Peter Le Pelley 1931 - 2010 King's School Canterbury Pembroke College, Oxford (1950) Kenya Colony District Officer Married Shirley Loader 1957 Partner, Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews Kenya Law Society President 1969 - 1970 Editor, East Africa Law Reports, Butterworths, London 1970-1975 Senior Counsel, Kenya 2003 Goldenberg Enquiry Commissioner 2002 - 2005 Institute of Arbitrators Natural History Society Mountain Club Member, Committee Member, Chairman Chess Club, Nairobi Fly Fishers' Club Cave Exploration Group Bowls player Bibliophile Peter was born in Kenya and grew up on a coffee research station where his father was investigating pests of coffee and their control. He went to King's School, Canterbury for his secondary education and then on to Pembroke College, Oxford where he graduated in Law in 1950. He met his future wife, Shirley while studying at Oxford. Michael Tombs remembers Peter whom he met at Pembroke. I met Peter in my first few days at Pembroke, because he ran the college chess team and I wanted to play. We became friends and spent much time playing poker and bridge rather than chess. He introduced me to punting, and more particularly canoeing. We explored some very obscure waterways around Oxford, as well as the more conventional Trout lock. He came up from Kings School Canterbury, though his father was a Colonial service entomologist in Kenya, from where he commuted , in those days by boat, though as the airlines developed he used a route which involved a weekend break in Rome, which he greatly enjoyed. He took the Colonial Service course and returned to Kenya to become a District Officer. After a short time he changed his mind and returned to London to read for the Bar. As soon as he qualified he married his wife Shirley, a former nurse in the Oxford eye hospital, in Putney church. I was his best man. He joined the law firm Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews where he worked for the remainder of his life. Kiragu Kimani, who worked closely with Peter for many years writes: Peter Le Pelley was probably one of the most notable advocates Kenya has produced in the last 75 years. His great skill lay in being able to simplify the most complicated things. His ability to simplify complex matters is probably what commended him to the President and led to his appointment to sit on the Goldenberg Commission of Enquiry. Peter was able to put in plain simple English, complex concepts which many advocates considered could only be done through a fair sprinkling of Latin phrases and legal mumbo jumbo. He spent many hours trying to school young, and not so young lawyers, in the art of saying in 50 words that which they set out to say in 500 words. While he could be gruff and impatient with anyone whom he considered was slow to appreciate the point he was making (and this included Judges), many Judges appreciated the fact that he said just enough to get across the points that were vital for the case. Peter enjoyed puzzles, especially the Times crossword puzzle, which occupied many of the hours spent waiting in court for his cases to be called. Frequently, he continued filling in the crossword puzzles even as his case went on. For most court lawyers, this would inevitably invite a negligence action. Not so for Peter who was known to keep his opponents in check without taking his eyes from the crossword puzzles for longer than a couple of minutes. Peter served with distinction as the Editor of East African Law Reports between 1970 and 1975. There is no doubt that the law reports that were produced under his stewardship were of the same standard as those produced in the UK or any other part of the world for that matter. It was a joy to watch Peter cross examine a witness as one never knew what to expect. There was never any of the high drama one sees on television but one was always amazed at how much information he was able to extract from witnesses. He raised his voice at those who called for it and enjoyed a gentleman's exchange with more compliant witnesses. Such was his ability that he was consulted widely in the legal profession and offered many a useful opinions a good number of which have found pride of place in the library of Hamilton Harrison and Mathews one of Kenya's oldest law firms where he was a partner for 33 years. Outside law his interests were varied including rock climbing, ornithology, fly fishing, chess, caving and books. The Mountain Club of Kenya had his father as one if its founding members and Peter also made a significant contribution. He was instrumental in the negotiations to buy the local crag, Lukenya, from its then owners, making the Mountain Club what must be one of the few clubs to own its own rocks. He served on the committee for many years and was Chairman. He is remembered for the efficient chairing of meetings, effectively relegating chatter to the bar afterwards. In later years his climbing equipment was much commented on by the younger members as it had not been renewed since the sixties. He had a hemp waist loop with a steel carabiner attached to the rope and a few slings and "hexes". He would lead climbs with the ethos that the leader must never fall. In about 2000 he did purchase a harness and other equipment to bring him up to late 20th Century standards. He would often combine climbing at Lukenya with one of his other favourite pastimes, bird watching. He would do a few climbs in the morning and after lunch enjoy the wide variety of bird life there. He was also on many Natural History Society meets bird watching around Kenya. Peter was also active in the Cave Exploration Group and was often on their meets to the various caves, mainly lava tubes, around the country. He preferred the larger lava tubes as tight crawls over sharp lava didn't suit him. He was always appreciated as a solid belayer when there were ladder pitches to climb. Fly fishing was another interest that brought him much pleasure over the years. He visited the Fly Fishers' Camps regularly for a weekend's or week's fishing. Usually he managed to catch something for the pot despite often difficult conditions. His fishing wasn't confined to the relatively civilised Fly Fishers' rivers, though. He also fished the rivers on the Aberdare Mountains. On one occasion he was chased by a buffalo. He lost his rod, rucksack and glasses and came back to the car looking very pale, fortunately without being gored. On another occasion, he wanted to fish along a river where it flowed through a steep gorge and there were no banks to fish from. He enlisted the help of a friend and together they carried their fishing tackle and an inner tube each to the river upstream of the gorge. They then fished while floating down through the gorge on the tubes. Peter's personal library was the interest that he probably spent the most time enjoying. He was never without a book, whether he was waiting for a court case to resume or camping in the bush. The range of subject matter was very wide too with anything from scientific papers to opera. The recall of what he had read was also impressive. Peter died of a heart attack while swimming in the sea off Shimoni, Kenya on March 11th 2010. Henry Le Pelley (son) with contributions from Michael Tombs, Kiragu Kimani, Ian Howell and Gordon Davies.