Ulendo – Claude’s African Journey into War and Passion

A History of Empire seen through the Life of Claude Oldfield (1889-1963) British Colonial Officer, Northern Rhodesia.

In 1983, Malcolm Alexander was given the photo albums of his great-uncle Claude, a colonial officer in Africa from 1911 to 1932. Ulendo – going for a walk in the bush – is a quest for this elusive man in the vanished world of the British Empire, the story behind those captivating old photographs. When Claude arrived, beautiful Northern Rhodesia was a new colony and Malcolm explains its origins in Livingstone’s missionary zeal and Rhodes’s rapacious ambition. Three years later, Claude was on the front line in the brutal and highly mobile Africa campaigns of World War One, vividly narrated here. Having received the German surrender in 1918, Claude resumed his administrative work among Africans, missionaries and eccentrics and became involved in a passionate love affair. After Government cutbacks imposed early retirement and a return home, Claude met a young single woman and was again on active service as an RAF ground officer in the defence of London. During Claude’s lifetime, the wind of change was already blowing and Northern Rhodesia became independent Zambia soon after his death.
As Archbishop Tutu writes in his Foreword: Malcolm has captured the bitter-sweet feeling that loving Africa engenders. At this moment, when we are re-examining the legacy of empire, it is imperative that we try and look again at what was driving people. Malcolm gives us that perspective.
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All orders will be personally signed by the author.
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Download the Prelude (pdf)