Charles Frederick Braine (1850 – 1896), Adventurous, Accident Prone, Great grandfather

 I have previously written about my great, great grandfather Charles Joseph Braine (1814-1890), who became a coffee and tea planter in Ceylon. Charles Frederick was the fourth child Charles Joseph. He was born in Norton Fitzwarren, a village in Somerset, UK, where his parents resided upon their return from Hong Kong.

Charles Frederick first came to Ceylon in 1869, at the age of 19, to work for Ceylon Company Ltd., where his father Charles Joseph was the manager. He returned to the UK to marry Adeline Mary Becher on 9 April 1874 at Kensington, London. Their first child, Charles Stanley (my grandfather) was born the same year, on 25 December, in Ceylon.

I wonder if Ceylon Company Ltd., where both Charles Joseph and Charles Frederick worked, was the predecessor of Ceylon Tea Plantations Co., which came to own extensive rubber and coconut plantations as well.

Charles Joseph left Ceylon around 1880, having become the first owner of Abbotsleigh Estate by then. But, although he, too, was a planter, Charles Frederick may not have worked at Abbotsleigh.

An article in The Times of Ceylon, dated 12 March 1896, the day he died, sequences Braine’s career and gives an indication of his family life. Braine “learnt planting” (“creeping”, in planting jargon) at Meddacombra Estate, in the Nuwara Eliya area, owned by Ceylon Company Ltd., and later worked at Pussellawa and Badulla on company estates.

In 1880, when he was only 30, Braine moved to Dickoya, as manager of Maniekwatte Estate, which amalgamated with Warleigh Estate to become the well-known Wanarajah Estate. I have driven through this vast plantation, which I believe now consists of ten estates. Ceylon’s best teas, and perhaps the world’s as well, are grown in this area.

Braine served for 12 years at Dickoya. He was injured and Mrs. Braine suffered a broken thigh in a carriage accident which may have occurred during this period.

From 1887 to 1888, Braine is listed as the owner of Beecherton Estate, in Kalutara, which must have been a rubber plantation. In 1890 and 1891, he is listed as the owner of Arapolakanda Estate, in Kalutara district, which may also have been a rubber plantation. What made Braine, working in upcountry estates, buy a property on the south-western coast is puzzling.

For some reason, perhaps the opportunity to become a pioneer, Braine joined a new employer - Finlay, Mur, and Co. - and moved to Kurunegala, in the North Western Province, to open Delwita Estate. “Open” perhaps means clearing the forest to plant rubber or coconut. (I believe Delwita Estate was in the Ridigama area.) The move, from lush and salubrious Dickoya to hot and humid Kurunegala, did not bode well for Braine, because he was thrown from his horse and suffered a fractured skull, and also came down with malaria. After being treated at a local hospital (Kurunegala?), Braine was moved to the Cargill’s Ward at Colombo hospital. He was treated by Dr. T.F. Garvin, and Mrs. Braine also attended to him “assiduously”. But, after a long illness, he passed away, only 45.

His funeral was at Colombo’s General Cemetery on the following day. Sixteen Europeans, all male, are listed as attending the funeral. Charles Stanley Braine, the eldest son (my grandfather), was the only family member there. Perhaps female attendees and children were not identified in the newspaper report. I have not been able to find Braine’s grave.

The lovely Christ Church at Warleigh is where Braine attended service when he worked in the Dickoya area. This YouTube version of the church and Wanarajah Estate is worth a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsOJ5zN5_mY

The inside of the church bears a brass plaque in Braine’s memory, “erected by his friends”.

At Braine’s death, his elder son Charles Stanley was 22 years old (and already a planter) but daughter Eudora was only 19 and son William and daughter Muriel were much younger.

Mrs. Braine then moved to Nuwara Eliya with her three younger children. Nuwara Eliya, at an elevation of more than 5000 ft., has a climate similar to that of England, and was a favorite sanctuary of English planters and civil servants. Filled with churches, public buildings, clubs and private homes in the Victorian style, and a golf course, a race course, polo grounds, a cricket field, a brewery, and botanical gardens. Surrounded by rolling hills, forest, and rushing streams, Nuwara Eliya was nicknamed “Little England”.

Mrs. Braine became a “well-known resident” of the town, and was an active member of the United Club. I assume the younger children must have attended school there.

