William McGregor Ross, known as Mac, was born in Southport in 1876, the son of William Ross, who founded Southport Grammar School. Mac was educated at his father's school and later took degrees in Engineering at Liverpool and Dublin Universities. He went out to British East Africa in 1900 and worked for three years as an assistant engineer on the construction of the Uganda Railway. He then took up an appointment as engineer in charge of laying on a water supply to Nairobi.

In 1904 Mac was appointed to the post of Director of Public Works, East Africa Protectorate, a position he held until 1923. In 1916 he became ex-officio a member of the Legislative Council of the East Africa Protectorate, and remained one until 1922. Here his views on representation of the Africans made him unpopular with the European settlers who dominated the political scene leading eventually to his early retirement. He left Kenya in 1922.

Mac settled in London but maintained an active interest in African and especially Kenyan affairs, and in 1927 published a book, Kenya from Within, in which he described the country's political history. He spoke frequently on African affairs all over Britain and was an 'untiring champion' of the African people, as his obituary in the Manchester Guardian recorded.

Mac was also actively involved in Labour Party politics and served on various Labour Party committees. He was the British Workers' delegate to the Forced Labour Committee at the International Labour Conference held in Geneva in 1929, was a member of the Mandates Committee of the League of Nations Union and gave evidence to the Joint Select Committee on East Africa in 1930-1931. He died in 1940.

In 1915 Mac married Isabel Abraham (1885-1964), a schoolteacher. While in Kenya Isabel pursued an established interest in women's movements and politics and co-founded the East African Women's League in 1917.

Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) was an American-born engineer and inventor who settled in England and became a naturalized citizen. He developed many inventions, most notably the Maxim machine gun and a flying machine which he trialled in Kent in 1894. For further information see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.