L. Golender, Ship, 1994
This site has been moved to http://www.gol27.com/HistoryTeaEngland.html
pidgin English for the Chinese ch'a.
King Charles II
had married, while in exile, the Portuguese Infanta Catherine de
Braganza (1662). Charles himself had grown up in the Dutch capital. As a result,
both he and his Portuguese bride were confirmed tea drinkers. When the monarchy
was re-established, the two rulers brought this foreign tea tradition to England
with them.
Catherine of Braganza
The John Company
On December 31, 1600 Elizabeth I had founded the John company for the
purpose of promoting Asian trade. When Catherine de Braganza married Charles she
brought as part of her dowry the territories of Tangier and Bombay. Suddenly,
the John Company had a base of operations.
The John Company was granted the unbelievably wide monopoly of all trade east of
the Cape of Good Hope and west of Cape Horn with the formal restriction that it might not contest the prior trading rights
of "any Christian prince." The company was managed by a governor and 24
directors chosen from its stockholders. And its power was based on the importation of tea.
In 1601, the first voyage of the East India Company set out under Captain James Lancaster
and the ships the Dragon, the Hector, the Susan, and the Ascension.
The fleet arrived in Aceh, in Sumatra, in 1602. Since the Dutch had already formed exclusive trading alliances,
Lancaster resorted to piracy to bring back pepper, trading South India cottons and textiles in Java and Sumatra.
The lack of success in the first EIC company expedition indicates that more funds were sorely needed to contest the Dutch dominance,
and the East India Company would remain unsuccessful for the next twenty years because of the Dutch.
In next voyages the company penetrated as far as Japan, and in 1610 and 1611 its first factories, or trading
posts, were established in India in the provinces of Madras and Bombay. Under a
perpetual charter granted in 1609 by King James I, the company
began to compete with the Dutch trading monopoly in the Malay Archipelago, but
after the massacre of Amboina the company conceded to the Dutch the area that
became known as the Netherlands East Indies. Its armed merchantmen, however,
continued sea warfare with Dutch, French, and Portuguese competitors.
England's first visit to China was made by John Weddell in 1637: like almost all of the EIC attempts, it was relatively unsuccessful. The Manchu Emperor opened his ports to foreign trade in 1685. The first trade base was Amoy, but later Guangzhou (Canton) became the center of commerce, especially the acquisition of tea. Although silk and chinaware factories were located many miles from Canton, it was the only place where foreign contact was permitted. Foreign merchants were allowed to establish factories along the Canton waterfronts. The main imports from China were tea, silk, and, initially, porcelain.
In 1650 and 1655 the company absorbed rival companies that had been incorporated under the Commonwealth and
Protectorate by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. In 1657 Cromwell ordered it
reorganized as the sole joint-stock company with rights
to the Indian trade. During the reign of Charles II the
company acquired sovereign rights in addition to its trading privileges. In
1689, with the establishment of administrative districts called presidencies in
the Indian provinces of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the company began its long
rule in India. It was continually harassed by traders who were not members of
the company and were not licensed by the Crown to trade. In 1698, under a
parliamentary ruling in favor of free trade, these private newcomers were able
to set up a new company, called the New Company or English Company. The John
India Company, however, bought control of this new company, and in 1702 an act
of Parliament amalgamated the two as "The United Company of Merchants of England
Trading to the East Indies." The charter was renewed several times in the 18th
century, each time with financial concessions to the Crown. Their
re-drafted charts gave the new East India Company a complete and total trade
monopoly on all commerce in China and India. As a result, the price of tea was
kept artificially high, leading to later global difficulties for the British crown.
This company was organized into a court of 24 directors who worked through committees.
The shareholders, dubbed the Court of Proprietors, annually elected these directors.
When the company acquired control of Bengal in 1757, Indian policy was until 1773 influenced by shareholders' meetings,
where votes could be bought by the purchase of shares.
This led to government intervention. The Regulating Act of 1773 and Pitt's India Act of 1784 established government control
of political policy through a regulatory board responsible to Parliament. Thereafter,
the company gradually lost both commercial and political control,
and its commercial monopoly was broken in 1813. From 1834 it was merely a managing agency for the British government of India.
After the Indian Mutiny in 1857 it ceased to exist all together in 1873.
