The Antrobus Pages

Edmund E Antrobus, the last proprietor of the Antrobus tea business on the Strand, was descended from the Congleton branches of the Antrobus family, in the ancient parish of Astbury. In the 17th century the Antrobus family were yeoman farmers in Od Rode of that Parish. Then there had been little to indicate that some-one from this northern family would become a major druggist and tea merchant. The important connection that led to the Antrobus family being involved in the tea trade in London was a family link that started with a marriage between the Antrobus family and a Huguenot family called Sanxay over a hundred years earlier. The Sanxay family resided in The Strand in London and also had a country home in Cheam, a parish then neighbouring London. Although there were members of more distant branches of the Antrobus family already resident in London at least from the beginning of the 16th Century, the Antrobus family of Od Rode near Congleton had few links to London before their connection to the Sanxay family. The nearest relation from Congleton that moved to London was a Thomas Antrobus who lived in Hackney. He was a grandson of Edmund Antrobus of Od-Rode and was a cordwainer (shoe maker) and as such may have had links with the London based Huguenot society. He died in 1713 having possibly established a connection between the two families, but this can only be speculated on. Therefore exactly how the two families became known to each other remains uncertain. A better possibility is they became known to each other through the cloth and silk trade. The great grandfather of Edmund E Antrobus was Philip Antrobus of Congleton, a dyer, and it is known that at the end of the 17th century Huguenots arrived in Macclesfield. These " ingenious strangers", as they were called, were encouraged to bring their weaving skills to Macclesfield by the town's leading citizens to help invigorate the silk industry, then still in its infancy in Cheshire. A small community of Huguenots settled in Macclesfield. On the 24th November 1711 the sister of Philip Antrobus married a Daniel Sanxay of Cheam. Daniel Sanxay had been brought to England by his father, Jacques Sanxay, when he was a child to escape the persecution of protestants by Catholic France. Although the Sanxay family themselves were not weavers and resided in London and Cheam, the Sanxay's probably had extensive Huguenot connections through the commerce and industry of London, and no doubt Philip Antrobus and others in the Antrobus family needed to travel to London as part of that industry.

The Sanxay Refugees

Something is known of the history behind the arrival of the Sanxay family in England as refugees in the 1685. The Sanxay family were well to do merchants who lived in Taillebourg, a small town in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. Jacques Sanxay parents are thought to have been the well to do merchant Josué Sanxay and Marie Vivier. There were also wider members of the family living nearby in Saintes. Pastor Jacques Sanxay went into the church having been educated initially at the Jesuit College in Bordeaux. He had shown such talent and learning in his studies that he had won a prize awarded for eloquence and the Jesuits there tried to persuade him to join their society, which resulted in his father withdrawing him from that college. He was sent to London to learn English and of the ways of business. When his father died two years later Jacques Sanxay returned to France showing little taste for business and entered the protestant college at Saumur, after which he entered into the orders and became Pastor of the church at St. Jean D' Angle. At the time when Jacques Sanxay and his family were forced to leave France, when the Revocation of the Edict Nantes in 1685 was issued, he was Pastor of Tonnay-Boutonne. The persecution of the Protestants had already been severe in the south west of France for the year leading up to the issue of the Revocation order or Edict. Jacques Sanxay had already been imprisoned at the La Rochelle prison for some six months before the Edict was actually issued. This ordered all protestant ministers to either withdraw from their protestant faith or leave France in fifteen days. Those that refused were threatened with imprisonment, or rather enslavement, on the Galleys. It was on these terms that Jacques Sanxay was released from his original imprisonment on the orders of the Duke of Bouffles with the condition that he would quit France in fifteen days. He had been imprisoned due to his earlier refusal to close up his church and desist from preaching. Thus he was released with fifteen days to dispose of all of his belongings and raise the funds to pay for his family's passage to England. Not that there was much left at his house to take as during his period of imprisonment dragoons had been quartered there and they had helped themselves to most of what was there to be taken. When the fifteen days was up he still had not found a ship that would take his family to England, and he was forced to take a ship, the 'La Montagne de Liévre' captained by a Robert Simon, bound for Rotterdam Holland. The ports at La Rochelle were being closely watched at the time and Jacques Sanxay had no choice but to take that ship with others in similar plight. As the ship was leaving port public officials boarded her to closely inspect the Sanxay's passport papers to ensure that 'all was in order'. Fortunately they made no trouble for the Sanxay's and on the 20th November 1685 the Sanxay's left their homeland on a ship embarked for Holland. However as fate would have it a storm of extra-ordinary force blew the ship off course and it was driven towards the port of Plymouth. And so Jacques Sanxay and his family found themselves on England's shores. They disembarked at Plymouth, refugees fleeing from persecution and with most of their worldly possessions lost.

