BennieSheppard1: new the place initial version

2026-01-15T23:18:14Z

new the place initial version

New page

{{use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Short description|English Planter from South India}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve
| image = CRT_Congreve_rect.jpg
| image_caption = Portrait photo from the Ootacamund club
| birth_date = {{birth date|1876|09|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = Stafford, Staffordshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1952|06|03|1876|09|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Ruthin Castle]], Denbighshire, Wales
| mother = Fanny Emma Townshend
| father = William Congreve
| relations = [[Walter Congreve]] (brother), [[Norman Rowsell]] (father-in-law)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* Esme Maud Rowsell
* Margaret Louis Wilson Somerville
}}
}}
'''Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve''' {{postnominals|CBE}} (17 September 1876 – 3 June 1952), more often referred to as '''C.R.T. Congreve''', was among the earliest English tea planters in the [[Anaimalai Hills|Anamalai Hills]] of southern India.

== Life and work ==
Congreve was born in Stafford, [[Staffordshire]], the son of William Congreve (1831-1902), of Congreve and [[Burton Manor|Burton]], D.L. for Staffordshire, and Fanny Emma Townshend, second daughter of Lee Porcher Townshend, of Wincham Hall, co. Chester. One of nine siblings, his eldest brother was Sir General [[Walter Congreve|Walter Norris Congreve]], V.C.

Congreve was educated at [[Charterhouse School]], [[Godalming]], 1891-93, and at the [[Royal Agricultural University|Royal Agricultural College]], Cirencester.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charterhouse |url=http://archive.org/details/charterhouseregi00charuoft |title=Charterhouse register, 1872-1900 |date=1904 |publisher=Godalming, Stedman |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> He went out to India in 1896 and was trained briefly under E.G. Windle,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Windle, E. G. (M) |url=https://dvpp.uvic.ca/prs_4005.html |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=dvpp.uvic.ca}}</ref> a prominent planter from [[Nilgiris district|The Nilgiris]].<ref name=":0">Langley, W. K. M (1952). C. R.T. Congreve, C.B.E. - An Appreciation. [https://archive.org/download/crt-congreve-003/CRT%20Congreve003.jpg The Planters' Chronicle, July 15, VolXLVII, No. 14].</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=C.R.T. Congreve |url=http://archive.org/details/the-anamallais-crt-congreve-1941 |title=The Anamallais |date=1941}}</ref> Later he joined G. A. Carver Marsh who was one of the early explorers of [[Anaimalai Hills]] in [[Western Ghats|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.<ref name=":1" />

Congreve married Esme Maud Rowsell on 28 February 1911.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-27 |title=The Congreve Family |url=https://rowsellfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/the-congreve-family/ |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=Rowsell Family History |language=en}}{{unreliable source inline|date=June 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unknown |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.233141 |title=The Planters Chronicle Vol-iii (1908) |date=1908}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Madras Legislative Council]] during 1922-25 and 1926–29.<ref>Unknown (1938) [https://forest.kerala.gov.in/images/notifications/northwayanad/oliot.pdf The Fort St. George Gazette. 4 January 1938. No. 1]. Madras.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=The Madras Legislative Council |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.7626 |title=The Madras Legislative Council (1927) |date=1927}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ukers |first=William H. (William Harrison) |url=http://archive.org/details/allabouttea00uker |title=All about tea |date=1935 |publisher=New York, The Tea and coffee trade journal Company |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Congreve was a member of the Ooty hunt club<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hunting on Horseback with Hounds |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/travel/2018/may/05/hunting-on-horseback--with-hounds-1809812.html |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=The New Indian Express|date=5 May 2018 }}</ref> and the Joint Master of the Ooty Hunt 1936 – 1938. He was appointed CBE in 1941.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Page 3294 {{!}} Supplement 35184, 6 June 1941 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35184/supplement/3294 |access-date=2022-05-21 |website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> He retired as a planter from Valparai in 1945. He wrote ''The Anamallais'', published in 1941 about his experiences in the Anamalai hills.

He died on 3 June 1952, in the Ruthin Castle Clinic, Denbighshire, Wales, when he was 75 years old.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/Anamalais Anamalais] (1938, reprint) [https://archive.org/details/the-anamallais-crt-congreve-1941 original print]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Congreve, Cecil Ralph Townshend}}
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:People from Staffordshire (before 1974)]]
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:Owners of plantations in British India]]
[[Category:Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire]]

Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve - Revision history

BennieSheppard1: new the place initial version