The victories of Robert Clive, a company official, over the French at Arcot in 1751 and at Plassey in 1757 made the company the dominant power in India. All formidable European rivalry vanished with the defeat of the French at Pondicherry in 1761.he Company saw the rise of its fortunes, and its transformation from a trading venture to a ruling enterprise, when one of its military officials, Robert Clive, defeated the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah , at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. A few years later the Company acquired the right to collect revenues on behalf of the Mughal Emperor, but the initial years of its administration were calamitous for the people of Bengal. The Company's servants were largely a rapacious and self-aggrandizing lot, and the plunder of Bengal left the formerly rich province in a state of utter destitution. The famine of 1769-70, which the Company's policies did nothing to alleviate, may have taken the lives of as many as a third of the population. The Company, despite the increase in trade and the revenues coming in from other sources, found itself burdened with massive military expenditures, and its destruction seemed imminent. State intervention put the ailing Company back on its feet, and Lord North's India Bill, also known as the Regulating Act of 1773, provided for greater parliamentary control over the affairs of the Company, besides placing India under the rule of a Governor-General. In 1784 the India Act created a department of the British government to exercise political, military, and financial control over the Indian affairs of the company, and during the next half century British control was extended over most of the subcontinent.
In 1813 the company's monopoly of the Indian trade was abolished, and in 1833 it lost its China trade monopoly. Its annual dividends of 10.5 percent were made a fixed charge on Indian revenues. The company continued its administrative functions until the Sepoy Rebellion (1857-1859). In 1858, by the Act for the Better Government of India, the Crown assumed all governmental responsibilities held by the company, and its 24,000-man military force was incorporated into the British army. The company was dissolved on January 1, 1874, when the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act came into effect.
East India Company ShipsThe British Library : Trading PlacesEast India Company and Asia
East India House, Leadenhall Street, London
Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting.
She experienced a "sinking feeling" in the late
afternoon. Adopting the European tea service format, she invited friends to join
her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at
Belvoir
Castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches,
assorted sweets, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular,
the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her
friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." (London at
that time still contained large open meadows within the city.) The practice of
inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other
social hostesses.
Belvoir Castle : official site A common pattern of service soon merged. The first pot of tea was made in the kitchen and carried to the lady of the house who waited with her invited guests, surrounded by fine porcelain from China. The first pot was warmed by the hostess from a second pot (usually silver) that was kept heated over a small flame. Food and tea was then passed among the guests, the main purpose of the visiting being conversation.
The social critic
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal,
the Marquise de Sevigne (1626-1696) makes the first mention in 1680 of adding milk to tea.
Sugar from the plantations in Jamaica might also be added.
About this time, as it was said, the Earl of Sandwich,
who couldn't seem to tear himself away from the gambling tables long enough for lunch,
had his valet bring him meats and other sustenance between two slices of bread so
that he could eat and continue the games at the same time and thus the "sandwich" was born.
The legend talks about
John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich,
then it is only a legend. According to his biographer N.A.M. Roger, the Earl was so busy with his work in the government,
so he hadn't have time even to eat. That caused him to invent the snack.
We have diaries of secretary of Edward Montague,
First Earl of Sandwich,
Samuel Pepys, describing this era.
Mulled wine (Gluhwein) was a favorite in Victorian England,
and
Negus - a type of mulled wine -
was even served to children at their birthday parties. So, when the tea came along, it was added to the drink.
Thus the Chrismas tea was born.
Coffee Housesa predecessor of the present London Gazette),
dated September 30, 1658, occurs this advertisement: "That excellent and by all pysitians approved
China drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Head,
a Cophee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London." In 1660, Garway
issued a broadsheet selling tea for sale, extolling it (at £6 and £10 per
pound) as "wholesome, preserving perfect health until extreme old age, good
for clearing the sight," able to cure "gripping of the guts, cold, dropsies,
scurveys" and claiming that "it could make the body active and lusty."
Thomas Twining, who took over "Tom's Coffee House"
and renamed it "The Golden Lion", sold tea in his fashionable Coffee House
and from his house next door in the very early 1700s, but it was not until
1826 that John Horniman set up a small business where he packaged tea and
sold it with a guaranteed net weight - thus tea replaced ale and gin to
become the favourite beverage of the era. Coffee houses were hubs of
business and trade news. As coffee houses were places of sobriety and
moderation, they were known as locales for discussions about literature,
politics and art. One would go to a coffee house to read newspapers, hear
the latest trade news, and to see friends. Most coffee houses had a distinct
character and clientele, and every profession, trade and class had its
coffee house of choice.
newspaper
, and engage in conversation with the sharpest wits of the day.
