An F. Darton & Co. military prismatic compass, dating from 1904. The brass case is engraved on the base: 'F. Darton & Co., London, No. 1855' and is also stamped with the War Office broad arrow mark, showing that it was official military issue, rather than an officer's private purchase item. This compass is almost identical to the one that features in the Oscar winning 1985 film 'Out of Africa', which starred Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. In the film the compass is given to Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) by Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). The compass used in Out of Africa was Denys Finch Hatton's actual compass, but it was lost during the making of the film.
The compass card design is quite unusual, originating around the time of the Boer War, it was produced for a relatively short time, being replaced by Lt-Colonel Verner's designs, such as the Mk V and Mk VI, around 1907. The compass has a mother of pearl card, with a luminous paper centre and black painted cardinal points. The luminous compound used in this compass was most probably a version of 'Balmain's Luminous Paint' (patented by William Balmain in 1877). This type of luminous paint was activated by exposure to very bright light, often created by burning a strip of magnesium ribbon. The compass also features a transit lock, operated by a sliding button on the side of the case, and a manual brake.
This particular compass design is known to have been manufactured by both J. H. Steward and Francis Barker & Son, and as Barker was based close to Darton's premises in Clerkenwell it is quite possible that they made this compass for Darton. A very similar compass, signed by Francis Barker, can be seen at compassmuseum.com.
F. Darton & Co: was established by Francis Darton in Clerkenwell in London as an optician and scientific instrument maker c.1871. Darton may well have been apprenticed to Benjamin Oborne, who had been in business since the 1840's. Darton & Co. traded from St. John Street, Clerkenwell until 1912. In the 1890's Darton was listed as a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. The company continued to trade throughout the next few decades, becoming F. Darton & Co Limited in 1925 and moving to Watford in 1930.
Condition:
The compass is in very good condition, full working order, and finds North well. There is some minor wear to the bronzed finish of the lid and to the original lacquered finish of the brass on the lower part of the case. The compass card and glass are in very good condition. One of the tiny brass screws is missing from the window surround in the lid. The brass case is engraved on the base 'F. Darton & Co., London, No. 1855' and is also stamped with the War Office broad arrow mark.
Dimensions : 53mm (diameter, 73mm inc. prism)
Denys Finch Hatton (1887-1931) was an aristocratic big-game hunter and the lover of Baroness Karen Blixen (also known by her pen name, Isak Dinesen), a Danish noblewoman who wrote about him in her autobiographical book Out of Africa, first published in 1937. Finch Hatton met Baroness Blixen at the Muthaiga Club on 5 April 1918. Soon afterwards he was assigned to military service in Egypt. On his return to Kenya after the Armistice he developed a close friendship with Blixen and her Swedish husband, Baron Bror Von Blixen Finecke. He left Africa in 1920 but returned in 1922, investing in a land development company. By this time, Karen Blixen had separated from her husband, and after their divorce in 1925, Finch Hatton moved into her house and began leading safaris for wealthy sportsmen. One of his clients was Edward, Prince of Wales. According to the author Mary Lovell, in 1930 Finch Hatton began a love affair with Beryl Markham, who was working as a race-horse trainer in Nairobi and the surrounding area. Later, she would become known as a pioneer flyer.
On the morning of 14 May 1931, Finch Hatton's Gypsy Moth took off from Voi airport, circled the airport twice, then plunged to the ground and burst into flames. Finch Hatton and his servant Kamau were killed. In accordance with his wishes, Finch Hatton was buried in the Ngong Hills, overlooking nairobi National Park. Later, his brother erected a memorial at the gravesite upon which he placed a simple brass plaque inscribed with Finch Hatton's name, the dates of his birth and death, and an extract from Coleridge's epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast".
Karen Blixen (1885-1962) was a Danish author who wrote works in Danish and English. She is best known under her pen name Isak Dinesen. She also published works using the aliases Osceola and Pierre Andrézel. Blixen is best known for Out of Africa, an account of her life while living in Kenya. Blixen was considered several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1918, Karen Blixen met the English big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton. He often travelled back and forth between Africa and England, and visited her occasionally. After her separation from her husband, Blixen and Finch Hatton developed a close friendship, which eventually became a long-term love affair. In a letter to her brother Thomas in 1924, she wrote: "I believe that for all time and eternity I am bound to Denys, to love the ground he walks upon, to be happy beyond words when he is here, and to suffer worse than death many times when he leaves". Finch Hatton used Blixen's farmhouse as a home base between 1926 and 1931. He died in the crash of his Gipsy Moth biplane in May 1931. At the same time, the failure of the coffee plantation, as a result of mismanagement, the height of the farm, drought, and the falling price of coffee, forced Blixen to abandon her beloved estate. Blixen returned to Denmark in August 1931 to live with her mother and remained in Rungstedlund for the rest of her life.
