The Tea Planter's Album

British planters had been travelling to the remote and inaccessible tea districts of Assam since the 1840s.  In the mid 19th. century the journey up the great Brahmaputra river by paddle steamer took a full 10 weeks.  But in those early days the paddle steamers only went so far and the remainder of the journey - sometimes another few hundred miles - was by native craft.  By the 1860s the India General Steam Navigation Company were operating monthly sailings all the way to tea gardens in north east Assam.  By the 1870s demand was so great that a weekly service was inaugurated between Calcutta and Assam.  The final stage of the young men's journies would have been through tiger country on the back of a pony or maybe an elephant.  It would be at least 5 years before the return journey would be made.  Many never made it back - cholera, smallpox, malaria, black water fever all taking their toll on the small British communities.

Louis Gordon McIntyre left Liverpool in November 1906 bound for Calcutta.  He was 30 years old, the sixth of nine children born to John McIntyre a tea merchant in London.   This photo shows him in uniform around 1900 indicating that maybe he served during the Boer War.

Winter was the best time of year to arrive in India as it gave newcomers a chance to acclimatise.  Louis settled down to work at the Rangamati Tea Garden in Sibsagar in the Golaghat District of Assam working for the tea company of James Finlay.  A priority would have been to meet other Europeans in the area otherwise it would have been a very lonely existence.  There was a local lodge of freemasons a few miles away in Jorhat and Louis was initiated on 14 June 1907.

Like many other tea planters of the time Louis found himself a local girl.  Her name was Elish.  Needless to say the inevitable happened.  On 10 September 1908 Elish gave birth to a son.  He was born in Badlipar (Badulipar) close to the Rangamati Estate.  The children of these relationships were known as "poor whites" and in many cases shunned by both British and the locals.  Fortunately the Rev. John Graham had recognised the problem and set up a Home in Kalimpong in the the foothills of the Himalayas.  By 1906 there were 187 children in the home but the number grew with each passing year.  At some point Louis' son, Donald, was sent to the home.

Perhaps the most important man on the estate after the manager was the Garden Sirdar or local head man.  To him fell the job of organising the female pluckers.  This entailed parading up and down between the rows of tea bushes armed with a small stick yelling at the top of his voice - not unlike a Sergeant Major.  The routine of the day was rise at 5, breakfast at 5.30, work till 11 when it was time for tiffin and a rest until 2.  Then it was work again until 6, bath, dinner and relaxing until 9.30 when it was time for bed. 

There is no indication that Louis returned home on leave at the end of 5 years, but his intended bride did arrive from England.  Edith Tryphena Hanney, known as Tryphena, was the daughter of a London draper and was applauded in the world of amateur dramatics - as was her elder brother Lionel.

Prior to her arrival improvements were needed to The Tea Planter's bungalow.  Re-thatching being a necessity.

One tea planter reminisced that there was nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night with water splashing on your face.  Clothing would be drenched as would the bedding.  This would not have gone down well with a new bride!  A verandah was also constucted so that evenings could be spent outside in the cooler air. 

Louis (known as Louie to his bride) married Tryphena by Licence at St. John's Church in Calcutta on 7th. November 1912.  Then it was off to Rangamati.  The first part of the journey may have been the nine hour train ride on the Eastern Bengal Railway.  One gentleman traveller of the time wrote:

The line is so badly laid, the rattle caused by the line passing over the shaky wooden bridges so terrible, and the cars so stuffy that journeying by this line is an adventure not to be undertaken lightly

After the train it would have been up the great Brahmaputra on the Mahamuni steamer to Assam.  It was said that 

To visit Bengal without travelling on the great rivers would be almost as bad as going to Agra without seeing the Taj Mahal.

Looking at the photos which Tryphena sent home there is little doubt that she was delighted with her new home.  Being in the middle of nowhere did not mean one should deprive oneself of nice furniture - after all it was hoped that new friends would be frequent visitors.