The first regular daily paper was
'Lloyd's List', so-called because it appeared in Mr Lloyd's coffee house in 1734.
It is still being published, now online. The others weren't regular, or
weren't daily, and 'Lloyd's List' is the oldest daily newspaper in the
world. The various houses specialized in selected areas of interest, some
serving attorneys, some authors, others the military. They were the
forerunner of the English gentlemen's private club. One such beverage house
was owned by Edward Lloyd and was favored by shipowners, merchants and
marine insurers. That simple shop was the origin of Lloyd's, the worldwide
insurance firm. Coffee houses were so active in political discussion and free speech
that the government felt threatened by them and made an attempt to abolish them.
On December 29, 1675, Charles II issued a proclamation ordering that all coffee houses close permanently
by January 10, 1676, as they were the "...resort of idle and disaffected persons".
The outcry against this was so great he was forced to reverse his decision on January 8,
and the coffee houses remained open.
Later in the 18th century coffee houses declined as regular 'gentlemen's clubs' arose, offering better facilities but tea and coffee continued to be drunk.
Experiencing the Dutch "tavern garden teas", the English developed the idea
of Tea Gardens. Here ladies and gentlemen took their tea out of doors surrounded
by entertainment such as orchestras, hidden arbors, flowered walks, bowling
greens, concerts, gambling, or fireworks at night. It was at just such a Tea
Garden that Lord Nelson, who defeated Napoleon by sea, met the great love of his
life, Emma, later Lady Hamilton. Women were permitted to enter a mixed, public
gathering for the first time without social criticism. At the gardens were
public, British society mixed here freely for the first time, cutting across
lines of class and birth. so from the tea gardens came the idea of the tea dance,
which remained fashionable in Britain until World War II when they disappeared
from the social scene. Famous English composer
James Hook's songs were regularly performed
at the main London pleasure gardens: Marylebone, Covent, Vauxhall, Ranelagh.
Vauxhall Garden
Vauxhall Society
Tipping as a response to proper service developed in the Tea Gardens of England. Small, locked wooden boxes were placed on the tables throughout the Garden. Inscribed on each were the letters "T.I.P.S." which stood for the sentence "To Insure Prompt Service". If a guest wished the waiter to hurry (and so insure the tea arrived hot from the often distant kitchen) he dropped a coin into the box on being seated "to insure prompt service". Hence, the custom of tipping servers was created.
In 1864 the manageress of the London Bridge branch of an Aerated Bread Company persuaded her directors to allow her to serve food and liquid refreshments in the shop. She dispensed tea to her more favored customers and soon attracted many clients clamoring for the same service. Not only did she unwittingly start the fashion for tea shops but also one foundation of women's emancipation, since an unchaperoned lady could meet friends in a tea shop without sullying her reputation. Tea shops spread throughout Britain, becoming as much a tradition as tea itself: and even today, despite the plethora of fast food and drink outlets, this tradition remains, attracting huge numbers of UK and foreign tourists.
In 1955Allied Bakeries,
the consolidated company of Garfield Weston's holdings in Britain and the predecessor to
Associated British Foods,
made its first significant diversification beyond food processing and retailing.
It purchased the Aerated Bread Company which, despite its name, was best known
for its chain of 164 low-budget self-service tea rooms.
Weston was now the owner of the second largest low-end restaurant chain in England,
which was intended to serve as a market for Weston bread and confectionery.
ABF has bought other tea companies, as
Twininigs and
Jacksons of Piccadilly.
So dominant was the tea culture within the English speaking cultures that many of these words came to hold a permanent place in English language.
By the late eighteenth century, opium had been used in much of Asia for several centuries. The drug had been taken as a medicine in China since Arab traders brought it from the Middle East in the seventh or eighth century A.D. Spaniards introduced the habit of smoking tobacco to the Philippines, and it spread from there to China about 1620. The Dutch in Formosa smoked a mixture of opium and tobacco to combat the effects of malaria, and a small number of Chinese acquired this habit as Well. Gradually, some of those who smoked omitted the tobacco from this narcotic blend and changed to opium, most of which was imported from India by Portuguese traders. The reasons for opium smoking varied considerably: for the rich it was primarily a luxury, a social grace, while the poor sought in it a temporary escape from their condition.
