Ruck Family massacre

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 marching on Government House, demanding action from Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring.[6][7][8]

Ruck Family Massacre
Part of Mau Mau Uprising
Operational scopeTerrorist attack
Location
Rift Valley, Kenya
Planned byMau Mau Leadership
TargetRuck Family
DateJanuary 1953
Executed byMau Mau
OutcomeRuck family were murdered
Casualties4 killed (3 Ruck family members, 1 African servant)

The massacre was fictionalised in the novel Something of Value by Robert Ruark, and in the 1957 film version.

References
  1. Oliver Lyttelton, Secretary of State for the Colonies (28 January 1953). "Kenya (Situation)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 510. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 1013–1015.
  2. 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.
  3. Hobhouse, Eleanor (Spring 2013). "A Mau Mau Mirror: Revising the British Imperialist Self-Image" (PDF). Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs. Johns Hopkins University. 16: 101–113. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. "Mau Terrorists Murder Family". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW. 27 January 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  8. "30 Africans Held In Killer Hunt". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 27 January 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
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