On 10 October 1959 Chas was admitted into the Welsh Mission Hospital in Shillong, suffering from TB peritonitis and uraemia. At 6pm on 20 October he died. Following his “English” marriage in 1937, Chas had written a will on 21 July 1955 to make future provision for his family. It was very comprehensive and covered all eventualities at his death. As the eldest son, Bobby was appointed as one of the executors. To Nelsie he left all his gold and silver ornaments, which would be divided equally among his children if Nelsie was to pre-decease him. He allowed the executors to get a valuation of the ornaments, furniture and personal effects if this would help with the distribution. If any of the children were to pre-decease Chas, any of the...

                                                                               Charles Ramage Blake Between 1915 and 1917, Chas and Nelsie   lived on site and cleared the land, to enable tea to be cultivated at Jutlibari, whether this was for the planting of imported tea or the management of Indian variety I can only assume the latter. On 22 February 1915 there first child, Robert Haig Blake (“Bobby”), was born. Even with the journal of George Barker, it is difficult to imagine the conditions and, while Nelsie had already experienced childbirth before, she had a daughter Melida from her first husband, it must still have been a trying and frightening time.   George writes,   Land most suited for plantations are usually uninhabited hill tr...

  William Benson arrived in India either late in 1895 or early 1896 as UK Outward Passenger Lists have him listed on the SS Borneo, leaving London on 15 August 1895. [1] He then turns up in records of the Freemasons, which give his age as 24. [2] William had left behind his brother James Speid, working as a solicitor and in the Volunteer Battalion Gordon Highlanders. His other brother John Speid was travelling back and forth to the UK, undertaking various occupations in the USA and South Africa.   Charles Ramage Blake (or “Chas” as he signed himself) was older than William, and yet based on the evidence he was also in India at the age of 24. By 1909 Chas had already lost a younger brother William (age 1), both his surviving brothers Adam and David would soon move to Australia with their families, while his sister Elizabeth was recently married.   At the time both William and Chas would have travelled to India by ship, a journey which had been made quicker and less ...