Chinese emperors tried to maintain the forced distance between the Chinese people and the "devils". In 1685 the Manchu Emperor opened all his ports to foreign trade, but later closed them, permitting the 'foreign devils' merely to trade at Canton. Here the European merchants established their houses or factories, and under the intolerable 'Eight Regulations' were allowed to do business through the medium of the Co-Hong or group of Chinese merchants. The authorities wished to subject foreign merchants to every indignity, but not to discourage them altogether, as enormous benefit was derived from the vast customs duties that were levied. Although the East India Company yearly grew more powerful, the Chinese always considered its members as mere barbarians who naturally wished to bring tribute to the Celestial Empire.
In 1839 the
Ching government, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium
campaigns, adopted drastic prohibitory laws against the opium trade. The emperor
dispatched a commissioner, Lin Zexu (1785-1850), to Guangzhou to suppress illicit opium traffic. Lin seized illegal
stocks of opium owned by Chinese dealers and then detained the entire foreign
community and confiscated and destroyed some 20,000 chests of illicit British
opium. The British retaliated with a punitive expedition, thus initiating the
first Anglo-Chinese war, better known as
the Opium War (1839-42). Unprepared for
war and grossly underestimating the capabilities of the enemy, the Chinese were
disastrously defeated, and their image of their own imperial power was tarnished
beyond repair. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842), signed on board a British warship
by two
Manchu imperial commissioners and the British plenipotentiary, was the
first of a series of agreements with the Western trading nations later called by
the Chinese the "unequal treaties." Under the Treaty of Nanjing, China ceded the
island of Hong Kong (or Xianggang in pinyin) to the British;
abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade; opened 5 ports to British
residence and foreign trade; limited the tariff on trade to 5 percent ad
valorem; granted British nationals extraterritoriality (exemption from Chinese
laws); and paid a large indemnity. The ports of Canton, Amoy,
Foochow(Fuzhou), Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to free trade,
with Consuls at each, where the merchants could buy and sell without the offices of the Co-Hong.
In addition, Britain was to have most-favored-nation treatment, that is, it would receive whatever trading
concessions the Chinese granted other powers then or later. The Treaty of
Nanjing set the scope and character of an unequal relationship for the ensuing
century of what the Chinese would call "national humiliations." The treaty was
followed by other incursions, wars, and treaties that granted new concessions
and added new privileges for the foreigners.
The British and French again defeated China in a
second opium war in 1856. By
the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin (1858) the Chinese opened new ports to
trading and allowed foreigners with passports to travel in the interior.
Christians gained the right to spread their faith and hold property, thus
opening up another means of western penetration. The United States and Russia
gained the same privileges in separate treaties.
The war disorder forced the British East India Company to develop tea plantations in India from natural tea bushes that had been discovered in Assam.
The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia
Ceylon, which by the end of
the century, would become the principal supplier of tea for the British Empire.
As tea became affordable, British teapots became larger.
India
It has been suggested that tea gained popularity in England because of economical reasons. Both tea and coffee were increasing in popularity during the beginning of the eighteenth century, but coffee became more difficult to import as demand for these two commodities grew. Coffee supply and prices were unstable, and rising demand pushed prices higher. Tea supply and prices stabilized earlier than coffee, so merchants preferred to deal in this commodity, and consequently advertised it more vigorously. In 1720, English Parliament prohibited the import of finished Asian textiles, with the goal of encouraging local textile manufacture. Until this time tea had been viewed as a secondary commodity, but now it was regarded with increasing interest, and it replaced silk as the primary Chinese export.
Even smuggled tea was expensive, however, and therefore extremely profitable, so many smugglers began to adulterate the tea with other substances, such as willow, licorice, and sloe leaves. Used tea leaves were also redried and added to fresh leaves. Finally, in 1784 William Pitt the Younger introduced the Commutation Act, which dropped the tax on tea from 119% to 12.5%, effectively ending smuggling. Adulteration remained a problem, though, until the Food and Drug Act of 1875 brought in stiff penalties for the practice.
Bramah's Museum of Tea and Coffee, London
Manas : India and its neighbors
London Gazette
Samuel Pepys diary with annotations
Samuel Pepys diary, Unabridged
Victorian Social History
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