The link shown above named From Guano to Gold is an extract from a book published in 2014 with which I was able to assist the author on several queries that arose. The Hon Vicary Gibb’s diary recovered by the author explained that the Gibbs bank appointed my relation James Blackett as their adviser and manager to turn the Haputale group into tea, as he had done with his own fourestates. In 2017 we are this year celebrating 150 years of the establishment of tea after the disastrous collapse of coffee from disease and the financial struggle that our families endured in finding a suitable plantation crop to finance the development of the island. Vicary Gibbs was the son of Huck Gibbs, who at this time was the Governor of the Bank of England, was dispatched by his father to inspect their considerable investments around the world. In particular at this time it was the ‘Australian Gold Rush’ and they were shipping considerable supplies to Australia into the families warehouses. However at the same time it was, as I have mentioned, a fungus attack in Ceylon was causing the demise of coffee on the estates that they owned in Ceylon . The book is an interesting insight into that terrible period when fortunes were lost and many families did not survive the crash.Firstly I would point out that there are a couple of errors in the book with regard to my family. On Page 219 of the PDF at reference 777 referring to Wilson’s Bungalow at the top of the page it mentions David Wilson was the father of Robert Wilson and that is incorrect. This and one or two other minor errors will be correct in any new print run.
Secondly it is interesting that on page 216 the Gibbs family agent in the island by the name of Phillipp Freudenberg advises Vicary Gibbs that tea will a;so fail, as did coffee and as a result of this advice it seems that the Gibbs family later made the decision to sell their estates to Freudenberg who grasped the opportunity to sell several of the estates called the Haputale group, to Sir Thomas Lipton, no doubt making a handsome profit. As we know now tea has survived as a hugely important crop in Ceylon todate for 150 years. The extract relates that James Blackett hosted Vicary at Pen-Y-Lan Doteloya over the Christmas period whilst he took Vicary to inspect his estates and understand the problems that faced all the owners of estates trying to survive with large overdrafts and try to recover their investments via tea.
Finally I would point out that should any persons be interested in obtaining a copy of the book, they may do so by contacting – Lulu.com or by emailing shirley@hinkly.net direct.
Comment on the photo below: Robert Wilson of Meddegodde purchased the leasehold of this bungalow in St. Andrew’s Drive in Nuwara Eliya which is in Ceylon where two great horse racing friends of his had their holiday bungalows for the Nuwara Eliya racing season. They were Tuppy Laing, my Godfather and Frank Fenwick. He had just returned from a period in England to see if his wife Alice could recover from cancer but whilst there at a farm in Wrington, Alice died and his eldest son was killed in WW1 in the last month of the war. I have his letters ro the War Office which show that he was almost a broken man. I have yet to find a report of the accident at the farm but it is my belief that his state of mind at this time may have contributed to his mind being elswhere drownws in grief which I believe contributed to him cutting off his right arm in the farm circular saw. He purchased the bungalow below from a Mr. Charles William Lund in 1923 and Mr. Lund had purchased the land from Sir Robert Chalmers, the then Governor of the island. The present owner has very kindly supplied me with a copy of the deeds to the bungalow. As it is directly opposite St. Andrew’s Hotel he has leased it to St. Andrew’s. Hiran Cooray of Jetwing whom I know has just completed a superb renovation of the bungalow retaining some of the internal character of the bungalow as a very superior annex to St. Andrews where tourists can book in to stay. I am hoping to visit the isalnd in 2019 and may take up Hiran’s invitation to stay at it. We as a family used to stay there when I was very young and my Grandfather who was a great horseman kept an arab racehorse called Bibijan there for me to learn to ride from the age of four. He believed one should start riding as early as possible. Robert sold the leasehold of the bungalow in 1946 to Doctor Charles Walter Solomon Fernando of Colombo.
