Venk has written an informative and interesting account of the beginnings and development of the tea plantations in India. Some of our readers may like to go on to read the books he mentions here.
by Venk Shenoi
History has shaped the world we live in. The East India Co (EIC), founded December 1600 during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I in England and Emperor Akbar in Hindustan, started trading from its factory at Surat following grants from Emperor Jahangir (1615/17). The Company’s activities centred on trade in cotton, silk, indigo, saltpetre, and spices, initially from Surat and later from Madras (1644), Calcutta and Bombay (1661) which was ceded to England by the Portuguese. Following Emperor Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 and breakup of the Mughal Empire the EIC was drawn into the chaotic politics of the times mainly to safeguard its trade. The Company was not interested in acquiring and administering territory but following Clive’s victory at Plassey (1757) over the Nawab of Bengal, became Jagirdars under the Mughals that were the paramount power of Hindustan.
By the early 1800s the Company was the supreme power in India and controlled its own territory within the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay and also the many Rajas and Nawabs on the sub-continent who --- although given internal autonomy--- were under the watchful eye of the English Residents. The EIC, initially as traders and later as Empire builders, moulded Indian history as much as the Mughals, Marathas and all the others that ruled over the subcontinent from the beginning of time. Tea was already known in Europe including Britain from the 1600s and imported from China via the Dutch East India trade. The late 18th Century saw the likes of botanist Joseph Banks proposing to grow tea in India. Trials with Chinese varieties (Robert Kydd, 1780) were not successful under Indian conditions. The EIC lost interest in growing tea as China provided a profitable source and Chinese tea could be bartered for Indian opium.
Wild tea was discovered growing in Assam in the early 19th century (1823), reportedly by a Major Robert Bruce, who had a keen interest in botany and in exploring the territory of the Ahom Kings (then within the Burmese Empire). Bruce was helped by Maniram Diwan a local noble, to meet Beesa Gaum, the Chief of the local Singpho hill tribe who were known to brew tea from leaves of wild bushes. Bruce planned to grow the tea from seeds provided by the tribal chief but died soon after.
Assam and Manipur, then part of the Burmese Empire, came under EIC control following the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824 – 26) and the treaty of Yandbo. Robert’s brother Charles Bruce later (1835) obtained seeds and plants and the Calcutta Botanical Gardens studied these to ascertain prospects. The plants were found to be different from the Chinese varieties but more suited to growing in Assam. The EIC experts examined commercial potential for growing tea in the newly acquired lands of Eastern India. Initial trials with the Chinese varieties and Chinese methods of manufacture failed and a hybrid version developed from Chinese/Assam plants proved successful in the local climate.
Politics came into managing the new wilderness, new laws brought in by the EIC (the infamous ‘Wastelands Acts’) dispossessed local land owners and tribals renting the newly acquired lands to venture capitalists. A system of indentured labour put local tribesmen and others brought later from the tribal lands of Central India to work in the new plantations along the river valleys of Assam, later in Bengal (1860 onwards).
1837 saw the first consignment of Bruce’s tea being sold in London and attracted venture capital. Although it owned land the EIC did not have monopoly of the Indian trade in the early 19th century. The Bengal Tea Company was formed in Calcutta in 1939, and a joint stock company formed in London to purchase the EIC’s plantations and establish tea estates in Assam. The two companies merged to form the Assam Company (1839). The market for Assam tea developed in London through the 1840s and 50s. Private capital saw new opportunities and the Indian Tea Industry was born. Indigenous tea was also discovered in Cachar and cultivation spread (1859) to Tripura, Sylhet, and Chittagong, Jorehaut Tea Company was set up in 1859. The number of tea gardens expanded from 50 in 1859 to 160 in 1862.
Plantations in the Dooars, previously part of Bhutan, were started after the Anglo-Bhutan War of 1864/65 when the territory was annexed later to become Jalpaiguri District of Bengal. Books like the ‘Planter Raj to Swaraj’ by Amalendu Guha provide a historical narrative of the development of British control over Assam during the 19th century and its political undertones.
