Talk:David Gordon Hines

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Duncanogi (talk) 19:08, 6 February 2009 (UTC) David Hines was responsible for the development of co-operatives in Tanganyika and Uganda, improving the living standards of farmers in their transition from subsistence farming to cash crops. In Uganda, some 500,000 farmers joined these co-operatives.

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From 1947 to 1959 he was employed in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania) by the British Colonial Office to develop farming co-operatives throughout Tanganyika. Previously, farmers had sold their produce to Indian traders at poor prices. The farmers gained more favourable prices for their crops by banding together and selling their produce in bulk.

In 1959, David Hines became Commissioner of Co-operatives for Uganda reporting to the Governor. He and his staff of 400 advised groups of 100 to 150 farmers on how best to establish a co-operative, defining the constitution and accounting. At meetings, Hines, who spoke fluent Swahili, would listen to the farmers' problems and give speeches to encourage progress. With government money, the co-operatives built cotton ginneries, tobacco dryers and maize mills — and successfully exported coffee and cotton from this landlocked country. In the three years after independence, David Hines reported to the Uganda Government Minister Mr Ngobi. From 1966 to 1972 he advised the Kenya Minister of Agriculture particularly about the "million-acre scheme" to buy expatriate farms mostly in the Kenya highlands.

David Hines was born in Staffordshire, England on 8 February 1915. His parents lived in Margherita, Assam, India where his father managed coal mines. David's grandfather founded with his brother the Hines Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. After a childhood largely in Barnstaple and at Blundells School in Tiverton, both in Devon, David was articled to Cooper Brothers, the accountants, in London. In 1938 he sailed to Kenya to start work with accountants in Kisumu, only to find that his new firm had just been taken over by his old employers Cooper Brothers.

During the Second World War, David Hines served in northern Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Madagascar.

In the King's African Rifles, he commanded a squadron of 20 light armoured cars which was assigned the task of defending 800 miles of the northern border of Kenya against a possible Italian invasion from neighbouring Ethiopia. He spent six months eating with his African crews and sleeping under tarpaulins as there were no tents. The working language was Swahili.

At the Outspan Hotel in Kenya, his wife Bertha (Beb) Hines helped Lady Baden Powell reply to the thousands of letters sent to her on the death of her husband who had founded the worldwide scout movement.

In early 1941, Hines, then a captain was in the van of General Cunningham's swift 1900-mile advance from Kenya to Addis Ababa, via Kisimaio and Mogadishu in Somalia and up the one good road through Harar, Diredawa, and Awash. With iron rations while advancing in light armoured cars, they captured thousands of Italian troops. They confiscated their arms and many supplies, and left the prisoners for other troops who followed behind. In Addis Ababa, Hines helped rescue numerous Italians and Germans who had surrendered — he saw many others beside the roads who had been crucified by the local Shifta people.

On one occasion, while crossing the River Kolito in Eritrea, David Hines witnessed one of the Leakey family (famous for anthropological discoveries in East Africa) win the Victoria Cross, the highest British medal for valour.

On another occasion, one night on the Eritrean border, an elephant lost a leg after walking on a landmine defending the camp. At first light, Hines and two askaris tracked the elephant for 20 miles before putting it out of its misery.

After taking part in the allied invasion of Madagascar and being transferred to Burma, David Hines was made the accountant on the Kenya Wheat Scheme, set up to help feed war-ravaged Europe. He eventually retired to Kingsdown, near Deal in Kent, England and died of prostate cancer on 14 March 2000, leaving two daughters and one son. Duncanogi (talk) 19:08, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Spelling
In the caption of the second photograph, "Kalifi" seems to be a mistake for "Kilifi".
 * It now appears correctly as "Kilifi".

Maintenance templates
Notability is one thing, but the other issues still exist. Simon-in-sagamihara (talk) 23:13, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Needed
A disambiguation page is needed. David Hines seems to be unrelated to David Gordon Hines. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.147.148.174 (talk) 15:17, 11 October 2013 (UTC) ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.79.29.112 (talk) 14:01, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Caption
The caption in the photograph, saying "1969 with family from England", should say clearly that the children in the photograph are not David Gordon Hines' own children, but distant relatives, usually living in England. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.119.235 (talk) 12:22, 27 January 2022 (UTC)