A photo shows Mrs. Braine and her children at Nuwara Eliya. The older son, Charles Stanley (my grandfather), was already a planter in the North Western Province, and would have been visiting. In the photo, Muriel, his youngest sister, has her arm circling his. Sister Eudora, perhaps in her early twenties, is seated alongside Mrs. Braine. Younger brother William is seated on the ground, on a leopard skin, holding a banjo. This could have been a Christmas gathering. The leopard may have been shot by Mr. Braine, who appears with a double-barreled shotgun in his photo and may have liked to hunt. Leopards were a threat to estate workers.

Mrs. Braine returned to England in August 1909 with Muriel, perhaps because she was ill. She passed away soon after, on 9 November, at Albert Hospital, London. She was 60. Daughter Eudora was married by then, a Mrs. Combe, and younger son William was a planter, too.

Some years ago, my sister, BIL, and I drove to the Dickoya area, visiting churches looking for evidence of Charles Fredrick’s life there. At the quaint St. Mary’s church at Bogawantalawa, we found the grave of his infant son. 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. His birth or death has not been recorded on any document that I have seen. We may have been the first Braine’s to visit his grave in more than a hundred years. It was a solemn moment for me.

Charles Frederick’s grandfather had 11 children. His father, 10. If not for his untimely death, he may have had more than five.

The life of Charles Joseph Braine, my enterprising ancestor

 C.J. Braine was born in Middlesex, England, in 1814. His parents were John Smith Braine and Mary Leworthy of St. Sidwell, Exeter, UK. C.J.B. had ten siblings and was the seventh child. He was baptized on Oct. 14, 1814, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Westminster. His father’s (place of) occupation is stated as Navy office, and their address is Abingdon Street.

The next record for Braine is at his wedding, on 8 May 1945, to Eudora Marriott at St. Mary Magdalene Church, in Taunton. Braine’s occupation appears as merchant, Madras.

India

Although no records of Braine’s work or his life in Madras has been found yet, their first child, Eudora (named after her mother) was born in Madras in 1846. I believe Braine traded in tea.

Hong Kong

Braine worked for Dent & Co, one of the wealthiest British merchant firms, or Hongs, active in China during the 19th century, and rivaling Jardine’s. In Hong Kong (which came under the British only in 1841) Braine is listed as a partner of Dent’s, a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Asiatic Society.

Dent's HQ in Hong Kong

Braine's residence in Green Bank

Braine’s stay in Hong Kong is best known for his ownership of “Green Bank”, a luxuriant garden. The Gardner’s Chronicle of March 1849 states that Green Bank was owned by C.J. Braine, a partner in Dent’s, and was located near the center of Victoria. “It had been stocked in 1845 with rare plants transplanted from … Macau. A path though a winding shrubbery led to an orchid walk where the orchids were kept cool by shady bamboos. Above this were banks of myrtles, gardenias, and oleanders. A large collection of flowers in pots, prettily painted in Chinese style were arranged on each side of the broad terrace in front of the mansion. To one side a flower garden was arranged in the English style around a lawn with a ‘cool house’”.

Dent's House within Green Bank. Lush greenery around, and rugged hills at the back.

A longer, more sumptuous description (1000+ words) of Green Bank can be found in A Journey to the Tea Countries of China by Robert Fortune (1852). Fortune wrote that rugged mountains were seen to one side of Green Bank, contrasting with the luxuriant vegetation of the garden. He lists the shrubs and fruit trees, such as Chinese banyan, India rubber, Indian neem, Chinese cinnamon, coconut, loquat, Chinese gooseberry, wangpee, longan, leechee, pinus, bamboo, and more.

A bamboo avenue called “Orchid Walk”, cool even in midday, led to an orchid garden, in which numerous of orchid plants are listed by their scientific names. Above Orchid Walk were banks of myrtles, gardenias, oleander, and croton. A large collection of plants was placed on each side of the broad terrace in front of the “mansion”. These plants, camellias, azaleas, roses, and others plants were grown in pots “prettily painted in Chinese style and placed on porcelain stands”.

Green Bank

Braine and Eudora Marriott had 10 children. Two, Julia Caroline and Helen, were born in Hong Kong, in 1848 and 1849. 

Braine appears to have left Hong Kong around 1850. The house and garden were offered for sale to the Hong Kong Government as the Governor’s residence and a public garden.

Before he left Hong Kong, Braine had sent Sir William Jackson Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, dried ferns and a large collection of seeds. The two letters he wrote to Hooker are on record. A passionate collector of ferns, one, Brainea, is named after Charles Joseph Braine.

