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Life of Beryl Marham
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Research about the life of Beryl Markham that includes informations about her early life, her education, her life as a pilot, her works as an author, her legacy and honors.
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Beryl MarkhamAge and Name
Born on October 26 1902 at Ashwell, Rutland (Leicestershire), England
Died on August 3 1986 at Nairobi, Kenya, Africa (at the age of 83)
Born name: Beryl Clutterbuck
Early life (Africa)
At 4 years old, her father decided to move the family to Kenya and ought a farm in Njoro. But
her mother disliked the isolation there and promptly returned to England taking Richard (Beryl’s
older brother) because he suffered in the harsh climate while Beryl stayed in Kenya with her
father, where she spent an adventurous childhood learning, playing, and hunting with the local
children.
But, really, the real reason of her mother leaving was she fell in love with an army officer serving
in east Africa whom she married to become Mrs. Kirkpatrick, but he died in the battlefield, so
Clara returned to Kenya.
So later, they found themselves again in Kenya, living near each other in the small expatriate
community and she would see her mother as an adult, but Beryl never forgave her mother for
abandoning her while she admires her father to the point she would compare every man she fell
in love with to her father, most of whom were found wanting in the end.
But when her father hires a governess, a woman named Mrs. Orchardson, Beryl hated her
because her father and Mrs. Orchardson formed a liaison, so she preferred to live in a mud hut
rather than live under the same roof as her step-mom.
Her first language was Swahili not English, so she learned their language and absorbed their love
of the land. She was the only white woman permitted to hunt with the male warriors, and she
was equally adept with both a spear and a rifle
She didn’t treat the Africans who worked for her father as inferior.
Family and Friends
Dad: Charles Baldwin Clutterbuck who was an accomplished horse trainer. After the war, her father lost
the farm and moved to Peru to train horses.
Mom: Clara Agnes Clutterbuck
Brother (older): Richard Alexander Clutterbuck (nickname: Dickie) who was born in 1900 but died earlier
in 1927.
Because of where she grew up, Beryl was never a conventional Englishwoman, she grew up
practicing the art of survival, so she could be ruthless and amoral, using people and after,
discarding them. Often, she took advantage of her friends by running up huge bills on their
, accounts, without any guilt. But because of her charm, it was hard for her friends to stay mad at
her for a long time.
School
Beryl's father brought in tutors for her formal education. But during the World War I, she was
sent away to a proper English school in Nairobi to have an actual education, but she felt out of
place there and after three years, Beryl was expelled from school for being a bad influence, so
she returned to her father's farm at Njoro.
Horse trainer
On her family's farm, she developed her knowledge and love for horses. Barely an adult, she
became the first licensed female racehorse trainer in Kenya and rapidly became a successful and
renowned figure among the racing community of Kenya. She was the first woman ever to be
granted a trainer's license in Kenya
At the age of 19, Beryl began her career as a professional racehorse trainer. She started with
some horses given to her by her father, then hired a jockey (who was Mrs. Orchardson’s son
Arthur, who became a playmate) and rented a stable. After her horses won a few of the smaller
races, owners began to send their horses to her to train. A friend loaned her a string of stables
and a hut to live in. She produced winners and by the age of 24. In 1926, her horse, Wise Child,
won the prestigious St. Leger.
Markham returned to Kenya to re-establish her career as a racehorse trainer. From 1958 to
1979, the horses she trained won dozens of classics and six times won the East African Derby,
Kenya's top race.
Author
Controversy surrounded the couple when Schumacher claimed he wrote Markham's book.
Markham chronicled her many adventures in her memoir, West with the Night, published in 1942.
Despite strong reviews in the press, the book sold modestly, and then quickly went out of print.
. She also left the world an amazing memoir ‘West with the Night’ which was re-released in 1983,
forty years after its initial publication, reintroducing the world to the fascinating life of Beryl
Markham.
She wrote West with the Night in 1942, but although the critics raved, it was not a popular success.
Pilot
Hubert Broad and Tom Campbell Black were both pilot and were a big inspiration for Markham
to decide to become a pilot.
When Markham expressed interest in entering the air race at Johannesburg, a fellow pilot
offered to provide her with a new plane, on one condition: she must successfully cross the
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