Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve, more often referred to as C.R.T. Congreve, was among the earliest English tea planters in the Anamalai Hills of southern India.
Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve (17 September 1876 – 3 June 1952), more often referred to as C.R.T. Congreve, was among the earliest English tea planters in the Anamalai hills of southern India.
Life and work
Congreve was born in Stafford, Staffordshire, the son of Fanny Emma Townshend and William Congreve, and was educated at Charterhouse school, Godalming in 1891. He went out to India in 1896 and was trained briefly under E.G. Windle, a prominent planter from The Nilgiris. Later he joined G. A. Carver Marsh who was one of the early explorers of Anaimalai Hills in Southern Western Ghats and instrumental in opening up this region for tea and coffee plantation. Congreve moved to the Anamallais in March 1897 to help Carver Marsh in establishing tea plantations.
Congreve married Esme Maud Rowsell on 28 February 1911. They had three sons and lived in Blair Atholl, Coonoor. After a divorce he married Margaret 'Ann' Louis Wilson Somerville on 20 May 1933. They had a daughter named Julia in 1934.
Congreve was an honorary secretary of Anamalai Planters Association from 1907 to 1909. He was a member of the Madras Legislative Council during 1922-25 and 1926–29. He was chairman during 1920-21 and 1930-32 of The United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) and served as its president in 1937–38.
