Grandfather Charles Stanley Braine's Passport

Cousin Stanley Braine in Brisbane has the passport.

Letter from grandpa Charles Stanley Braine to daughter Alice, 1941

Aunty Alice had saved this letter all these years.

Explanation and Comments

LP at the top right hand corner refers to Lewis Place, on the beach in Negombo. According to Aunty Alice, grandpa stayed every weekend at Miss Carey's guest house in Lewis Place. The guest house was for European Planters.

Grandpa owned a house, "Stanlodge", at Lewis Place, but he may have preferred to stay at Miss Carey's to enjoy the company of Europeans. "Stanlodge" was eventually given to Aunty Amy (Mrs. Chelvaratnam) who sold it before emigrating to Australia.

In the letter, the "Bill" refers to Bill LeMotte, husband of Aunty Kate. Bill owned a farm in Teldeniya.

The mention at the end of page 2 of Aunty and Uncle refers to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, grandpas' very good friends. Mr. Phillips was a Trustee of grandpa's Will.

In the letter, grandpa leaves specific instructions regarding his funeral.  He says that he "hates the sight of people in black" and requests that his children not dress in mourning. He would like a "quiet and simple funeral, no flowers only a simple bunch of ordinary garden flowers". He says "hope it won't years yet before I pass beyond". In fact, he lived for three more years.

I doubt if grandpa received the quiet funeral he asked for. Going by the account of a Catholic priest who converted him to Catholicism on his deathbed (which I have described in a previous blog entry), his passing may have been traumatic. His children wanted him converted to Catholicism, his good friend Mrs. Phillips put up a tough resistance. As a compromise, although he died a Catholic, he was buried in the Anglican section of the General Cemetery, Negombo, not far from Lewis Place.

The following entry is from by dad's writings:  

"In 1944 my father had to be moved on doctor’s advice to a home close to the sea beach, and he lived in the home of Mr. Grenier at Lewis Place. I used to visit him once a week as he was convalescing. He moved about in the house on a wheel chair, the consequences resulting from a fall from a horse some years back."

Another anomaly. Aunty Alice says grandpa stayed at Mrs. Carey's while my father wrote that grandpa stayed at Mr. Grenier's. 

Actually, the fall may have been from a bullock cart at Mawatte Estate. Great-grandfather Charles Frederick fell off a horse.

Death and Funeral of Charles Frederick Braine, our great-grandfather, in 1896

From the Times of Ceylon, March 12, 1896

Mr. CHARLES F. BRAINE

We regret to have to announce the death of this gentleman, who, after a long illness, succumbed this morning to the effects of malaria, contracted in Kurunegalla, aggravated by the results of a fall from his horse. The deceased gentlemen, who was the eldest son of the late Mr. Charles Joseph Braine, of China, Ceylon, and London, came out to Ceylon in 1869, and entered the service of Ceylon Company, Limited. He learnt planting on Meddacombra estate, and served the Company in Pussellawa, Badulla, and Dikoya. In the latter district he was well-known and respected, having managed Mannickwatta estate for over 12 years. When that estate was handed over to Mr. F.H.M. Corbet, he entered that gentleman's employ and continued in it until the estates were formed into the Wanarajah Co. He acted for a time on Kondesalla Estate, Dumbara and then accepted the task of opening Delwita estate in Kurunegalla, in Messers. Finlay, Muir, and Co's employ. Here he absorbed the malaria from the effects of which he died. He received injuries in the carriage accident in which Mrs. Braine broke her thigh, and was afterwards thrown from his horse about two months ago. After the fracture to the skull had healed he was removed to Colombo, where in the Cargill's Ward he had the benefit of Dr. Garvin's skill and was most assiduously nursed by Mrs. Braine, but, despite everything that could be done, he sank under his injuries, and died this morning at the hospital at 1 o'clock. The deepest sympathies will be with the widow and orphans of one who had deservedly earned the reputation of being a hardworking, conscientious planter. His remains are to be removed for internment this evening at 5.30.

