Tea Plantation

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Tea was originally a Chinese export traded by the East India Company in Macao and was at the time (1750) a more valuable revenue stream than India. The trade was lost and it was not until 1834 when native tea plants were found growing in Assam that interest was reignited. The first export of tea from India was 12 tea chests in 1838. In 1839 The Assam Tea Company took over the East Inda Company's tea plantations. By 1860 tea producing a million pounds (weight) was being produced in

  • Assam
  • Travencore
  • Nilgiri Hills
  • Kangra Valley
  • Darjeeling
  • Terai
  • the Dopars
  • Chittagong (now Bangladesh)

Records

From the end of the 19th century special sections covering tea plantations appear in Thackers Indian Directories. FIBIS Fact File No 3 - Indian Directories by Richard Morgan states "The tea section lists within each area the names of the firms, their “tea gardens” (areas under cultivation), the trade mark or logo of the company as it was stamped on their tea chests , the postal address, acreage, proprietors, general managers and assistants, Indian agents and addresses, and London Agents and addresses”

An example, is given of how a genealogical history can be obtained by using the annual directories in this context.

Fibis Resources

  • FIBIS Journal no 9 contains an article entitled "Jokai Tea Estates" by Dick Barton. This also contains a useful reading list.

Historical books

Taylor’s Maps of the following Tea Districts, Darjeeling, Terai, Jalpaiguri and Dooars, Darrang, Golaghat, Jorhat Nowgong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Sylhet, with complete Index to all Tea Gardens, published 1910

Historical books online

  • Old times in Assam by T Kinney 1896 Archive.org A tea planter’s life in the early 1860’s. Reprints from columns in the Englishman and Indian Planters’ Gazette.

Related articles

External links

  • Koi-Hai a site for those who lived and worked in North East India, particularly in the Tea industry. Includes articles, list of relevant books, photos, some grave inscriptions, tourism information
  • Assam Where? Growing up in the tea growing district of Cachar during the late 1940s and the 1950s from Shangrilajournals.com. (There are links at the bottom of the page)
  • Very interesting and detailed interviews of many aspects of the life and work of a tea planter. Travancore State, Calcutta, Darjeeling, N.W.F.P. Recorded by A.S. Robertson and his son, A.F. Robertson (1976 and 1979) from University of Cambridge - Centre of South Asian Studies. Listen to the interviews, or read the transcripts.
  • Tea Planter in Bengal a posting from the rootsweb India mailing list archives giving advice and information on researching Tea Planters.
  • Business records relating to tea companies in the Guildhall Library, London. It seems likely these companies are ones registered in the U.K.
  • Old Indian Photos has pictures of Assam and tea.
  • The Story of India Tea 1917 British Pathe film clip