Here we have a photo of Tryphena at her writing desk with Louie standing to one side.  On the wall behind the desk is her wall of family photos.

And of course we must not forget the garden

Getting around was either by bicycle, horse or pony and trap

Now where on earth was there to go you might be wondering.  Well, Jorhat boasted a very fine, very British Gymkhana Club.  This had been built by the planters back in the 1880s.

As well as horse racing the club provided facilitiers for tennis and billiards and provided a lovely venue for seasonal balls.

Jorhat Races were not a one day affair - the celebrations lasted a whole week with families coming from far and wide.  A wonderful opportunity to meet up with friends.

These photos show the ladies and their Khitmagars outside the accommodation huts.

There is little doubt that Tryphena had found her Shangri La and by the look of these photos the couple were extremely happy.

But this was Assam - certainly not the healthiest place in the world to live. Less than five years into their marriage Louie died at the age of 42.  He was buried at the tiny British Cemetery in Golaghat.

A few years ago the caretaker of this little piece of England asked for help in maintaining the graves as 21st. century tea estates were no longer paying his salary.  His family had been caring for the cemetery since the 1880s and the job had been carried on down through the generations.  Ahmed, the current caretaker had taken over in 1968.  To begin with he had been paid 30 rupees a month but this had stopped in the 1990s and by 2013 he was having great difficulty funding the work.  Whether or not help was forthcoming is not known.

After Louie's death Tryphena moved to the lakes in Shillong and took up residence at Inglesby.

Such a beautiful place - but alas she too died, just two years after her husband.  In her will she requested that she be buried with her husband at Golaghat and it is hoped that her wishes were honoured.  Probate was granted in 1921 but it was not until 1927 that matters concerning her estate were finalised.  Apart from a few pieces of jewellery which she left to her best friends everything else was left to her two brothers back home.  Four large wooden crates were made to hold her personal effects and these were shipped back to England.

When the photo album came into my possession a couple of years ago a wonderful surprise was finding two watercolours slipped into the back of the album.  Painted by Tryphena in 1915 they show the garden of The Tea Planter's Bungalow in Rangamati.

Once again I ask myself how could such a beautiful photo album end up for sale on eBay?!!

If any reader should be descended from either the Hanney or McIntyre families please contact me as I would love to hear from you.

Contact Christine

Minnie Lamming HODGE

Minnie was born in Highgate in 1888 and baptised at St. Augustine's on 8 April 1889, the daughter of William Albert HODGE and his wife Minnie Belson nee LAMMING.  Her father was a gardener who had been born in Somerset and who had married Minnie Belson LAMMING in London towards the end of 1886.  Minnie had an elder brother, William born in 1887, and a younger brother, James born in 1901.

In 1891 the family were living at 21 St. Peter's Road, Hammersmith not far from St. Peter's Square Garden and North Verbena Garden.  Perhaps William tended these for the local authority.  By 1911 father had obtained the position of Park Foreman at Victoria Park in Hackney and the family were living in White Lodge, the gardener's cottage.

In the 1920s Minnie put together two photograph albums.  The first dated 1925 contains many photos taken in and around Southwark Park and Mill Hill.  The following photos show her parents with her younger brother Jim.

The album also contains several photos of the Southwark Park Wesleyan Sunday School Teachers outing to Keston on 13 June 1925

and of the Southwark Park Wesleyan Mission Choir's outing to Loughton on 20 June 1925.

 

A couple of photos show lady clerks employed in the offices of SS & RSU 

J. Bloxham and J. Bond working in the General Office:

And Miss Josling and F. Crampton working in the Cripple Department:

I have yet to identify SS & RSU but presume that it was a social organisation in Southwark.  F. Crampton would appear to be Florence Alice CRAMPTON who was born in 1895 and died in 1973 having spent her whole life in Southwark.  In 1939 Minnie was working as a cashier and book keeper at The Princess Christian Home in Egham so it is likely that back in 1925 she too was working at the SS & RSU and was taking photos of her colleagues in the office.  How well she has captured the office environment of the era.