From the Times of Ceylon 13^th March 1896

Funeral of Mr C.F. Braine

The funeral of Mr C. F. Braine took place at 5.30 pm yesterday at the General cemetery. Amongst those who assembled to pay their last respects to the deceased were

Mr S. Braine (son of deceased), Messrs  B. G. L. Bremner, A. C. Courtney, C. Roberts, J.H. Starey, G. W. Carlyon, T.W. Hall, N. Baker, Cameron Smith, Hugh Smith, Duff Tytler, D.G. Mantell, R. John, J. Abel, A.E. Wackrill,  C. Rainnie, E. Benham.

The Rev Mr Ford officiated both at the Mortuary Chapel where the body was in waiting ready to be intered and at the grave which was by the entrance gate.

(The above information was sent to me by Mrs. Maggie Pulle. Thanks, Maggie.)

MY COMMENT

In February, I posted a blog post titled "looking for Charles Frederick Braine" in which I described a futile search that my sister Beaula, brother-in-law Bandara, and I undertook to the Dikoya area to look for the grave of my great-grandfather. The search was the result of an entry in the Kabristan Archives site for tea country graves in Ceylon, which listed Charles Frederick's grave at Dikoya. We didn't find his grave, but found the grave of his infant son at a churchyard in Bogowantalawa.

The mystery of the grave appears to have been solved with the above information. Charles Frederick appears to have been buried in Colombo, at the General Cemetery (Kanatte), which, incidentally, his grandson Stanley Theobald (my father) is buried. 

If Charles Frederick arrived in 1869, he would have been a tea planter.  As a result of the coffee blight, coffee plantations in Ceylon (which covered about 162,000 acres in 1867 and employed about 2000 British planters) had been destroyed and gradually replaced by tea. Charles Frederick's father, Charles Joseph, would have been a coffee planter. 

Charles Frederick moved about, from Pussellawa, to Badulla, to Dikoya, to Dumbara,  and finally to Kurunegala. At the first four locations, he would have been a tea planter. At Kurunegala, more like Matale, he would have cleared the forest to plant rubber. (Delwita Estate is listed as a rubber plantation.) Malaria was rampant in those days and for many, including Charles Frederick, fatal.

Charles Frederick was prone to injury. First, a carriage accident is noted, then a fall from a horse.

Interestingly, only Stanley (Charles Stanley, my grandfather) appears to have attended Charles Frederick's funeral. He had three more children and their presence at the funeral is not noted. (Anyway, only the names of male mourners are noted.)

Relatives in Australia, September 2013

My sister Beaula and I paid a month-long visit to Australia, to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, visiting friends and relatives. The highlight of the trip was seeing our Aunty Alice, the last of my dad's siblings. Aunty is 97 years now, and appears to be in good health, her mind crystal clear especially when recalling her childhood escapades.

Aunty never tired of anecdotes from her days of growing up in Boralessa. She appears to have been quite a tom boy, but may also have been my grandmother's favorite daughter. Aunty was glad to have Beaula and me to share her stories, because we are familiar with the people and places she mentioned. On one occasion, at cousin Virginia's home, she went on for more than an hour, recalling incidents from her childhood of more than 80 years ago.

This group photo shows Aunty Alice surrounded by Heather (Aunty's youngest), Beaula, Stan, and myself.

With Stan (Stanley Braine) at his place in Brisbane.

Beaula with Maureen, Aunty Alice's oldest.

A group photo at Maureen's home. Her husband Fuad and son are also in the photo.

With Gordon, Aunty Kate's son. He's elusive and apparently makes no effort to keep in touch with the four cousins in Brisbane. They were surprised to learn that he met with us.

With Virginia, Aunty Alice's second daughter. She has the loveliest home we stayed in.

In Melbourne, with some Chelvaratnam cousins, children of Aunty Amy. Lloyd, Ann, and Nagesh. In Sri Lanka, they lived in Negombo before emigrating to Australia.

