Ruck Family massacre
| Ruck Family Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of Mau Mau Uprising | |
  Rift Valley region Rift Valley region (Kenya) | |
| Operational scope | Terrorist attack |
| Location | |
| Planned by | Mau Mau Leadership |
| Target | Ruck Family |
| Date | January 1953 |
| Executed by | Mau Mau |
| Outcome | Ruck family were murdered |
| Casualties | 4 killed (3 Ruck family members, 1 African servant) |
The Ruck Family massacre took place during the Mau Mau Uprising. Farmer Roger Ruck, his wife Esme and six-year-old son Michael, along with one of their African servants, were killed by Mau Mau,[1] one of whom allegedly worked for the family.[2] The killing shocked the European community in Kenya and was widely reported in the Kenyan and British press,[3] with many including graphic photographs of the dead child.[4] The incident was significant in radicalising the settler population.[5] Within 48 hours of the killings, 1,500 European settlers marched on Government House, demanding action from then Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring.[6][7][8]
The massacre was fictionalised in the novel Something of Value by Robert Ruark, and in the 1957 film version.
References
- ^ Oliver Lyttelton, Secretary of State for the Colonies (28 January 1953). "Kenya (Situation)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 510. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 1013–1015.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Buettner, Elizabeth (2016). "Myths of continuity and European exceptionalism Britain, decolonization, and the Commonwealth family ideal". Europe After Empire: Decolonization, Society, and Culture. Cambridge University Press. pp. 52–53. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139047777.002. ISBN 0521113865. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ Hobhouse, Eleanor (Spring 2013). "A Mau Mau Mirror: Revising the British Imperialist Self-Image" (PDF). Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs. 16. Johns Hopkins University: 101–113. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ Elkins, Caroline (2005). "Britain's Assault on the Mau Mau". Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 42–43.
- ^ Bennett, Huw (2012). Fighting the Mau Mau: The British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139342506. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ Jackson, Will (2016). "The Settler's Demise: Decolonization and Mental Breakdown in 1950s Kenya". In Fischer-Tiné, Harald (ed.). Anxieties, Fear and Panic in Colonial Settings: Empires on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 73–96. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45136-7. ISBN 978-3-319-45135-0. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ "Mau Terrorists Murder Family". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW. 27 January 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ "30 Africans Held In Killer Hunt". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 27 January 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 9 November 2013.