Minnie also managed to capture two delightful shots of the MASKELL sisters, Ivy and Eva of the Southwark Park Wesleyan Mission.  The photos were taken just a few months after the death of their one year old sister, Laura J. MASKELL. The photo on the left shows Ivy cuddling a puppy whilst the one on the right shows her being very protective of her young sister. 

The second album appears to be a couple of years later and contains photos of a holiday in Norfolk:  Hunstanton, Heacham, Ringstead Downs, Kings Lynn, Sandringham and Wells.  This album contains a photo entitled "Family Group, Garden of Rest, Hunstanton" and another of her parents outside The Old Curiosity Shop in Heacham.

Research shows that Father died on 23 April 1943 - his executor being his eldest son, William Albert Lamming HODGE a National Health Insurance officer.  Mother died in 1952.

Minnie Lamming HODGE of Cliff Dene, 11 Marine Parade, Tankerton, Whitstable, Kent died in Whitstable Hospital on 28 June 1962 at the age of 73.

Somehow or another Minnie's photo albums appeared for sale on eBay in 2018.  I can only assume that any descendants of her brothers did not think the photos worthy of retention.  In due course I shall donate the albums to the Southwark Local History Library and Archive.  They deserve to have a long life.

If any reader should be a member of the extended HODGE family and would like copies of a few of the photos please let me know.  Likewise, if you should be related to the MASKELL sisters or Florence Alice CRAMPTON I would be delighted to share the photos with you.

Christine can be found here

The Paper Detective - China Sketches

Inheriting a photo album can be full of excitement or full of frustration.  All those lovely photos but not a surname in sight.  Who are the people?  Where are they?  What is the story behind them?  So many questions and yet no way of getting answers.  Well, that is not always the case because often the clues are there just waiting to be found.

This little album, which I have entitled "China Sketches", is a perfect example.  Although full of sketches and cartoons the clues which I followed up on, and the methods which I used to trace the family background, are exactly the same as if it had been a family photograph album so will not be out of place on this blog.

Flicking through the pages it is immediately apparent that the owner's family had some connection to China.  A 1920 Christmas Card with hand painted Chinese sketch is addressed to Vera and signed by Winnie and Leslie.

The top of a letter addressed to "Auntie" has been torn off leaving an address in Shanghai.

Then, perhaps the most important page of all - a cartoon of a lady sitting on a pile of suitcases.  The place name of Preston is displayed boldly over a picture of a train.  One of the suitcases has a small label showing the place name of "Barrow".  The suitcases themselves are marked with the initials "V.L.H.".  So maybe this cartoon was of a Vera travelling by train to or from Preston.  If so, then her surname was going to begin with the letter H.

Next to this is another cartoon of a lady in Army uniform with the title "Sergeant Major Nora takes the salute".

Using these clues, my first attempt at identification was to assume that the name "Winnie" was the short form of "Winifred".  1920 was soon after WW1 so perhaps "Winnie and Leslie" had left England for China sometime in 1919 or 1920.  If so then the place to search was Outgoing Passenger Lists for Shanghai.  Winifred is not a particularly common Christian name so perhaps there would not be too many to follow up on.

The year 1919 produced just one result:

Winifred S. SHAW born 1886 - a married lady travelling alone to Shanghai

The year 1920 produced 11 ladies with the name Winifred or Winnie.  Of these 4 were children who would have been far too young to have written a Christmas card.  That left:

Winifred MARTIN born 1894 - single, a typist travelling alone to Shanghai
Winifred NORRIS born 1893 - single, travelling alone to Shanghai
Winifred Fanny CROPLEY born 1891 - single, a missionary travelling to Shanghai
Winifred SKINNER born 1890 - a married lady travelling with her husband, Alexander, and a daughter to Shanghai.  An unlikely identification but not altogether impossible.
Winnie GRAHAM born 1900 - single, travelling with mother and younger brother named Eric to Shanghai
Winnie M. TIPPER born 1911 - a girl travelling with parents and younger brother to Shanghai.  None of the other family members were called Leslie
Nora Winifred BOOTH born 1890 - single, a nurse travelling alone to Shanghai.