Brainea

Lan Kwai Fong

Mid-Levels 

The area where Green Bank was located is now called Lan Kwai Fong, best known in Hong Kong for its night life (see above photo). The rugged hills in the background of Dent’s House (in the picture above) is now known as mid-levels. Both Lan Kwai Fong and mid-levels are extremely expensive, built-up areas, in terms of property values.

Back in the UK

Braine next appears two letters he wrote from Way House, near Taunton, UK, to Sir Jackson Hooker of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In one, dated 13 December 1850, he complains that two boxes of plants that were sent to Hong Kong had gone to Rio de Janeiro instead, and assumes they were lost. Braine regrets that the Hong Kong Governor will not agree to his proposal of turning Braine's garden in Hong Kong into a public botanical one, because of the expense of getting the plants from Rio.  

Braine next appears, in 1850, as the owner of a stately mansion, Abbotsley, in Devon, UK. The house is described as a “very elegant Mansion of the Italian style” with four ground floor rooms and a verandah, seven bedrooms, dressing and bathrooms, and servants’ quarters. He must have been wealthy, paying £6300 (about £800,000 in today’s money) for the 36-acre property.

Having renamed it “Abbotsleigh”, Braine began its development, adding a 52-foot conservatory, a greenhouse, a well-planted walled garden, ornamental trees and thriving plantations in undulating park-like pastures. He persuaded Kew Gardens to supply the trees and shrubs. New farm buildings were also added, with stables and cow sheds, supplied with spring and rain water, poultry sheds, barns for implements and root crops, a harness room and a liquid manure tank. The workers’ accommodation included a gardener’s cottage and a coach house with a groom’s room above it.

Six of his children were born at Abbotsleigh, including twin boys John and Percy, in 1855. But, Braine got into disputes with his neighbors and to financial difficulties as well, having to mortgage the property for £5000. The house was sold in 1862 to the Roman Catholic church, and Augustinian nuns moved in to start a Priory.

Abbotsleigh Priory

In Ceylon

In 1862, Braine moved to Ceylon as the manager of Ceylon Co. No information is available on his work at the company. In 1880, he is listed as the owner of Abbotsleigh Estate in Hatton, in the central hills, known for the best tea. (Obviously named after his property in Devon.) He may have bought some acres of forest, cleared it, and planted coffee. The timing was not good, because a leaf disease known as the “coffee blight” began to spread and decimated the coffee plantations. Of 1700 coffee planters, only 400 stayed on in Ceylon.

Braine must have left, because, in 1881, he is listed as the head of a household in Kensington, in central London. In 1879, he had hired a manager, Norman Roswell, for Abbotsleigh.  (Roswell later became the Ceylon’s first Commissioner of Labor.) By 1883, only 19 acres at Abbotsleigh were used for tea, while 209 acres were used for coffee and cinnamon. Braine is listed as the owner of Abbotsleigh till 1884.

Eudora, Braine’s wife, passed away in 1873, and is buried at St Mary church burial ground, Caterham, Surrey, UK.

Two of their sons, Charles Frederick (in 1869) and Arthur Belgrave, came to Ceylon as planters. Charles Frederick first worked for Ceylon Company Ltd., where his father was manager, before taking up planting. Neither joined Abbotsleigh Estate. Arthur Belgrave is listed along with his father in the Kensington household in 1881, so he, too, must have returned to the UK.

Kensington records from 1881

Following Charles Joseph’s lead, three generations Braines became coffee, tea, rubber, and coconut planters in Ceylon.

Charles Joseph Braine passed away in England on 22 October 1890. He was my great, great grandfather.

view of Abbotsleigh Estate

Manager's bungalow

Green Bank https://gwulo.com/node/30942#12/22.2825/114.1059/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100

Abbotsleigh Priory 

Vol_6_Abbotsleigh_Priory.pdf

My parents' 50th wedding anniversary

Beaula, Damian and George

My parents, Stanley Theobald Braine and Adline Fernie Beatrice Fernando, were married in 1949. Their 50th wedding anniversary was celebrated in 1999 at Seeduwa, where they lived. A thanksgiving service was conducted at St. Anthony's church nearby, followed by a reception and lunch at a nearby hotel.

The Mahamoor family with Fawzia and our friend Eileen.

Parents, with Aunty B looking on.

Roy in red shirt.

Beaula with parents

A planter's dream or folly

In tracing our family tree in Ceylon, my sister and I visited Yakwila Estate, near Pannala in the North Western Province, where my English grandfather Charles Stanley Braine served as manager in the early 1900s. There, I was told about a fascinating bungalow at nearby Andigama Estate.

