The Lion of Egerton Castle

The Lion of Egerton Castle is a play set in Kenya. It explores social and political issues in the colonial and postcolonial periods in Kenya and delves into a popular rumour that Lord Egerton built 'Egerton Castle' for a woman who jilted him because she likened the castle to a pigeon's coop.

Lord Maurice Egerton (1874-1958) was the Fourth Baron Egerton of Tatton Park in Cheshire, England. He first came to Kenya in the early 1920s and built Egerton Castle between 1930 and 1940. He settled permanently in Kenya and died at his castle on 30th January 1958 with an heir. He was a close friend of Lord Delamere, also a settler aristocrat from Cheshire. Both settlers owned thousands of acres of land in Kenya and ran joint business ventures.

Prof. Elizabeth Orchardson-Mazrui is the author of The Seasons of the Jacarandas: An Anthology of Stories Set in Kenya.