Tom Askwith
Thomas Garrett Askwith (24 May 1911 – 16 July 2001) was a British Olympic rower and a colonial administrator in Kenya during the
Early life
Tom Askwith was born in Cheam, Surrey. He was educated at Haileybury and matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1929, where he read Engineering. His father worked in insurance, but was killed at Ypres in 1917.
Cambridge and rowing
Askwith joined
Colonial Service
After going down from
From 1945 Askwith became the Municipal African Affairs Officer in Nairobi. Four years later, Tom was appointed Commissioner of Community Development and Principal of Jeanes School, Kabete – a training institution for African colonial development officers.
With his keen sporting background, Askwith chaired the Kenya Sports Association and was involved in promoting Kenyan participation in the
Askwith was appointed to organise the rehabilitation of those imprisoned during the 1952
Later life
Askwith finished his career as
Askwith recorded his memoirs in three volumes, From Mau Mau to Harambee (1995), Getting My Knees Brown (1996) and Eyeball to Eyeball (1998).
Family
Askwith married Patricia Noad (died 1999) in 1939; they had two sons and a daughter.
See also
References
- ^ "Tom Askwith". The Telegraph, London. 28 September 2001. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Tom Askwith Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ISBN 0950618101.