James Taylor (Ceylon) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

James Taylor was a British citizen who introduced the tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

plantation in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

(Ceylon). He arrived to Sri Lanka in 1852 and settled down in Loolecondera

Loolecondera

The Loolecondera estate is the first tea plantation estate in Sri Lanka started on 1867 by the Scottish nationalist James Taylor , it is situated in Kandy, Sri Lanka.-James Taylor and Loolecondera:...

estate in Kandy

Kandy

Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...

. He lived in Sri Lanka more than half of his lifetime 57 years until his death. He worked with Thomas Lipton

Thomas Lipton

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup.-Parentage and childhood:Lipton was born in Glasgow...

, a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

immigrant, to develop the tea industry in Sri Lanka.

Life in Loolecondera

Taylor visited India in 1866 to learn the basics of growing tea on plantations. Following his return, he started the plantation in Loolecondera

Loolecondera

estate in Kandy. He began the tea plantation an estate of just 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) in 1867. He started a fully equipped tea factory in Loolecondera estate in 1872.

The period of Taylor lived in Loolcondera estate, the export of tea accelerated from 23 pounds to 81 tons and in 1890 it reached the level of 22,900 tons.

The story of tea in Sri Lanka began in the year of 1867. A Scotsman, James Taylor had cleared 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) of forest in the District of Hewaheta Lower to plant the first seedings in what is now known as the No.7 field of Loolecondera Estate.http://www.efrontires.com/Business.htm Today even people who have never heard of Sri Lanka are familiar with Ceylon tea, which is known for its quality.

Achievement

In year 1872 Taylor attended the work of building a larger tea factory in Loolecondera and after that it started manufacturing of packeted tea. He already wrote about his success of starting a larger tea factory as "I have a machine of my own invention being made in Kandy for rolling tea which I think will be successful". In 1875 Taylor managed to send the first shipment of Ceylon tea to London tea auction.

Taylor and Lipton

Thomas Lipton

a millionaire in United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

visited Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

(Ceylon) in 1890's, during his journey to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and met Taylor. Both of them discussed about the business deal of exporting tea from Sri Lanka. Lipton's company became interested and started buying Ceylon tea.

Death and after

The rapid growth of the Sri Lankan tea industry allowed the large tea companies to take over therefore the small farmers like Taylor were chased out from the industry. Because of this, Taylor was dismissed by the Loolecondera estate management.

Taylor died 1892, after the one year of his dismissal from Loolecondera

Loolecondera

esate due to severe gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis is marked by severe inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract involving both the stomach and small intestine resulting in acute diarrhea and vomiting. It can be transferred by contact with contaminated food and water...

and dysentery

Dysentery

Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

. His body was buried in the Mahaiyawa Cemetery in Kandy http://www.travelsrilanka.com/index.cfm?PAGE=649. There is a written statement on his grave's headstone as "In pious memory of James Taylor of Loolecondera Estate Ceylon, the pioneer of the cinchona and tea enterprise in this island, who died May 2, 1892, aged 57 years".

In 1893 one year after his death one million packets of Ceylon tea of the first shipment to London were sold in Chicago World's Fair.

The majority of the tea estates (more than 80 percent) were owned by British Companies since 1867, when James Taylor started the tea industry in Sri Lanka until 1971. In 1971 the government of Sri Lanka introduced a Land Reform Act which granted the ownership of tea estates to the government.

100th Death Anniversary

John Field, the High Commissioner for Great Britain in Sri Lanka made a comment in 1992 for the 100th death anniversary of Taylor as "It can be said of very few individuals that their labors have helped to shape the landscape of a country. But the beauty of the hill country as it now appears owes much to the inspiration of James Taylor, the man who introduced tea cultivation to Sri Lanka". A museum also built in 1992 to commemorate him where the place he lived.

External links

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