Chapter 6: Charles

                                                                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 tracts or densely wooded areas.[1]

And adds,

In the early years of jungle clearance and planting the first generation planters had to undergo many hardships living in primitive mud huts and fighting with wild animals and diseases.[2]

 My Grandmother Elizabeth (“Betty”) said that the tea garden was completed in 1917, and I know she was born on 14 December that year. Her notes explain that in preparing the land for growing tea, the trees had to be cut down, and the clay soil drained; tea does not like to grow in a lot of water as it causes its roots to rot. It seems that Chas was successful in getting the garden to yield good tea. Unfortunately, we do not know how long this took and what setbacks he may have encountered. It obviously would have been in his best interests to make sure the garden was successful, particularly as his family grew larger.

Both Betty and my aunt (“Virginia Khayat”) said that the workers were well looked after. My Grandmother said that over time Chas was able to expand the garden and improve facilities, and I recall that the way she said this was with a degree of pride of her father looking after the workers. She said that good houses were built for the workforce initially – mud walls with thatched roofs and gradually they were made more durable with thick walls and galvanised iron roofs. At first wells were “built” for the employees but as things got better Dad had wells drilled – and pipes were laid from the factory to the “Lines”.[3] The workforce were treated well, there was a hospital on site with an Indian in charge, with basic medical knowledge, and a European doctor who visited once a week; the latter could also be reached by telephone in emergencies.

 At the time of the interviews, and when I initially starting writing, I did not think too deeply about what I was told. I had read Sir Percival Griffiths’, The History of the Indian Tea Industry, and absorbed the official view of the European planters’ attitude towards the workers being one of “benevolent paternalism”.[4] However, returning to this in 2025 and reflecting on events after the Black Lives Matter movement, also the emphasis on de-colonialism and focus on the lived experience of everyday people, it is difficult to see what I have been told for other than the obvious, that a worker who lives in poor conditions will be likely to get ill and be unable to work. I recall my aunt, who believed my Masters’ dissertation would be published, telling me something, but then asking me not to write it down with the implication that it would create a negative impression of them. Several authors have highlighted that it was in the best interests of the tea planter manager to improve conditions for everyone.

My Grandmother’s notes continued by explaining that the labour force was brought from other provinces outside Assam, mainly from Bihar and with the reasons for this being, as several authors have explained, due to timing.[5] It had always been difficult to find sufficient local labour but after the “tea mania” of the 1860s, there had been a  rapid growth in plantations, leading to a further need for workers, the importation of which became a rationalised and organised system of indenture. I do not propose to go into the details, though I may return to it in the future as a separate piece of work. However, I want to acknowledge the fact that workers on the tea gardens of my ancestors were part of a colonial system which could be seen as a form of slavery.[6]

My Grandmother’s notes said that the Assamese were used in the factory and offices of the garden, as clerks. They dealt with the accounts and paid the labour weekly according to the work they did, e.g. during pruning and plucking periods. Overseers were appointed among the labour according to experience and seniority. There were no Khasis, Jaintias or Lushais employed – a few were employed as Ayahs in the European homes to look after the young children till they were shipped “home” to be educated! Chas also sent his children away for school, but only as far as Kalimpong (of which more later).

Several authors commented on the fact that tea planters preferred to employ women, partly because the plucking of tea was not a mechanised or physical job, also that they were more committed and would, when they migrated, bring their whole family with them.[7] It was also easy to get workers to stay on the estate as if the planter put a husband and wife with different termination dates. This would result in both renewing so they could stay on the garden with their spouse, so putting them  in the vicious circle of indenture.[8]

I want to turn now to day-to-day life as a tea planter. George Barker wrote that,

A man engaged in tea-planting has his time fully occupied from the first January to the thirty-first of December, and there is not much opportunity for sport.[9]

There is no doubt that the work and life were hard and dangerous for the planter though, as my reading has highlighted, so was that of their workers.[10] My Grandmother’s notes say that Nelsie had a close call one day, while out picking fruit when she mistook a sleeping python for a log and the Blake letters make several references to Chas having been injured or attacked. In 1934 he describes a bit of a scrap in a letter to Mr Purdie [11] and the following year Bobby writes to Dr Graham that his father has suffered a fractured right leg and hand. Although unclear, I suspect the incidents are the same as the recovery time for these injuries would be lengthy.[12] My Grandmother’s notes, although slightly inaccurate about the year, clearly make reference to the incident to which Bobby refers. She said that her father was doing the rounds one day and saw two men stealing firewood. When he told them to stop, they beat him with a stick and tied him up. Word reached the tea factory where the workers took a truck, with the intention of killing the thieves. Chas had also received a gash on the face. Apparently the doctor told Chas that the only thing that saved him was “alcoholic barrage”. Bobby later tells Dr Graham that the incident has also brought on his father’s heart trouble.[13] The thieves were unfortunately (for Chas) never found, which is lucky for them as the punishment could have been harsh. My Grandmother said that in about 1918 Chas was an official witness of the hanging of a Naga man who had “run-a-muck” with a machete type knife.

