Papers of F. de V. Joyce; records of Kilima Kiu Estate/Joyce Ltd.

• Correspondence, printed memoranda, notes, press cuttings concerning political developments in Kenya, 1921-1950s
• Correspondence, memoranda and notes concerning European settlement, land control, etc., Kenya, 1932-1946
• Memoranda, correspondence, notes, reports, etc. relating to agriculture and livestock, industry, soil conservation, land use, etc., Kenya, 1931-1963
• Miscellaneous papers relating to Kenya, 1949-1960
• Correspondence, memorandum, notes and report concerning veterinary development in East Africa, 1945-1957
• Reports on land use and tsetse control, East Africa, 1952-1953
• Memoranda and notes on various subjects, Machakos District, Kenya, c1924-1961
• Maps of Machakos, 1930-1953
• Correspondence, memoranda, maps, notes relating to settlement and reconditioning of land, Machakos, Kenya, 1938-1958
• Notes on the bee-culture of the Akamba tribe, Kenya, 1943 (printed, publication unknown)
• English-Kikamba vocabulary, with related correspondence, 1943, 1955
• Correspondence, notes, etc. relating to geography, wildlife, agriculture, etc. of Ethiopia, 1941-1943
• Report on agricultural possibilities, Somalia, 1949
• Maps, correspondence, notes, surveys, accounts, etc. relating to Kilima Kiu estate and Joyce Ltd., c1911-1982, including references to forestry, trespass, water, cattle, employees, squatters and farm school
• Other miscellaneous papers

Frank Joyce (1888-1959) arrived in Kenya in 1911 and settled at Kilima Kiu, Machakos District, entering into a partnership with Archie Lambert (who died soon afterwards) and F. O'B. Wilson to farm ostriches. In 1919 he married Mary Early ne Davison; at the same time he was given a soldier settler farm, but sold it in order to purchase a farm adjacent to the estate. Gradually the estate was given over to dairy farming. In 1934 Wilson and Joyce divided the farm; Joyce added to his share by buying another ex-soldier farm and began supplementing his dairy herd with beef cattle. From 1938 to 1939 and 1944 to 1948 he sat on the Legislative Council as Acting Member for Ukamba. During this period his concerns were largely agricultural development and land use, and in 1945 he was one of five members of Legco to be appointed to the African Land Utilisation and Settlement Board (later the African Land Development Board (ALDEC). He died on safari in 1959. After his death, a combination of drought, weak local administration and the approach of independence led to a number of problems including trespass and loss of control of the resident labourers. In 1962 part of the land was sold to the Central Land Board as a settlement area for squatters. Joyce's daughter Anne became farm manager in 1941 and continued to run the farm successfully, attracting educational visits from a range of students and official groups.

Bodleian reader's ticket required. Employment record of Gioachino Vettori, Italian prisoner of war, while at Kilima Kiu, 1946-1968 is closed to access until 1st January 2017.

Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

A handlist is available in the library reading room.

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

The papers were sorted and listed in Kenya by Dr. Anne Thurston in 1984 with the intention that they would be filmed for the Kenya National Archives, the originals remaining with Joyce's daughter, Anne at Kilima Kiu. Dr. Thurston's list has formed a substantial basis for the library's own handlist.

Additional papers relating to Joyce Ltd., 1938-1986 (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 2157)