‘Assam - yes beastly unhealthy hole; better not go there’, appears to have been the prevailing sentiment in the 19th century. Experiences of an early Planter George Barker are given in ‘A Tea Planter’s life in Assam’ published by Thacker Spink & Co Calcutta in 1884. The book is a guide for aspiring Planters intending to work in the jungles of Assam. Barker’s story starts in an overcrowded England short of economic opportunities prompting the young to seek their fortunes in the colonies. By 1869 the Suez Canal was completed and sailing ships from England which previously took over a hundred days around the Cape of Good Hope now took about a month under steam. 150 rupees a month (£150 a year) and an increase of 500 rupees a year for the first three years appear attractive compared with wages then prevailing in England for junior grades.
The sketches on these pages are copied from Barker’s book. To the best of my knowledge there are no copyright restrictions. Railways and steam powered industries were opening up in India. Coal was being mined at many locations; Post and Telegraph were established in the 1850s with Railways connecting the main cities by the 1860s. By the time the young George Barker arrived in Calcutta in the early 1880s, river steamers were plying on the Ganges and the Brahmaputra connecting Goalundo (present day Bangladesh) with Dhubri, Goalpara, Gauhati, Tezpur and Dibrugarh in Assam.
Attracting workers to the the eastern jungle infested with wild animals, snakes and insects was problematic and expensive. The capital needed to clear the jungle and open up plantations needed long term finance. Clearing jungle and planting tea took time. Tea bushes took time to mature before sufficient leaf could be harvested, processed and transported to the markets of Calcutta or London. Trusted workers were sent to their homelands of Central India to recruit labour; some absconded with the allowances they were given for travel. Others returned with family groups to work in the plantations. Barker’s observations on the native people and their diverse ways make interesting reading. He describes Calcutta and was impressed by its fine parks and buildings a reflection of his native London. His dread of animal and insect life of the jungle particularly the mosquito, and other creeping, crawling and flying life forms would be familiar to those living in rural Assam and Bengal today.
Barker’s book covers advice to newly arrived planters on managing the coolies described as a troublesome lot. Imported canned products were exorbitantly priced by the Calcutta merchants and making do with local produce was essential to survive. Labour contractors in Calcutta charged a premium and interest on loans was punitive; many were bankrupted in the process. Diseases were rife and many succumbed. The book provides advice on medicines to take and also basic sanitary advice regarding drinking water, sunstrokes and things to avoid.
Barker describes operations in growing and processing tea before steam or oil engines and mechanical process equipment were introduced in the early 20th Century. It is interesting to note that planters had to adapt local techniques and construct process equipment such as screens and firing kilns. Locally available materials such as ‘bet’ (reed) was used for construction and charcoal for firing tea was made on site from jungle wood. Rolling, etc, involved manual processes. Early bungalows are described as of kutcha-construction over a raised floor and constructed of timber and reed materials and thatched roofs. The monsoons brought heavy rains and leaky roofs and a profusion of insect life.
Elephants and bullock carts were used for land transport, also horses and gharries. Transport of tea chests to Calcutta utilised steam boats. The ever changing river beds and seasonal flooding required temporary depots to be created in the dry season on the sand banks, a risky business.
In contrast to George Barker and his 19th century Planters’ Guide, Rod Brown in his ‘Tea and Me’ (2014) gives his personal experience of post-Independence 1950’s life in Tea. Brown, who worked for Lister Engines in Dursley as a young apprentice was recruited by Goodricke (then Duncan Brothers) in 1951 and worked in Zurrantee, Satkya and Bagracote. He sailed first class from Tilbury on the P&O 'Strathaird' to Bombay via the Suez Canal and thence by rail to Calcutta. He also flew by Jamair from Dum Dum to the Dooars an experience many of us went through in the 1950s and 60s.
