James Taylor

James Taylor

James Taylor, is another one Scot ! Some thing to do with Scots and Tea, (Lipton, Robert Fortune, Charles Bruce, are all Scotsmen). James was sent to Ceylon to work in coffee estate in 1852 at the age of 15. He will never return again to Scotland. However he kept writing to his father about his work and Ceylon.

Apart from his day job in coffee, he took interest in Tea and started growing it in a small piece of land about 20 acres, in a place called Loolecondera. Apparently those tea plants still exists and producing tea !

He learned about tea cultivation and processing from Indian tea companies and set up a rudimentary tea factory in his bungalow. To quote one of his neighbors "The factory was in the bungalow. The leaf was rolled on tables on the veranda by hand, i.e. from wrist to elbow, while the firing was done in chulas or clay stoves over charcoal fires, with wire trays to hold the leaf. The result was a delicious tea which we bought up locally at Rs.1.50 per Lb."

Following the destruction of coffee plantation due to the infamous 'coffee blight' fungus infestation in 1869, Ceylon based British farmers turned to tea and followed Taylor's example of tea cultivation. His small 'cottage' factory, became famous through out the island. Taylor's 20 acre tea garden was soon followed by several hundreds of acres of tea plantation in just a few years.

Taylor went on to invent tea rolling machines in 1872 and speeded up the tea processing time. He wrote in March that year "I have a machine of my own invention being made in Kandy for rolling tea which I think will be successful." He trained many assistants and in fact founded "Ceylon tea" single handedly.

Largely due to Taylor's work, the Ceylon tea arrived to Mincing Lane auction center in London in 1873. That was followed by great popularity of Ceylon tea because of London based big companies active interest in tea. Ceylon tea was promoted aggressively by the Tea Planters association so much so that "tea" came to be associated with Ceylon more than "China" !.

Taylor, lived in Loolecondera estate until he died. He was a solitary figure however well liked by the locals and the European planters. His work was officially recognized when Sir William Gregory, governor of Ceylon, paid Taylor a visit in 1890 in respect of his work. Ceylon tea grower's association gave Taylor a silver tea service engraved with an inscription citing his pioneering work.

Taylor's last days were rather sad. Due to rapid growth of Ceylon tea, big corporations took over and small farmers like Taylor lost out. Taylor was dismissed and evicted from his Loolecondera estate. However, dismayed Taylor still stayed in the area and after one year in 1892, suddenly died due severe gastroenteritis and dysentery. He was 57 and lays buried in his beloved estate Loolecondera.

James Taylor's legacy, on the other hand, is best summed up in the words of John Field, High Commissioner for Great Britain in Sri Lanka. In 1992 he wrote, "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." - INDEED.

A GREAT TEAMAN.

James Taylor
"Father of Ceylon Tea"