Carey Francis: Discipline, academic excellence were non-negotiable

The period between 1815 and 1914 is often referred to as Britain’s “Imperial century” or Pax Britannica (Latin for “British Peace”) when the United Kingdom played the role of global hegemon (most powerful actor). The global superiority of British military and commerce was aided by a relatively weak and divided Europe and the presence of the British Navy on all the world’s oceans and seas. It was a period when being British and of service to King and Country was a great honour.

Edward Carey Francis was born on September 13, 1897 in Hampstead, an area in the London Borough of Camden. Educated at William Ellis School, Hampstead, Carey Francis showed extraordinary promise both at work and games serving as head of school, captain of cricket, football, tennis and athletics.

At the outbreak of World War I, in 1914, Carey Francis was only 17 when he joined the army, rising to the position of lieutenant. Emerging unscathed from the war, he was awarded a scholarship and joined Trinity College, Cambridge where he went on to become one of the best students in mathematics. His prowess in the field of analysis saw him earn several awards, including the 1923 Raleigh Prize while his works appeared in the proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in November 1925. In 1926 he was appointed as one of the first lecturers to the newly established Faculty of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He also served as Secretary to the Board of Mathematics.

Notwithstanding the excellent career prospects in the academic world, Carey Francis had often expressed a life-long desire to serve in remote areas in the mission field and in 1928 he abandoned the teaching position at Cambridge, taking a lay teaching position in Kenya with the Church Missionary Society (CMS).

His first posting was as headmaster at Maseno School, in Nyanza, taking over from Canon Doctor Stansfield. He quickly established high standards of discipline and academic performance that are the envy of many to this day. He was nicknamed “achuma” (man of steel) by his students for his almost militant style of leadership, which he probably acquired during his days in the British Army. He mesmerised everyone with his mathematical genius in class and books that he wrote such as Highway Mathematics.

In the early years Maseno was only offering junior secondary examinations (equivalent of Form Two) and was the top feeder school for Form Three at Alliance High School from 1938.

Already Carey Francis had started to display a paternalistic attitude towards Africans as shown in this speech during 1939: “In work they do very well, but in other ways I care most about, they do badly. They seem to me to become insufferably conceited, unctuously pious, selfish, slack at everything, except books and examinations,” he said about students who joined Alliance. “Year by year, the best boys go; the rot sets in and they disintegrate. They lose all the love for Maseno which stands for different things.”

His stated mission was two-pronged: to produce disciplined and obedient African students. When he arrived at Alliance High School as headmaster in 1940, he wanted to eliminate the elitist attitude of the students who, according to him, behaved like undergraduates. “Much of this attitude still persisted, and I was ready to do anything to make sure it does not take root here”, he wrote later.

Carey Francis not only introduced a powerful prefect administration but also annual student reports, which were sent to chiefs, education officers and parents to demonstrate that the students were at Alliance not on their own behalf but that of their respective communities.

The students had to be cut down to size. This was a major disappointment to the students as they felt they were being treated like children. Like his colonial peers, Carey Francis understood it was not his work to build an African elite. His work was to mould obedient servants for the colonial administration. The work of training future leaders of the country was left to such able European schools as Prince of Wales and Duke of York.

To show his determination in changing the elitist thinking at Alliance, Carey Francis banned the wearing of long trousers, fez and shoes which he considered an extravagance. He went as far as forcing African teachers to wear shorts in schools. When former students Mbiyu Koinange, James Gichuru and Eliud Mathu returned to Alliance as graduate teachers, they did not stay long under Carey Francis who frustrated them and clearly did not recognise their elevated status.

He built a mystical prestige at Alliance by creating a brand name as a leading institution. Under his now legendary leadership, Alliance epitomised the ideals of service by an English gentleman oozing the ultimate imperial principles.

Julius Gecau, a student at Alliance in the late 1940s and who deplored the authoritarianism displayed by Carey Francis, said, “He was a good Christian but a colonial-minded man, a victim of his time.”

The paternalistic attitude of Carey Francis compromised the expectation of emancipation and autonomy among African students. He failed to understand that in the eyes of most Africans, education necessarily implied a certain elevation in social status. A strong desire for recognition and equality drove the students in their quest for higher education and it was precisely because this desire was turned down by principals like Carey Francis that the struggle for education became a highly charged political issue.

Carey Francis remained at the helm until 1962. Ironically, the first post-Independence Cabinet of Jomo Kenyatta comprised 15 ministers, out of which nine were alumni of Alliance. Did Carey Francis inadvertently train the future leaders of Kenya? Perhaps he misunderstood the school motto “Strong to Serve” to mean Alliance was training Africans for servanthood rather than to “serve their fellows through Jesus Christ”.

Carey Francis died on July 27, 1966 and his body was buried in the grounds of Alliance High School. When he died, the House of Representatives stood in silence in his memory. He had done a commendable job for Queen and Country.