Mawatte Plantation, where grandpa Charles Stanley Braine was the Manager

Beaula and I recently visited Mawatte Plantation, where my grandfather Charles Stanley Braine served as manager. When his mother died in 1909, grandpa was already at the plantation, and he served till 1944, when he passed away. That means his tenure extended to at least 35 years, a lengthy association by any standard.

Mawatte Plantation was about 700 acres in extent during grandpa's time. Now, due to the government's land policies and also due to being subdivided for distribution among the landless, Mawatte is only 350 acres in extent now, still large by Sri Lankan standards. The plantation is now a livestock farm and is managed by LanLib, a Sri Lanka – Libya joint venture. Perhaps due to the recent turmoil in Libya, Sri Lanka's National Livestock Development Board (NDLB) appears to be in charge now.

According to the current manager, who has been at Mawatte for 35 years, the original bungalow is little changed. The view from the veranda of a large flamboyant tree and a sal tree may be what grandpa enjoyed 80 years ago.

The small office, still with a thatch roof, is nearby. I can only imagine the morning roster, where the Tamil labourers would line up to be counted "present" each morning and to be assigned to their work for that day. At the end of the week, around noon on Saturday, they would line up again to collect their wages. Grandpa did not speak Sinhala. He spoke Tamil, a legacy of his upbringing in tea plantations (where the labourers were Tamil). At Mawatte, too, the labourers were Tamil, somewhat unusual for a coconut estate. Even today, many employees at Mawatte farm appear to be Tamils.

Most Europeans in Ceylon were tea or rubber planters. I thought grandpa must have been one of the pioneer European planters on coconut estates. His father C.F. Braine (my great grandfather), towards the end of his life, was a planter at Delwita Estate near Kurunegala, in what appears to have been a rubber estate.

Mawatte is only a 10-minute drive from Boralessa, where I have a home, "Pondside". My Aunt Alice, who is 97, remembers walking from Boralessa, where my grandmother lived, to Mawatte to have lunch or dinner with grandpa. She accompanied grandmother.

The copra (dried coconut kernels) produced at Mawatte Estate were transported to Colombo via the nearby Dutch canal on "padda" boats, which have been described as "flat-bottomed boats with removable roofing " often of "cadjan" or dried coconut palms. My father remembered traveling overnight on a “padda” boat and waking up to see the Victoria Bridge on the Kelani River.

The "captain" of the padda boats that transported copra from Mawatte Estate to Colombo was one Fonseka. His son, Basil Fonseka, was a close friend of my father. As a result, Basil Fonseka became my god father. (My god mother was Aunty Bee.)

More on estate life from my dad Teddy Braine's reminisces

We children didn’t live on the estate, but I recall the family visiting daddy in the estate during school holidays. He had a lovely garden with flowers and fruit trees. Meals were served at a vast dining hall with large table with the Appu at hand serving. At night, the place was lit by Petromax and kerosene lamps, there being no electricity at the time. There was no radio either, and music was played on the gramophone. On warm days, during meals, Appu would stand at the end of the dining hall and pull a rope which was connected to a large canvas curtain hung above the table, swinging the “punkah” to fan those seated at the table.

At the estate, the mornings were always welcomed to the sound of coconuts being cracked for drying in the copra kiln. We would go there to eat the young kernel of the cut nuts. The fragrant smell of copra drying in the two kilns on either side, with rows of coconut shells burning underneath, always held an enchanting spell which any child would envy.

Bridget Wambeek - Aunty Bee - RIP

Christmas 2011 - Fawzia in London, with Aunty Bee and Yvonne

I am writing this in Sri Lanka, from the village of Boralessa. There couldn’t have been a better location to pen these thoughts because Aunty Bee was born in this area and grew up here in the loving company of her parents, and five sisters and three brothers. She had sweet memories of this village and never tired of reminiscing her childhood.   

My earliest memories of Aunty go back to 1957, when the Wambeeks lived in Negombo only a few minutes’ walk from our home. Because my dad Teddy and Aunty Bee were close, children from our families were in and out of each other’s homes, playing and sharing meals. We also schooled together at Ave Maria Convent. I remember Aunty Bee as slim and willowy, always dressed in sari. Times were difficult but we bore them cheerfully.

