These photographs were provided by Mr Ernie Hughes, who served as a 'RAF Firefighter' at RAF Eastleigh in Kenya in the mid 1950's. It shows RAF military Police and airmen guards with local men at RAF Eastleigh (Moi Air Base). 

This item forms a part of an archive of personal recollections of British servicemen, providing individual insights into a complex and contested chapter of colonial history. Ernie's collection can be viewed online at the West Wales Veterans Archive on the People’s Collection Wales website.

The Kenya Emergency: From 1952 to 1960, the British colonial government imposed a state of emergency in Kenya to quell the Mau Mau uprising, which arose from deep-seated grievances over oppression under colonial rule. The counter-insurgency that followed was marked by widespread violence and mass detentions. The emergency was a time of profound suffering and resistance — one that reshaped the nation’s path toward independence in 1963.