H.E. Lambert (1893–1967): Swahili scholar of eminence (being a short biography together with a bibliography of his published work)*

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H.E. Lambert was born in England in 1893; he went to East Africa in 1919 and worked for the British colonial administration until he retired in 1950. He worked in Shimoni in 1923/24 and spoke perfect kiVumba and he composed poetry in that dialect. Later he was in Lamu in 1929, and there he had the opportunity to further his study of Swahili language and poetry under Muhammad Kijumwa. After W.E. Taylor (1856–1927) only Sheikh Lambert amongst English scholars was recognized by the Swahili people themselves as an authority on their language, poetry and history. Lambert died in Nairobi in 1967 aged 73.