His description of Bombay and Calcutta would be familiar to those that grew up in the 1950s and 60s. Brown even brought his 78RPM jazz records but had to wait awhile before he could afford a record player to listen to the music he loved. The starting salary of £33 a month was not a lot better in real terms than the 150Rs that George Barker got seven decades earlier in the 1880s but life was much easier and essentials of modern life such as refrigerators, radios and motor cycles and cars affordable. Rod loved the Dooars and had a more enlightened approach to dealing with his workers. Attitudes were changing and the Sahib was expected to be more sensitive to native cultures and ways of life. Shikar was his favourite pastime and boars, deer, leopards and even the occasional tiger were to be found in the jungle surrounding the Dooars Tea Estates. Relationships with the native (Indian) staff and workers also appear to have changed from that described by Barker in the 19th century.
I am still reading Rod Brown’s book and will post a review next time round.
Meet the writer:
Over to Venk: 'Born in Chertala, Travancore (Kerala), grew up in Chertala, Calcutta and Bombay. Can read and write in Bengali (my best Indian language), Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi apart from English, smattering of spoken Czech, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and Konkani (my mother tongue, which I have forgotten for all practical purposes).
Was a Dooars Tea Company Assistant Manager from 1962 – 65, posted at Nagrakata and Grassmore T.E.s.
Went round India on a Tata Nano in 2013.
Member of the Conservative Party, and served two terms as an elected District Councillor in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire where I live. Apart from travel, visiting museums and archaeological sites, history, radio, photography, vintage fountain pens, concerned about world population explosion and resource limitation leading to extinction of man on earth soon.'
Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories!
You will meet many storytellers here at Indian Chai Stories, and they are almost all from the world of tea gardens: planters, memsaabs, baby and baba log. Each of our contributors has a really good story to tell - don't lose any time before you start reading them!
Do you have a chai story of your own to share? Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com. My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull.
You will find yourself transported to another world! Happy reading!
Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!
ADD THIS LINK TO YOUR FAVOURITES : https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/Indian Chai Stories
by Venk Shenoi
History has shaped the world we live in. The East India Co (EIC), founded December 1600 during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I in England and Emperor Akbar in Hindustan, started trading from its factory at Surat following grants from Emperor Jahangir (1615/17). The Company’s activities centred on trade in cotton, silk, indigo, saltpetre, and spices, initially from Surat and later from Madras (1644), Calcutta and Bombay (1661) which was ceded to England by the Portuguese. Following Emperor Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 and breakup of the Mughal Empire the EIC was drawn into the chaotic politics of the times mainly to safeguard its trade. The Company was not interested in acquiring and administering territory but following Clive’s victory at Plassey (1757) over the Nawab of Bengal, became Jagirdars under the Mughals that were the paramount power of Hindustan.
By the early 1800s the Company was the supreme power in India and controlled its own territory within the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay and also the many Rajas and Nawabs on the sub-continent who --- although given internal autonomy--- were under the watchful eye of the English Residents. The EIC, initially as traders and later as Empire builders, moulded Indian history as much as the Mughals, Marathas and all the others that ruled over the subcontinent from the beginning of time. Tea was already known in Europe including Britain from the 1600s and imported from China via the Dutch East India trade. The late 18th Century saw the likes of botanist Joseph Banks proposing to grow tea in India. Trials with Chinese varieties (Robert Kydd, 1780) were not successful under Indian conditions. The EIC lost interest in growing tea as China provided a profitable source and Chinese tea could be bartered for Indian opium.
Assam and Manipur, then part of the Burmese Empire, came under EIC control following the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824 – 26) and the treaty of Yandbo. Robert’s brother Charles Bruce later (1835) obtained seeds and plants and the Calcutta Botanical Gardens studied these to ascertain prospects. The plants were found to be different from the Chinese varieties but more suited to growing in Assam. The EIC experts examined commercial potential for growing tea in the newly acquired lands of Eastern India. Initial trials with the Chinese varieties and Chinese methods of manufacture failed and a hybrid version developed from Chinese/Assam plants proved successful in the local climate.