When he was not recovering from injuries, Chas clearly did have time for social activities, which would have been an important part of life in India. Contact with other tea planters would have provided news about what was happening elsewhere in India and back in the UK. Of attending church, Dr Graham writes,

This service is helpful to all. It keeps fellow-countrymen in touch with each other on the points of greatest importance, and this is specially needed in a heathen land.[14]

In Assam the major area for socialising and networking was the local planters’ club. Betty said that sports’ meetings were held at weekends and there were also regular fêtes with prizes. We know that Chas was a keen polo player with his own racehorse called “Airpet”. Betty said that for the annual winter polo race meet at the Tingri Club, her father rented a room in an hotel in Dibrugarh, and the whole family went for the week. I wish I could ask her whether this included her mother as Betty said that Nelsie did not go to the local planters’ club, because she would not have been accepted. Betty said that the British were “friendly” with the Indians and there were a few Indian members of the club, but they were not “top class.”

 

Above with Airpet and below the silver tray with signatures of members of the Tingri Club, given to Chas on retirement in 1940.

Chas had also been initiated into the Freemasons. I received a letter in January 2000, in response to my enquiry, saying that he had joined the Shillong Lodge on 25 April 1940,[15] and the writer presumed that he had previously been somewhere else. There are two photos of Chas with other Freemasons, but whether they are with the same lodge is unclear. To date, I have not found any record of Chas at other Lodges, but I hope to look into this further in the future.

 

Photos of Chas with Freemasons top and his regalia below.

Chas was also a member of the Assam Valley Light Horse [16] which was formed as a volunteer corps and auxiliary regiment based in Assam. It would mainly have been made up of tea planters in the region and therefore it would have been an obvious institution for Chas to join. Without further research I do not know what the criteria were for being accepted and it would be interesting to know whether any local planters were not in regiment.

                                                   Memorial showing the dates Chas was in the Assam Valley Light Horse

Over time Chas worked to open up another garden, called Bijilbari, and once it was established he used to the visit the Assamese manager weekly with whom he was on good terms; the children often went with Chas to see the garden’s elephants.

 

                                 My brother and I by the sign for Bijlibari, in 2017. (We did not have time to go in).

In 1940 Chas retired from tea planting. He realised from attitudes to Nelsie in India, that she would never be accepted back in Britain, and he would also find it difficult to fit back into British life. Chas therefore took the decision, like many other retiring British planters and civil servants, to retire in India and, he followed a large majority who chose to settle in Shillong. The decision to choose Shillong may also have been related to the fact that Nelsie’s family originated from the area though we don’t know if she was born there. In addition to the silver plate, when he retired Chas also received a “testimonial” from the workers at Jutlibari and Bijilbari.

 

                                                            Testimonial from the workers

In her book, Helen Giri, describes Shillong as “the Scotland of the East”,[17] and many writers had praised its climate and amenities. When we visited, we were able to see the beauty of Shillong for ourselves. Returning to this writing in 2025 I should add that Shillong has gone from a small, relatively unknown post-colonial hill station to a top tourist destination holding music, film and cultural festivals.

Playne wrote,

Here is a progressive town noted for its salubrity of climate, for its unique position between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Surma Rivers. 

As the temperature rarely exceeds 80 Fahr. in the hottest months of the year, it is not surprising that the well-to-do classes of Calcutta have learned to appreciate the immense advantages of a hill station such as Shillong. But Shillong goes farther than this, as visitors have full opportunities for riding, driving and motoring along the pleasantest roads, and for the enjoyment of healthy exercise with sport in polo, cricket, tennis and other games.[18]

It may very well have been the nearest which Chas was going to come to his native Scotland, without actually going back, but with ex planters nearby and the ability to still play his polo, it did not seem like a bad place to retire. Before Chas could relax however, there was the small matter of building his retirement home. Once again Chas set to work clearing land on which to build a bungalow, which he went on to name Nelsie Dene (meaning Nelsie’s valley).

                                           Redacted (by me) photos of Nelsie Dene 1, taken by Malcolm Blake in 2014

                                                     Plaque on Nelsie Dene 1, photographed by Malcolm Blake in 2014

My notes say, and the evidence above confirms, that Chas sold his first bungalow when he went to Australia. It has not been possible to find out how long Chas was in Australia. Fremantle passenger lists show him arriving with Nelsie on 09 April 1953 with an onward destination of Melbourne, having travelled on SS Oronsay via Colombo.[19] It is likely that they had gone to attend the wedding of son Peter Wilson Blake to Joan Liston Williams, which took place on 02 May 1953. It can only be assumed that Chas and Nelsie spent a few years in Australia, which would explain why they sold their first bungalow. There is a view in the family that Chas and Nelsie had intended to stay in Australia, but that here too they encountered racist attitudes to Nelsie which led them to return to Shillong, where Chas built a smaller bungalow Nelsie Dene 2, where he lived out the remainder of his retirement.