The Yakwila managers did not have the vocabulary (in Sinhalese) to describe the bungalow, nor did they have any photos to show us, even on a website. So, we did not know what to expect.

At Andigama, up a winding drive, we came upon a sight that blew us away. Here, in all its splendor, was an English manor house, in a mix of Georgian and half-timber style, the latter seen all over Europe. The year of completion, carved over the front entrance, was 1922.

Upon entering, we were amazed to see a huge fireplace, in English style. Carved on it was a Latin sentence, “Dominiva Aedificaverit Domvm Labor in Vanum Fvit”, which Google translated as "Unless the Lord has built the house, those building it have worked in vain" From Psalms 127:1.

The bungalow, large and two storied, was endowed with a narrow tower, with a winding staircase, a shingled roof, and climbing ivy. A yellowed newspaper page, source unknown, had been framed and hung near the entrance. The print was not clear, but it stated that the bungalow was completed by D.F.C. Dyson, who had arrived in 1922, and stayed on for 26 years. Apparently, the Ceylon Tea Plantations Company, which owned Andigama Estate, ran out of patience with the cost of construction, and Mr. Dyson had to complete the bungalow at his own expense.

English planters, nostalgic for home, built English style bungalows, picturesque chapels, and clubhouses, in the cool upcountry areas, where tea is grown. But, Andigama is stretching this nostalgia to the extreme, because it’s a coconut estate not far from the coast. On the day my sister and I visited, the outside temperature at Andigama was 36 centigrade.

Shingled roof

Winding staircase

Aunty Rosie's Teaching Certificate

This preliminary examination for the English Teachers' Certificate was issued in 1930, when aunty was only 21. She had "satisfied" the examination in English Language & Literature, Elementary Mathematics, History & Geography, and in the following optional subjects: Drawing and Child Literature.

On the back is a list of the schools where aunty taught. From 1931 to 1939, she taught at St. Mary's Girls" English School, Negombo. After a break of two years (possibly for her marriage), she taught at St. Mary's School in Avissawella for two years. From 1946 to 1950, she was at St. Anne's Girls' School, Wattala.

She retired on July 14 1968 from Zahira College, Gampola. 

Letter from grandpa to daughter Rosie

Lewis Place

13.11.43

Dearest Rosie,

Thanks for yours, & glad to say I am still keeping fit. We had some very heavy rain here yesterday afternoon and the 11^th. This am is very bright.

Wonder if you will have any floods this year, seeing not as so much rain has fallen as continues upcountry & no big storms. Bad luck Marie having those sores, she should take some blood purifier, and external treatment, and or change to the Hills. I told Ted this and to tell Mum. I wanted her to take a holiday. I told Ted to speak to Jayatileke but I am told he is a hard drinker, which is not good company for Ted.

It is quite out of the question my writing for Ben’s discharge because they are calling every day for more recruits as the Ceylon Corps are all short of men. It is not all beer and skittles when you join the army, but steady hard work till you are efficient. Ben should put his heart and soul into his work and try to get promotions, a slacker will never rise – whatever job he is put on to he should do his best at it.

He should consider himself lucky as he is in the land of his birth and can see his relations. Whereas all the young chaps from overseas have no chance of home leave till after the war. Many have children they have never seen. Japs would have this island in no time if it was not for these chaps. They keep on sending planes across to try and catch us napping, and may make a try with their ships one of these days.

Tell Ben to look on the bright side of things, and after work, join others in having a good time with “sing songs”, entertain the troops with his dances etc. There must be others who will go in with him and make a good show.

Give him my love when you write, and love to yourself.

Yours,

Father

Comments from George:

Rosie, grandpa's eldest child, was teaching at Avissawella at this time. Her 1-year old daughter Marie was with her. (Rosie was having marital problems.) Grandpa was recuperating at Lewis Place in Negombo, but perhaps not at "Stanlodge", the house he owned there.

Reading between the lines, I assume Rosie had written to him about her brother Ben's hardships in the army. Ben had a reputation for being lazy and irresponsible and may have told Rosie to intervene on his behalf to get out of the army. Going by the letter, grandpa has no sympathy for Ben.

Grandpa passed away within a year of writing this letter.

Grandpa C.S. Braine at Negombo beach

This is a lovely photo of grandpa, most probably at the Negombo beach. He spent his last days here, sick and drawn, but this photo may have been taken earlier because he looks healthy and happy here.

Aunty Alice had given the original to my sister Beaula, but a (female) cousin who has no interest in family history had grabbed it. So, this is only a photo of the original.