Politics came into managing the new wilderness, new laws brought in by the EIC (the infamous ‘Wastelands Acts’) dispossessed local land owners and tribals renting the newly acquired lands to venture capitalists. A system of indentured labour put local tribesmen and others brought later from the tribal lands of Central India to work in the new plantations along the river valleys of Assam, later in Bengal (1860 onwards).
1837 saw the first consignment of Bruce’s tea being sold in London and attracted venture capital. Although it owned land the EIC did not have monopoly of the Indian trade in the early 19th century. The Bengal Tea Company was formed in Calcutta in 1939, and a joint stock company formed in London to purchase the EIC’s plantations and establish tea estates in Assam. The two companies merged to form the Assam Company (1839). The market for Assam tea developed in London through the 1840s and 50s. Private capital saw new opportunities and the Indian Tea Industry was born. Indigenous tea was also discovered in Cachar and cultivation spread (1859) to Tripura, Sylhet, and Chittagong, Jorehaut Tea Company was set up in 1859. The number of tea gardens expanded from 50 in 1859 to 160 in 1862.
Plantations in the Dooars, previously part of Bhutan, were started after the Anglo-Bhutan War of 1864/65 when the territory was annexed later to become Jalpaiguri District of Bengal. Books like the ‘Planter Raj to Swaraj’ by Amalendu Guha provide a historical narrative of the development of British control over Assam during the 19th century and its political undertones.
‘Assam - yes beastly unhealthy hole; better not go there’, appears to have been the prevailing sentiment in the 19th century. Experiences of an early Planter George Barker are given in ‘A Tea Planter’s life in Assam’ published by Thacker Spink & Co Calcutta in 1884. The book is a guide for aspiring Planters intending to work in the jungles of Assam. Barker’s story starts in an overcrowded England short of economic opportunities prompting the young to seek their fortunes in the colonies. By 1869 the Suez Canal was completed and sailing ships from England which previously took over a hundred days around the Cape of Good Hope now took about a month under steam. 150 rupees a month (£150 a year) and an increase of 500 rupees a year for the first three years appear attractive compared with wages then prevailing in England for junior grades.
The sketches on these pages are copied from Barker’s book. To the best of my knowledge there are no copyright restrictions. Railways and steam powered industries were opening up in India. Coal was being mined at many locations; Post and Telegraph were established in the 1850s with Railways connecting the main cities by the 1860s. By the time the young George Barker arrived in Calcutta in the early 1880s, river steamers were plying on the Ganges and the Brahmaputra connecting Goalundo (present day Bangladesh) with Dhubri, Goalpara, Gauhati, Tezpur and Dibrugarh in Assam.
Attracting workers to the the eastern jungle infested with wild animals, snakes and insects was problematic and expensive. The capital needed to clear the jungle and open up plantations needed long term finance. Clearing jungle and planting tea took time. Tea bushes took time to mature before sufficient leaf could be harvested, processed and transported to the markets of Calcutta or London. Trusted workers were sent to their homelands of Central India to recruit labour; some absconded with the allowances they were given for travel. Others returned with family groups to work in the plantations. Barker’s observations on the native people and their diverse ways make interesting reading. He describes Calcutta and was impressed by its fine parks and buildings a reflection of his native London. His dread of animal and insect life of the jungle particularly the mosquito, and other creeping, crawling and flying life forms would be familiar to those living in rural Assam and Bengal today.
Barker’s book covers advice to newly arrived planters on managing the coolies described as a troublesome lot. Imported canned products were exorbitantly priced by the Calcutta merchants and making do with local produce was essential to survive. Labour contractors in Calcutta charged a premium and interest on loans was punitive; many were bankrupted in the process. Diseases were rife and many succumbed. The book provides advice on medicines to take and also basic sanitary advice regarding drinking water, sunstrokes and things to avoid.