Aunty Bee was fond of my mother Fernie. Because she spoke no English, it wasn’t easy for my mother to mingle with my dad’s siblings. But Aunty Bee took my mother into her heart, and they became good friends and confidants. My mother, being a trained midwife, delivered at least a couple of Wambeek cousins. Aunty Bee reciprocated with her presence at my sister Beaula’s birth.

I saw Aunty’s generous heart when she visited Sri Lanka in 1969, her first return trip since emigrating to England. She and I spent a month going around mainly by bus and train, visiting friends and relatives. During these trips, I discovered a whole swathe of relatives from my grandmother’s family, simple folk who wore sarongs and spoke only in Sinhalese.Aunty’s affection for these simple folk, her intimate knowledge of their families, their delight at her visit and embrace of her, was for me a revealing experience.

Aunty Bee cared for her poor relatives. And they included Fawzia, Roy and me. When we began life, struggling with meager salaries in small, rented homes, we had no visits from foreign relatives. Except from aunty. She came for long chats, to share meals, and to stay a night. At a time of tight import restrictions in Sri Lanka, every item of new clothing that Roy wore at that time came from aunty. She sent boxes of used clothes from her brood, and they were the clothes that Fawzia, Roy and I wore. Fawzia remembered these kindnesses and paid repeated visits to aunty at South Harrow, when she could have holidayed at more exotic locations. Fawzia’s last Christmas, two years ago, was spent at South Harrow, cooking aunty’s favorite Sri Lankan dishes and reminiscing endlessly.

And there was much to reminisce. The “elephant watching expedition” in the jungles of Sri Lanka’s deep south is legendary. Aunty Bee, my mother, and a friend, having gone elephant watching in the evening, were trapped on a shaky platform high up a tree along with their husbands. Heavily pregnant, all three women endured severe discomfort from dusk till dawn while an aggressive herd of elephants loitered nearby.

Another story involves the Wambeek and Chelvaratnam children. Aunty Amy, Mrs. Chelvaratnam, also had a large family. One morning, Aunty Bee was taking the two broods on an outing, by bus. Little children traveled free but they took up precious seats. As the children trooped into the bus, one by one, the bewildered bus conductor asked “Ma’am, are they all yours?” “Yes”, aunty replied with a winsome smile, happily paying her single adult fare while the children filled half the bus.

Aunty’s extended family spread all over the world. During chats, as she reeled off their names, I could barely keep up with the relationships. Aunty never missed a birthday. Sometimes, the arrival of her greeting card, addressed for years in Uncle Ed’s beautiful script, was the first reminder that a member of the household was having a birthday. Her Christmas cards also arrived, without fail, year after year.

Aunty’s popularity can be seen by the large number of her god children. Remarkably, she was godmother to my cousin Marie, her son Charles, and her grandson Shane. She was my beloved godmother, too.

Over the past 30 years, I have visited 16 Valentine Road dozens of times. We shared Sri Lankan meals. Opened photo albums and reminisced. I spent a precious two weeks with aunty in January. When I left, she was cheerful as always, but I knew it was the final goodbye. She parting has left a vast void in my heart, a void that’s impossible to fill.

If I could sum up Aunty in two words, they would be: “She cared”.

May she rest in peace.

Death of Mrs. C.F. Braine (Adeline Mary Becher), great grandmother

THE LATE MRS. C.F. BRAINE

The late Mrs. C.F. Braine, whose death at the Albert Hospital, London, we recorded yesterday, was, for a good many years, a well-known resident of Nuwara Eliya, and will be greatly missed by a host of friends at the United Club. She was the daughter of the Rev. J.Y. Becher and married Mr. C.F. Braine, who was for many years in charge of Manikwatte Estate, Dikoya, and who died in hospital in March, 1896, as the result of a fall from his horse. There are four children--Mr. C.S. Braine, now in charge of Mawatte estate, Negombo; Mrs. Combe, wife of Mr. L.H. Combe, of Messers. Boustead Bros; Mr. W. B. Braine, of Yataderiya estate, Kelani Valley; and Miss Muriel Braine, who went home with her mother last August, and who is now in England.

