Kikuyu, Kenya: History
David Clement Scott was a Scottish missionary who had success and gained controversy in Blantyre in what is now Malawi. He had been named a "negrophile" and he arrived in Kikuyu in 1901. He had been relieved of his position in 1898 after losing his family to Malaria. Here he cleared the land and to the annoyance of the Foreign Mission Committee he bought an estate of 3,000 acres which was managed by a Christian labour force. He lost his own and other peoples money and the Foreign Mission Committee again insisted on his obedience. He died here in 1907.
The town has some British colonial history links, like the Right Reverend Musa Gitau (Swahili for Moses Gitau), an African believer in democracy who led among the first Christian faithful during colonial times. He lived and worked in the town as a reverend and in his honor two schools were named after him, Musa Gitau Primary School and Musa Gitau Secondary School.
An interdenominational missionary conference held in Kikuyu in June 1913 provoked the so-called Kikuyu controversy, which briefly roiled the Anglican churches from December 1913 to February 1914