As none of the above possibilities produced the positive result of a Winifred and Leslie travelling together it was time to move on to another search.  How about trying Vera L.H. to see if there were any likely results in the 1911 census in Barrow (V.L.H. the initials in one of the cartoons and Barrow the place name on the suitcase label).

This search produced just 1 person who fitted all the criteria:  Vera Lilian HOWELLS aged 12 living with her Aunt Margaret D. REID with an elder sister named Winifred Sarah and brothers, James, Ernest and Geoffrey.  Looks as if this seach had hit the jackpot because not only did we have a Vera Lilian HOWELLS (V.L.H.) but we also had an aunt and a sister named Winifred born 1886.  Comparing this Winifred with the passenger list results showed Winifred S. SHAW born 1886, a married lady who had travelled alone to Shanghai in 1919.  Now - if Winifred S. HOWELLS had married a gentleman named SHAW (preferably Leslie SHAW!) sometime between 1911 and 1919 then identification was as good as made.

True enough, the marriage search produced the required result.  Winifred S. HOWELLS had married Leslie SHAW in Barrow in Furness in the first quarter of 1915.

Searching the passenger lists again I found that Leslie SHAW a 29 year old draughtsman had left Liverpool bound for Shanghai in March 1919.  Winifred had followed him 6 weeks later.

All that was left was to find out a little about the HOWELL family.  Why were the children living with an aunt rather than their parents in 1911?  How long did Winifred and Leslie spend in China?  Here is something of their story which I have managed to piece together.

The girls father, David J. HOWELLS had married Agnes L. REID in Barrow in 1883.  By 1891 they were living in Tranmere with four children: Winifred Sarah, James Tudor, Ethel Nora and Margaret Hilda.  Agnes' sister, Margaret D. REID, was also living with the family.  David was shown as being a mechanical engineer.  I wonder whether this might be the three sisters?

By 1901 the children were still living in Barrow but there was no sign of their parents. Instead they were with their Aunt Margaret who was shown as being the "Housekeeper".  The family had expanded with sons, Herbert Reid, Ernest Lewis and David Geoffrey, born in 1893, 1896 and 1897, and daughter, Vera Lilian born in 1898 in Odessa, Russia.  In 1909 Vera started school at Barrow Secondary Girls School and the admission form showed that her parents were in Russia.  A final child, Crissie Jean, was born in Barrow in 1901.

Entitled "A little time on the zither" - perhaps one of the brothers learning to play?!!

The parents returned to England before the First World War and after a few years in Barrow and then Birkenhead they settled at Studds Hall Cottage, Barbon, Kirkby Lonsdale on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Herbert Reid, the second son of David and Agnes, enrolled in Barrow Secondary School for Boys in August 1905.  The admission register showed that his parents were in Odessa.  When he left in December 1909 he took up employment in an Engineering Workship in Odessa, Russia.  In March 1916 Herbert joined the Royal Navy in the rank of E.R.A. becoming a Temporary Mate on 1 July 1918.  After the war Herbert moved to London and in 1939 was shown as being the Chief Surveyor of Cold Stores in Paddington.  He died in Northamptonshire in 1969.

Ernest Lewis, the third son enrolled in Barrow in Furness Secondary School for Boys in 1907.  Again his parents were shown as being in Odessa.  When he left in 1912 he took up employment as an Apprentice Engineer with Vickers.  In 1916 he joined the Merchant Navy serving until the early 1920s.  In 1927 he applied for US Citizenship and in 1930 was shown as being the Master Mechanic in a soup factory in Boston.