From "The Times of Ceylon" 10 November 1909

A deathbed conversion

My grandfather Charles Stanley (CS) was born an Anglican. In 1924, he married Engracia Nonis, who was a Catholic. Their children were brought up as Catholics and whether in Negombo, Colombo, Wennappuwa, Matale or Jaffna, they attended Catholic schools.

CS is buried in the Anglican Section of Negombo's General Cemetery. But I had heard that he died a Catholic, having been converted on his deathbed at the insistence of his children. I now know the full story, thanks to a clipping from the Catholic Messenger dated 5 March 1944. (CS died on Feb. 11, 1944). Aunty B had saved the clipping.

The brief article is written by a Catholic priest, going by XYZ. He does not identify CS by name (only as Mr. X, an Englishman) nor does he even mention the town where the incident occurred.

The priest begins by saying that he "was summoned to the bedside of a 'very probably unconcious' Anglican. His wife and children were Catholics. On several occasions and umpteen times they they had entreated, begged of him to come to their faith but he had resolutely refused. Now he was dying. For the past five days he had been unconscious with but intermittent and faint signs of consciousness. Mr. X was an Englishman and in the house of Anglicans. I was summoned by his daughter and son."

When the priest reaches the house, he "could hardly step out of the car when the Anglican party rushed up to me and one of them, an elderly lady whom I presumed to be a sister of Mr. X taking my hand, very politely told me 'Look here Father, Mr. X has already expressed his desire to remain and die an Anglican. We brought our minister this morning. He has administered the last rites. Mr. X is now dying. In about 10 minutes he will be dead. Don't disturb the patient. He is also unconscious. We only ask of you to attend the funeral as a sort of consolation to his Catholic wife and children.' 

All the time the children were beckoning me to rush in to the
room before it was too late; but the lady was holding my hand.

'Look here' I replied. 'I sympathize with you. What your minister has done is right. But now that I have come let me just see the patient . If he is unconscious I can do nothing.'.

She replied 'He will be dead. You need not disturb him. Only at his funeral.'

I was bold. I plucked up courage. Saying 'His children want me' I rushed into the room. There was Mr. X breathing his last, surrounded by his weeping children.

'Mr. X' I called into his ear 'the Catholic priest is come. The Roman Catholic priest is here. He is speaking to you.' He looked at me. For the first time since that attack of his malady, he was fully conscious. I continued. 'Mr. X, do you wish to die in the faith of your beloved wife and children. Do you wish to be Catholic?' Faintly, he answered  (the first word he spoke in 5 days) 'Yes' - as he bowed his assent. His children almost shouted for joy.

'Mr. X' I went on 'do you abjure your Protestant faith?' Once more with labored breathing, bowing his head in assent, he replied 'yes'".

The priest gives CS the Extreme Unction followed by the Papal blessing. CS soon loses consciousness.

The Priest continues "I decided to remain with the dying man. To keep myself occupied to help the agonizing soul, and to drown the murmurs and complaints of those outside, I took a prayer book and recited loud in English the prayers for the dying." The priest says that "Mr. X died almost in his arms". He concludes "May Mr. X rest in peace and work out from heaven the conversion of his non-Catholic friends and relatives". (!) Note: The exclamation is mine.

And all for the same God.

Grandfather Charles Stanley Braine with his mother and siblings

Standing: Charles Stanley Braine (grandfather) and sister Muriel. Seated: great-grandmother Adline and her older daughter. Seated on the ground: brother John, who appears to be sitting on a leopard skin.

The Victorian clothes would place this photo in the 1890s. The location would have been a tea plantation in the Dimbula area. My great-great-grandfather came to Ceylon as a coffee planter in the hill country and, when the coffee plantations were wiped out by disease, became a tea planter. His son, Charles Frederick Braine, was also a tea planter. What made Charles Stanley, my grandfather, become a coconut planter in the low country remains a mystery.