                                            Photos showing the building of Nelsie Dene 2

I had previously carried out internet searches to try to find out about Nelsie Dene today. As of 2026 the results I found previously are no longer retrieved. These had listed the address on the website of 16NDA/ 25 IMA Course Association, for those who have served in the Army, and is the address of a Central Zone member, Colonel S C A K Sharma. What was interesting, though unsurprising is that Nelsie Dene now had a proper address. Rather than just Upper Shillong, back in the days when the area was less developed, it is now at 3 1/2 mile Shillong 793005. One result which was retrieved in 2026 is listed on documents of non-submission of mandatory Annual Returns (FC-6) by associations registered under the FCRA 2010. [20]

 

                                                    Although in the public domain, I have redacted the other entries.

The other appears on a letter from NERDA to the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration. [21] Again, this is in the public domain, but I have applied redactions.

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[1] George, A.J. (2002). Human resource management practices in the tea industry: a Gandhian critique. [DPhil thesis, Mahatma Gandhi University]. Available at: http://www.mgutheses.in/page/about_book.php?q=T%201544&search=&page=&rad= (Accessed 8 December 2025), p172.

[2] Ibid, p180.

[3] Short for “coolie lines”, the area on the tea estate where the workers lived

[4] Griffiths, P. (1967). The History of the Indian Tea Industry, p376.

[5] Bhadra, M. (2004). ‘Gender Dimensions of Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal’, Indian Anthropologist, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 43-68. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41919965  (Accessed 15 January 2026); George, A.J. (2002). Human resource management practices in the tea industry: a Gandhian critique. [DPhil thesis, Mahatma Gandhi University]. Available at: http://www.mgutheses.in/page/about_book.php?q=T%201544&search=&page=&rad= (Accessed 8 December 2025); Purkayastha, N. and Kalita, P. ‘Tea garden labourer and their living condition: a study in Borsillah Tea Estate of Sivsagar District of Assam’, International Journal of Advanced Research, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp.163-169. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/1772 (Accessed 8 December 2025).

[6] Behal, R.P. (2010). Coolie Drivers Or Benevolent Paternalists? British Tea Planters in Assam and the Indenture Labour System’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 29-51. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27764645 (Accessed 15 January 2026).

[7] Bhadra, M. (2004). ‘Gender Dimensions of Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal’, Indian Anthropologist, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 43-68. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41919965  (Accessed 15 January 2026); George, A.J. (2002). Human resource management practices in the tea industry: a Gandhian critique. [DPhil thesis, Mahatma Gandhi University]. Available at: http://www.mgutheses.in/page/about_book.php?q=T%201544&search=&page=&rad= (Accessed 8 December 2025).

[8] Behal, R.P. (2010). Coolie Drivers Or Benevolent Paternalists? British Tea Planters in Assam and the Indenture Labour System’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27764645 (Accessed 15 January 2026), p40.

[9] Barker, G.M. (1884). A tea planter’s life in Assam. Thacker, Spink & Co. Available at: https://archive.org/details/teaplanterslifei00bark (Accessed: 8 December 2025), p90.

[10] Behal, R.P. (2010). Coolie Drivers Or Benevolent Paternalists? British Tea Planters in Assam and the Indenture Labour System’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27764645 (Accessed 15 January 2026), p33.

[11] Letter from Charles Ramage Blake to Mr Purdie, 07 June 1934.

[12] Letter from Robert Haig Blake to Dr Graham, 21 May 1935.

[13] Letter from Robert Haig Blake to Dr Graham, 29 May 1935.

[14] Graham, J.A. On the Threshold of Three Closed Lands. The Guild Outpost in the Eastern Himalayas. 2nd ed. Available at: https://missiology.org.uk/pdf/e-books/graham_j-a/three-closed-lands_graham.pdf (Accessed 9 December 2025), p73.

[15] Further information about the Lodge can be found at: https://grandlodgeofindia.in/roll-of-craft-lodges-2/ and https://www.dhi.ac.uk/lane/record.php?ID=5676 (Both Accessed 15 January 2026).

[16] Some introductory information can be found at: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2013-10-20-83-90 and there is an article at: https://www.koi-hai.com/Default.aspx?id=485075 (Both accessed 15 January 2026).

[17] Giri, H. (1998). The Khasis under British Rule [1824-1947], p2.

[18] Playne, S., Bond, J. W., and Wright, A. (1917). Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa: their history, people, commerce and industrial resources: The Foreign and Colonial Compiling and Publishing Company. Available at: https://archive.org/details/bengalassambehar00playuoft/mode/2up (Accessed 15 January 2026), p373-374.

[19] Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963.

[20] https://www.yumpu.com/it/document/read/27945599/fcranotice-300914-0/211 (Accessed 14 January 2026).

[21] https://sambhota.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/STSS2001-J.pdf (Accessed 14 January 2026).