David Geoffrey, the fourth son enlisted as a Private with the Royal Fusiliers in April 1916.  In January 1917 he came home from France to join the Cadet Corps but was found to be so ill with Trench Fever that he was nursed at home.  In May, with his condition worsening, he was transferred to hospital. His medical report notes:  "His condition was very weak with great emaciation.  There was dullness over the whole right lung with considerable contraction of this side due to the pleuritic effusion being allowed to absorb.  The temperature and pulse ran very erratically until about mid-July but since that date the improvement, although slow, has been steady".  David was transferred to the Convalescent Home, Southport in September 1917 and was found fit for service on 25 October 1917.  He obtained his commission with the Royal Fusiliers on 30 July 1918 but by October was lying dangerously ill in 20 General Hospital, Camiers, France.  David Geoffrey HOWELLS died in the 1st London General Hospital, Camberwell, London on 1 December 1918 and was buried at Bebington Cemetery in Cheshire.

Now what of the ladies of the family?  Well they all appear to have pursued careers in teaching.

Ethel Nora, the second daughter, joined Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps in November 1918 and served as an Assistant Administrator until May 1919 when she was discharged on compassionate ground.  No doubt this is the "Sergeant Major Nora" shown in the cartoon !

Ethel had received a university education in Manchester and then trained as a teacher.  In 1911 she was Assistant Mistress at Sale County High School; 1912-1917 Assistant Mistress at City of Cardiff Hight School for Girls; 1917-1918 Assistant Mistress at Thoresby High School, Leeds.  Then came her war service after which she took up the post of Assistant Mistress at North Lodon Collegiate School, London.  Between 1919 and 1927 Ethel was Senior Assistant Mistress at Sunny Hill Girls' School in Bruton, Somerset; 1930 Assistant Mistress at Bradford Girls' Grammar Schiil and in 1931 Head Mistress at Birkenhead Girls' School.  Ethel retired to Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset and died at Kingsleigh, 78 Berrow Road on 21 January 1982.

Little is known of Margaret Hilda, the third daughter, except that when she sailed for Canada in 1923 she was shown as being a Teacher.  It is believed that Margaret remained in Canada and married there.

Vera Lilian (shown with the initials VLH in the sketches) who had been born in Odessa also became a teacher and after the war obtained posts in London and Essex. No doubt this is Vera leaving home with all her possessions! In 1931 she was living in Little Thurrock, Essex with her youngest sister, Crissie Jean.  By 1939 Vera was a Head Teacher in Ealing, London.  Vera died in Bridport, Dorset on 7 April 1984.

 

Winifred Sarah HOWELLS was the eldest daughter and I believe it was she who penned the wonderful sketches in the little album.  Most look as if they have been cut from larger pages and I would guess that they were originally contained in letters sent back home - perhaps they were her letters to "Auntie Margaret".  As mentioned earlier, Winifred married Leslie SHAW in 1915 and joined him in Shanghai in 1919.  I believe this little picture to be Winnie's interpretation of herself and Leslie having a stroll along The Bund in Shanghai.

 Here are some of the characters whom she met during her stay in the Far East.

The couple do not appear to have spent many years in the Far East because by 1925 they were living at 2 Maudsley Road, Eltham, South London.  Passenger lists show them returning to the UK from Montreal in 1926; from the West Indies in 1933; and from South Africa in 1938.  Whether these trips were "sunshine cruises" or in connection with Leslie's work as a commercial artist is not known.  By 1939 the couple were living in Barrow in Furness with Winifred's eldest brother, James Tudor HOWELLS.  James was a Submarine and Oil Engine draughtsman whilst Leslie had progressed to become a Ship Designer.  After the war the couple retired to Bexhill-on Sea, Sussex.  Leslie died on 14 December 1961 followed just three weeks later by Winifred.  Winifred's younger sister, Vera Lilian, was shown as being Executor on both wills.

If you should happen to be descended from any of Winifred's siblings PLEASE get in touch - I would love to hear from you.  I have three or four strands of research outstanding and could well add to this post if any of those surface additional information.

Christine can be reached here