Barker describes operations in growing and processing tea before steam or oil engines and mechanical process equipment were introduced in the early 20th Century. It is interesting to note that planters had to adapt local techniques and construct process equipment such as screens and firing kilns. Locally available materials such as ‘bet’ (reed) was used for construction and charcoal for firing tea was made on site from jungle wood. Rolling, etc, involved manual processes. Early bungalows are described as of kutcha-construction over a raised floor and constructed of timber and reed materials and thatched roofs. The monsoons brought heavy rains and leaky roofs and a profusion of insect life.
Elephants and bullock carts were used for land transport, also horses and gharries. Transport of tea chests to Calcutta utilised steam boats. The ever changing river beds and seasonal flooding required temporary depots to be created in the dry season on the sand banks, a risky business.
In contrast to George Barker and his 19th century Planters’ Guide, Rod Brown in his ‘Tea and Me’ (2014) gives his personal experience of post-Independence 1950’s life in Tea. Brown, who worked for Lister Engines in Dursley as a young apprentice was recruited by Goodricke (then Duncan Brothers) in 1951 and worked in Zurrantee, Satkya and Bagracote. He sailed first class from Tilbury on the P&O 'Strathaird' to Bombay via the Suez Canal and thence by rail to Calcutta. He also flew by Jamair from Dum Dum to the Dooars an experience many of us went through in the 1950s and 60s.
His description of Bombay and Calcutta would be familiar to those that grew up in the 1950s and 60s. Brown even brought his 78RPM jazz records but had to wait awhile before he could afford a record player to listen to the music he loved. The starting salary of £33 a month was not a lot better in real terms than the 150Rs that George Barker got seven decades earlier in the 1880s but life was much easier and essentials of modern life such as refrigerators, radios and motor cycles and cars affordable. Rod loved the Dooars and had a more enlightened approach to dealing with his workers. Attitudes were changing and the Sahib was expected to be more sensitive to native cultures and ways of life. Shikar was his favourite pastime and boars, deer, leopards and even the occasional tiger were to be found in the jungle surrounding the Dooars Tea Estates. Relationships with the native (Indian) staff and workers also appear to have changed from that described by Barker in the 19th century.
I am still reading Rod Brown’s book and will post a review next time round.
Meet the writer:
Over to Venk: 'Born in Chertala, Travancore (Kerala), grew up in Chertala, Calcutta and Bombay. Can read and write in Bengali (my best Indian language), Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi apart from English, smattering of spoken Czech, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and Konkani (my mother tongue, which I have forgotten for all practical purposes).
Was a Dooars Tea Company Assistant Manager from 1962 – 65, posted at Nagrakata and Grassmore T.E.s.
Went round India on a Tata Nano in 2013.
Member of the Conservative Party, and served two terms as an elected District Councillor in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire where I live. Apart from travel, visiting museums and archaeological sites, history, radio, photography, vintage fountain pens, concerned about world population explosion and resource limitation leading to extinction of man on earth soon.'
Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories!
You will meet many storytellers here at Indian Chai Stories, and they are almost all from the world of tea gardens: planters, memsaabs, baby and baba log. Each of our contributors has a really good story to tell - don't lose any time before you start reading them!
Do you have a chai story of your own to share? Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com. My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull.
You will find yourself transported to another world! Happy reading!
Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!
ADD THIS LINK TO YOUR FAVOURITES : https://teastorytellers.blogspot.com/Indian Chai Stories
Fascinating historical perspective. Enjoyed reading about the start of tea gardens in India. Look forward to the next instalment.
ReplyDeleteI remember Rod Brown. He was in Chalsa area when I was in Nagrakata. Played good cricket!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful read!