A friend of the family

This photo, taken at "The Meet", the Braine residence at Boralessa, was previously posted on the blog, but with new information emerging, I decided to repost it.

From left, standing: Bridget (Bee), George, Amy, Rosie, Ben, and Kay (Cathleen). Seated: Lucy, Teddy, grandma Engracia Nonis, and Edith Brett, a family friend. 

My Aunty B often referred to Edith when talking about her days growing up at Boralessa. he said that Edith spent much time with the family and even referred to my grandfather as her dad. Last month, In London, I met Edith's son Paul Pulle and this is what he wrote to me about Edith.

"My mother Edith Brett was born in Penang in 1912 when her father Herbert Brett was on planting trips (HB)  was a buddy of Charles Stanley [my grandfather] as far as we know and we think that  HB somehow made CS a guardian for my mother , who was at a convent in Negombo and had special permission to stay with the Braines at Boralessa. Aunty B confirms this hence she was treated very much as part of the family. 

My father John Pulle was a frequent visitor to the adjoining estate and played cricket with Aunty B and the family and Edith who happened to be there on vacation. This resulted in their relationship ending in marriage."

In the photo below, which I believe was taken on the railway track adjoining The Meet", Edith Brett is standing at the center, with John Pulle next to her. On the extreme left is my uncle George Braine and next to him is my Aunt Kay.

Uncle George, like John, attended St. Joseph's College, Colombo, and they may have been classmates. John's home was next to "The Meet" at Boralessa. 

John became an All Ceylon cricketer in the 1940s, and also coached the First XI of my alma mater Trinity College, Kandy.

Edith Brett

Looking for Charles Frederick Braine

Charles Frederick was my great grandfather. Looking for my roots on the web, I read that he was buried at Dimbula, in the central hills of Sri Lanka, where he was a tea planter. Last year, my sister Beula, Bandara (who is married to my cousin Marie) and I drove up to Dimbula to look for his grave. He was an Anglican and belonged to the Church of England, now known as the Church of Ceylon.

The Pastor at the Dimbula church told us that the graveyards were at Warleigh and Bogawantalawa, a few miles beyond. Al Warleigh, we found a lovely stone church situated above the Casterleigh Reservoir. My grandfather was born in 1874 and the church was built four years later, so I am fairly sure that he had attended service here as a child.

But we could not find the grave of Charles Frederick. The graveyard, although it had been cleared of weeds, showed signs that it had been neglected for a long time. When the tea plantations were nationalized in the 1970s, the British planters, who formed the bulwark of the congregations at Anglican churches, left Sri Lanka and the churches fell into a period of decline. Now, Tamil parishioners, descendants of estate workers who had been converted, keep these churches going. The Christ Church at Warleigh is in good repair, as these photos show. We were told that it's popular among British tourists.

We drove onto Bogawantalawa, where we found a 
small Anglican church, St. Mary's, on the roadside. The Pastor, Bro Thivyapalan Gnanapragasam, came to help us search 
the graveyard. What we found was the grave of 
Charles Frederick's infant son, the younger brother 
of my grandfather Charles Stanley. The child's full name 
was Frank Wyndham Becher Braine (his mother's maiden 
name was Becher) and he had died on March 9, 1879, 
at the age of 11 months. 

We may have been the only relatives who turned up at this grave in more than a hundred years.

Charles Stanley Braine - My grandad

Charles Stanley Braine (1874 - 1944). This photo may have been taken at Mawatte Estate, near Dankotuwa, Sri Lanka, where he was the Manager.

His gravestone at the General Cemetery, Negombo, in the Anglican Section.

Aunty B and Aunty Amy - A photo from the 1940's

Aunty B at 91

Aunty B (Bridget Wambeek), the favorite aunt of the family, will be 91 on February 19. I visited her last month at her home in South Harrow, a suburb of London. These photos were taken during that visit.

Clockwise from left: Jude, Anne (Aunty B's youngest son and oldest daughter), Aunty's niece Delphine (Aunty K's daughter), and me.