James taylor12/8/2023 ![]() He was sent by the Government to Assam, at the request of the Planters' Association. of seed from Assam which was distributed to those who wished to take up tea planting. Morrice with full instructions as to the enquiry which he was to make in Assam, and he evidently realised that the China jat seed which he had provided on former occasions was not the article required. Thwaites as Director of our Botanical Gardens for supplying Mr. per acre, and the tea in good heart throughout. Its progress was reported on every year, and some years later the yield was stated to be 450 to 5oo lb. The first tea clearing, felled in 1867, consisted of 20 acres. Arthur Morrice, which led to an importation of Assam-hybrid tea seed for the benefit of Loolecondera. Leake a special inspection and report on the Assam Tea Districts was made by Mr. Harrison's orders, James Taylor began to get tea seed from the Peradeniya Gardens, and early in 1866 he was able to put out tea plants along the sides of the roads or paths through the coffee plantation. Leake was of course for many years the Secretary of the Ceylon Association in London. The business of this firm was eventually taken over by Messrs. Harrison and Leake, the partners of the firm of Keir Dundas & Co., Kandy. Loolecondera had by that time become the property of Messrs. John Eliot Howard, the quinologist, gave a very favourable report on the shipment for he wrote There must be something in the soil or climate of Ceylon peculiarly adapted to the perfect growth of this plant '. It should perhaps be noted here that Taylor was a pioneer in cinchona too, for in July, 1867 the first instalment of cinchona bark harvested on a Ceylon plantation reached London, when Mr. Even that holiday was not spent in his old home, but he went to Darjeeling where he took notes of everything connected with tea as then cultivated and prepared. It was in 1874 that James Taylor took his first holiday from Ceylon, and he never left the country again till he died after 4' years' service on Loolecondera. Some of the names of such men are familiar and include George Maitland, P. Many well-known planters were at various times assistants under Taylor : in fact it became an estate where men who wished to learn something about tea went as assistants for a time. By 1857 he was manager of Loolecondera, which belonged to Mrs. Writing to a friend in Scotland some years afterwards he wrote ' The first two years in Ceylon were the most uncomfortable in my life '. Williams, who shortly afterwards re-opened old Sinnapitiya, and part of Weyangawatte for Capt. On arrival he was sent to Loolecondera under a Mr. The young man sailed from London on October 22nd, 1852, when he was but 17 years old. The name of Hadden is well known and respected throughout the island, and if James Taylor was the Pioneer of Tea, then the Hadden family may well claim a large share in the success of the industry by their employment of James Taylor as a planting pupil. George Pride of Kandy, Ceylon, for the space of three years to act in the capacity of Assistant Superintendent, and to make myself generally useful, at a salary of £100 per annum, to commence from the time of my arrival on the estate and to have deducted from my salary the amount of money advanced for my passage and outfit. Hadden of London, who were then sending young men out to Ceylon as assistants on plantations. Peter Moir, a native of Laurencekirk, and a cousin of his mother, hearing how James was situated at home, helped him to an introduction to Messrs. As he grew older he disliked what he considered the drudgery of farm life, but his father gave no encouragement to his desire to leave home and push his way in the world.Īt length Mr. When his father married again, home life became unbearable to the young lad who was no favourite with his step-mother. His master describes him as ' a quiet steady-going lad with prominent eyes and eyebrows, and a heavy but thoughtful expression '. James was educated at Auchenblae, which stands at the entrance to the beautiful glen of Drumtochty. James was the eldest of a family of six and deeply attached to his mother whose death took place in 1844, when James was nine years old. James Taylor was born at Mosspark, Monboddo, Kincardineshire, Scotland in 1835. In one respect, James Taylor stands out as an exception to the general rule, in that he was never a proprietor. Extract from ‘ Some Pioneers of the Tea Industry’ by Sir Thomas VilliersĪs will be shown now, the great pioneer of tea was James Taylor, planter from 1852 to 1892, as Superintendent of Loolecondera, in Hewaheta.
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