Harold E. Lambert

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1893–1967) was a British linguist and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

in Kenya. Born in Pield Heath, raised in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, and educated at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

(1912–1915), Lambert served as a platoon commander in the

Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

during World War I, and was wounded at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in July 1916. A year later, the young Lieutenant joined the King's African Rifles in

Nyassaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasalan ...

in the East African Campaign against the German army in Tanganyika. After his demobilization in 1919, Lambert remained in East Africa and was appointed assistant District Commissioner on the southern coast of Kenya. During this period, he studied

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

history and culture, becoming fluent in the language. Gaining indigenous respect and recognition, he became known as "Sheikh Lambert." His subsequent postings were as District Commissioner in Kiambu,

Lamu Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island. ...

, Embu, Kenya,

Voi Voi is the largest town in Taita-Taveta County in southern Kenya, in the former Coast Province. It lies at the western edge of the Taru Desert, south and west of the Tsavo East National Park. The Sagala Hills are to the south. Economy Voi is a ...

, and other places, where he gained an "outstanding" reputation as an administrator known for his "profound" knowledge of indigenous law and culture (especially Kikuyu). In 1939, the British Governor of Kenya nominated Lambert be appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) and promoted him to Senior District Commissioner. Controversially, Lambert advocated early initiation for young women in Meru District, involving female genital mutilation (

FGM Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

). This was driven by concerns of population growth, and what he saw as an alarming rate of abortions (driven possibly by other material factors) and the idea of using culture to maintain "the well-being and cultural equilibrium of the tribe". This was opposed by the Attorney General in Nairobi. When Lambert left Meru in 1937, he informed his successor that "propaganda" encouraging early initiation had been entirely successful". Lambert was married to Grace Firr, a trained nurse and daughter of Tom Firr, a famous Huntsman of the Quorn Hunt. After his retirement in 1950, the couple settled in Nairobi. He remained very active as a Swahili language scholar until his death in Nairobi, 1967. Many Africanists, anthropologists and linguists greatly benefited from H.E. Lambert's expert knowledge and generous assistance in the field and in their subsequent research. Among those he mentored were

A. H. J. Prins Adriaan Hendrik Johan Prins, generally known as A. H. J. Prins (1921, Harderwijk, Gelderland – 11 February 2000) was a Dutch Africanist and maritime anthropologist. He was a recipient of many research grants and fellowships (UNESCO, Ford Fo ...

, who did ethnographic research on the

Taita Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...

and, subsequently, the coastal

, and Philip Gulliver who researched the Turkana.

Selected publications

* ''The Administrative Use of Indigenous Institutions of the Meru.'' (1939). 34 pp. * ''The Constitution and Personnel of Statutory Institutions in the Meru Native Reserve.'' (1939). 47 pp. * ''Disintegration and Reintegration in the Meru Tribe.'' (1940). 45 pp. * ''The Use of Indigenous Authorities in Tribal Administration: Studies of the Meru in Kenya Colony''. (Communications from the School of African Studies No.16, Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 1947) * ''Land Tenure Among the Akamba''. (1947, African Studies, Vol. 6(4), pp. 131–147, 157–175) * ''The Work of an African Chief''. (Nairobi 1948) * ''The Systems of Land Tenure in the Kikuyu Land Unit'' (Communications from the School of African Studies No. 22). (Cape Town, 1949) * ''The Background to Mau Mau: widespread use of secret oaths in Kenya''. (1952) * "The Taking of Tumbe Town." ''Journal of the east African Swahili Committee'' 23:36-45 (1953). * ''Kikuyu Social and Political Institutions''. (Oxford U Press, 1956) * "Some Songs from the Northern Kenya Coast." ''Bulletin of the East African Swahili Committee'' 26:49-52 (1956). * ''Chi-Chifundi: A Dialect of the Southern Kenya Coast''. (Kampala: East African Swahili Committee, 1956) * ''Ki-Vumba: A Dialect of the Southern Kenya Coast''. (Kampala: East African Swahili Committee, 1957) * ''Chi-Jomvu and ki-Ngare: Subdialects of the Mombasa Area''. (Kampala: East African Swahili Committee, 1958) * ''Wimbo wa kiEbrania''. (Arusha, 1959) * "Some Riddles from the Southern Kenya Coast." ''Swahili'' 33(1):14-18 (1962). * "The Beni Dance Songs." ''Swahili'' 33(1):180-21 (1962). * "Some Initiation Songs of the Southern Kenya Coast." ''Swahili'' 35(1):49-67 (1965). * ''Diwani ya Lambert:Imehaririwa na

Mathias E. Mnyampala Mathias E. Mnyampala (1917–1969) was a Tanzanian writer, lawyer, and poet. Mnyampala was born on 18 November according to a personal record form of 1956, but he wrote in his autobiography that he only knew the year with accuracy. He was bor ...

'' (Nairobi, 1971)

Sources

* Obituaries. 1967. ''East African Standard'', 30: v: 8; ''Swahili'' Vol.37 (2):125.
Abel, Richard L. 1969. ''A Bibliography of the Customary Laws of Kenya (with Special Reference to the Laws of Wrongs).'' Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 4014.
* Frankl, P.J.L. 1999. "H.E. Lambert (1893–1967): Swahili Scholar of Eminence (being a short biography together with a bibliography of his published work." In ''Journal of African Cultural Studies'' 12 (1):47–53. * Murray, Jocelyn. 1976. "The Church Missionary Society and the 'Female Circumcision' Issue in Kenya, 1929–1932. ''Journal of Religion in Africa.'' Vol.8:92–104.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Harold E. 1893 births 1967 deaths Anthropological linguists English anthropologists Linguists from England British emigrants to Kenya Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Gloucestershire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I King's African Rifles officers Military personnel from Bournemouth Officers of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from London