Donald Garvie

Donald Sutherland Garvie (3 June 187322 October 1912) was a pioneer European settler in Kenya. In 1909, he opened Garvie's Bioscope in Nairobi, the first movie theatre in Kenya.

Early life Garvie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and moved to South Africa in 1883 with his parents and two brothers. In the mid-1890s he travelled around Southern and Central Africa. The Advertiser was the official advertiser of Nairobi. In 1908, when his house on Victoria Street was burgled, he launched a campaign in the paper criticising the state of policing in Nairobi. In 1909, he opened the first movie theatre in Kenya on Government Road.

Death Garvie died in Nairobi on 22 October 1912, aged 39. His wife Nellie later moved to Kent, England, where she died in 1979 aged 94.