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  • . Commented on Tea Plantations of South Ceylon

    It was NOT my grandfather A. W Winter who was a successful sugar planter it was his grandfather, GEORGE WINTER. who was the first successful sugar planter in Ceylon / George was employed intially by the East India Company which sailed to China, passing Ceylon which he visited several times./ He later left the East India Company and together with James Bowman, bought a ship the, Vittoria and sailed to Ceylon /.After some years,this ship sank and he and James Bowman settled in Ceylon / George Winter was baptised by the Rev Venn in the Anglican church in Clapham as his father lived in the area / The Rev, Venn together with Wm Wilberforce were strong supporters of the ANTI Slavery movement./ . George Winter was a merchant in Colombo intially.// The Rev Venn was at first asked by British folk in India to send Missionaires to that area, The Rev. Venn asked George Winter to take them in his ship which he did and took them to Galle./ He was a merchant of Galle by then.// The missionaries wanted to venture further into the interior as there was a demand for a school by the locals of Baddegama so he went there and noticed the terrain ?? Governor Barnes had started planting sugar at Kalutara but was not successful but George who manufactured Citronella oil etc thought the area at Baddegama maybe more suitable for Sugar??. He then built his own mill and was succesful so became the,Sugar planting;PIONEER /The missionaries built a church on a small hill which they called Christchurch and also a school // Some locals followed suite and became sugar planters also.// Due to the Sugar planting industry in the W. Indies where Rum was produced,, George was not allowed to make Rum which

    June 04,2023 06:21pm

  • . Commented on Wewelkellie

    My husband's uncle (father's brother) was James Nathaniel Parsons b.1914. Have just discovered from passenger shipping records that he was a tea planter. From further investigation it looks like his address was Wewelkellie Estate in 1960. Shipping records show he travelled to Colombo in 1951 and 1957 although they're not complete.

    June 04,2023 05:42am

  • . Commented on

    Ian Wollen was Manager here from 1949 to 1963.

    June 02,2023 09:45am

  • . Commented on Back pain warning - drink this TEA every morning to avoid waking up with backache

    What type of food

    May 16,2023 03:17pm

  • . Commented on Citrus Group

    Thank v. much for the photo of Ctrus group bungalow.

    May 12,2023 01:55pm

  • . Commented on Citrus Group

    Hi Nihal Dias, Your surname seems familiar as we did know some with it in the Galle area , We passed by Citrus Group and Olympus group on our way to Galle many,,many times and to Baddegama past the Sandara walla .to where our ancestor George Winter had his sugar plantation,and lived in a house called 'Sunnyside later known as Baddegama estate.. He was the first commercially ,successful sugar planter in the Island at the time.He brought the CMS Missionaries to Galle in his ship They built Christchurch on the hill by the river and the school, Several Bowman cousins and Grandpa Alfred have graves at the cemetery where I placed my Mother's ashes in small grave in an urn Dad's ashes are in there also by the sie of Grandp Alfred's tomb. However the graves of Sarah,wife of George Winter in Galle were desecrated and no one seems to iknow where their remains were interred..A great pity they were not interred at Christchurch.!!. George was with the in the East Inda Co but later with his partner. James Bowman bought their own vessel ,the Vittoria. .I did wonder what the house at Citrus group and Olympus group were like and who had founded those places. Our Grandpa Alfred Winter,, founded Pillagoda valley estate where he lived in a very modest house but built the present one in 1904, We boarded tat the Galle convent and played on the ramparts we were taken to by the Nuns on Sundays .and walked over the Butterfly bridge. Dad knew Henry Amarasuriya and Abeywickrema families and also Victor Ratnayake who was UNP MP I think David Hettirachie's wife was an Abeywickrema??She lived ar M. Lavinia where I met,both of them during visits to S.L... I was boarded with my late Sis Wendy at Ladies College with Mr Victor, Ratnayake;s daughters, Subadra and Sunitha . I have big pics of Dad and other members of the Southern Planters Association Annual General meeting ,one of whom was a Mr Meares, whose daughter Marguerite .was also at Galle convent with us. My Winter grand aunts went there also The SPA used to have dances and dine at the NOH.Mrs Brohier whose family owned it knew Grandpa Alfred very well. .We also knew the Roberts family at Lelwalla which I rode to on my cycle . We stayed with uncle James Richardson also but have forgotten what that estate was called.. His daughters too were sent to Galle convent. Mr Armstrong managed Baddegama Estate for a time before it was taken over..

    May 12,2023 01:50pm

  • . Commented on ABOUT DAVID PERKINS - AUTHOR OF THE TEA PLANTING NOTE BOOK

    My parents Honor and Peter Ferguson were very good friends od David and Penny Perkins and spent many happy years together in Ceylon.

    May 09,2023 02:51pm

  • . Commented on THE HISTORY AND PROGRESSION OF CEYLON TEA

    We Indian tamil utilized our toil and became as child labourer in the early age with a big Turban and still we are..

    May 06,2023 02:09pm

  • . Commented on THE HISTORY AND PROGRESSION OF CEYLON TEA

    not kahata, its called "Saayam"

    May 06,2023 02:05pm

  • . Commented on RALPH DE RUN - A WALK THROUGH THE TEA FIELDS

    Very interesting history of de Runs & specially uncle Ralph. thank you Stef for posting .Loved reading about Aunty Lakshmi & never left the bungalow with an empty stomach. A geat Planters wife & A great planter.

    April 13,2023 07:26pm

  • . Commented on Smoking Tea – Benefits & Health Effects

    luv it

    April 06,2023 01:40pm

  • . Commented on Colonial Galle

    Awesome history lesson here. Thanks for sharing.

    April 05,2023 09:36am

  • . Commented on Robert Boyd Tytler

    He was my GG grandfather as well, my grandma was Alice Reith his daughter who marriad Cranston Reiith.

    April 04,2023 02:21am

  • . Commented on Colonial Galle

    Thank you, Hugh. The originator of the Austin family Ceylon branch was Nathaniel Austin born 26 May 1785 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, died 1853 in Galle. He was Deputy Assistant Commissary General in Galle and also Quartermaster of the 3rd Ceylon Regiment. He and his wife Sophia Frederica, daughter of Frederick Willem Calesky of Grandsee (Brandenburg) and Eliza Rodrigo.

    April 02,2023 08:37pm

  • . Commented on Anuradha Abeysinghe

    What is/was the difference between Asst. Manager and Deputy Manager?

    April 01,2023 08:30am

  • . Commented on COLOMBO TRAMWAYS - DOWN MEMORY LANE

    A good, informative, read! Thank you, Vinodh.

    April 01,2023 08:25am

  • . Commented on Colonial Galle

    Many thanks, Hugh, I gleaned a lot of very interesting information.

    April 01,2023 08:14am

  • . Commented on A.D. Calander

    The surname should be spelt "CALLANDER" , he was my grandfather.

    March 29,2023 10:39am

  • . Commented on ABOUT DAVID PERKINS - AUTHOR OF THE TEA PLANTING NOTE BOOK

    1965 I was in Cobo estate Badulla working in the factory Mr Perkins was the VA ..He was a high class person talked to us nicely. Even now his image comes to me once in a while..

    March 27,2023 09:47am

  • . Commented on Ancoombra

    1930 is incorrect. Ancoombra estate existed as a coffee estate before 1851, when it was put up for sale on the death of one of the proprietors (the other surving one being George Pride).

    March 24,2023 08:42am