it on her own.

At its peak, the estate employed almost 1,000 Africans: making bricks, building, distilling essential oils, hunting, raising crops and farming animals. Along with the house, there came to be an entire English village in the bush: houses for the labourers, a post office, a school, a shop and, eventually, a hospital.

Gore-Browne gave large sums of money for the education of the African children and supported their parents farming efforts. He invited Africans to his dinner table to the unamused astonishment of his English guests. He beat his servants, but served port to the house staff after dinner. At the end of his life, his closest friend and confident was his black driver and valet.

He entered African politics working toward a goal of a shared government but came to champion an independent, Black-ruled Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). He remains the only white man knighted by Zambia and given a state funeral.

A fascinating book about a fascinating, complex man and the social and political milieux of his times.

In my inventory.