Philip Percival

Philip Percival
Born	Philip Hope Percival 1886 Newcastle upon Tyne, Northern England, United Kingdom
Died	1966 (aged 79–80)
Occupation	White hunter, safari guide

Philip Hope Percival (1886–1966) was a renowned white hunter and early safari guide in colonial Kenya. During his career, he guided Teddy Roosevelt, Baron Rothschild, and Ernest Hemingway on African hunts. Hemingway modelled the fictional hunter Robert Wilson in his story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" after Percival. Percival also worked with well-known white hunters like Bror von Blixen-Finecke and mentored Sydney Downey and Harry Selby, and was known in African hunting circles as the "Dean of Hunters".

Percival was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in Northern England, at the tail end of the 19th century. When Philip was still quite young, his older brother Blaney (born 1875) went off to East Africa, and proceeded to send Philip several exciting accounts of his life as a game warden there. When Philip turned 21 he inherited a small sum of money and struck out to join his brother in Africa, sailing to Mombasa. Percival settled in Limuru, where he grew coffee and wheat and bred ostriches, cattle and horses.

Upon reaching Africa, Percival was quick to pick up hunting with his brother, and Harold and Clifford Hill, who were also ostrich farmers. The ostriches they raised were used as bait to lure lion and other big game. At first, Percival mainly hunted lion with the Hills, but in time he started to lead hunting trips of his own. Initially he charged clients a fee of ten pounds per week and an additional twenty-five pounds per lion and in those days guides like Percival only provided the wagon, pack animals and a couple of assistants, leaving the clients to provide their own food, drink, tents and bedding.

In 1909, Philip's brother Blaney had been instrumental in bringing then Colonel Teddy Roosevelt to East Africa for a safari and Philip was given the opportunity to work as an assistant hunter on the trip. Roosevelt remembered Percival well, writing about him:

After the Roosevelt safari, Percival decided to become a full-time white hunter and one of his first solo clients was Baron Rothschild, but he also conducted safaris for other royals like the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.

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