The Sanxay family stayed for a period with a family called Jonkin in Cornwall, but in time Jacques Sanxay and his family eventually settled in Exeter where he was offered the post of pastor of an ancient Saxon church in called St. Olave's on Fore Street. This Church had been given over to the Huguenot refugees. During this period there was a sizeable Huguenot community resident in Exeter and Jacques was welcomed to minister to their needs. Here he also found many of the friends and colleagues he had known in France, friends of his father and of the Sanxay family. Shortly after his arrival in Exeter William, Prince of Orange, also landed in England close by and he passed through Exeter on his way to London to claim the crown. His arrival signalled the supremacy of Protestantism in Britain. Maybe, thanks to his refugee status and their shared faith, he met the price during his stay in Exeter. Jacques Sanxay lived out the rest of his life in Exeter and died suddenly in 1692. His daughter, Claudia, suspected poison by a French person acting as a spy. The Frenchman had drunk coffee with the pastor the day before his death. It was thought that the French government was suspicious of the large number of protestant pastors from France, suspecting that they were supplying the newly crowned William of Orange with details of France's coastal defences.

Daniel Sanxay, the elder son of Jacques Sanxay and who married Jane Antrobus, the sister of Philip Antrobus of Congleton in 1711, was born in France and would have been about seven years of age when he arrived in England. He and his younger brother went on to be educated at the New College, Oxford where he trained as a clergyman in the Church of England and received an MA in 1703. Daniel then moved to Cheam where he settled, he would become the head of the school at Cheam in the same year of his marriage. Daniel Sanxay and his family were not the only members of the Sanxay family who moved to the area in and around Cheam and London. His Niece, Charlotte, married Benjamin Bradley, the first partner of Robert Sanxay the druggist, Daniel's third son. Other relations also moved to the area and by the latter half of the 18th Century many of the Sanxay family had established themselves in business in London.

Philip Antrobus of Congleton, the dyer, probably had business connections with the Huguenot cloth and silk workers and through them met The Rev Daniel Sanxay of Cheam. However they met, Jane Antrobus and Daniel Sanxay were married in 1711. There were to be a further two marriages between the Antrobus and Sanxay families as two of their children would marry into the Antrobus family of Congleton and Od Rode, ensuring there would be a link that would last several generations. Many of the extended Antrobus family of Congleton would take advantage of this London connection and take the opportunity to move down to Cheam. This connection would open opportunities that would otherwise not have been so readily available, allowing several Antrobuses to break into trades in London where they could find greater opportunities for prospering.

Robert Sanxay - druggist to his majesty

The business that would eventually become known as Edmund Antrobus - Tea man to his majesty - was founded by a son of Daniel and Jane Sanxay called Robert Sanxay. Daniel and Jane Sanxay had seven children. Robert Sanxay, their third son, became a highly successful druggist such that he was granted a royal warrant to supply medicines to the royal household and became the druggist and also tea man to King George the second in 1760. He was born in 1716 and by 1754 had established a successful druggist business. He already would probably have sold some teas as this was considered a health beverage. Tea was well established in England by the middle of the eighteenth century, the first tea houses opened in London in the 1650s. Robert's place of business was on the Strand, just opposite Craven Street and the great Northumberland House, near the present Charing Cross Station, number 476 on the Strand.

How much of his business in the early days that dealt with tea is unknown, as this was but one of the many products sold as medicines, herbs and plants. Indeed it may have held a small, but very valuable place in his business. Tea in the middle of the eighteenth century would have been very expensive, being subject to a customs tax of up to 120% until 1784, then William Pitt the younger introduced the Commutation Act to combat the thriving tea smuggling industry. This resulted in the customs tax on tea being finally reduced to 12%. A further boost to Robert Sanxay's income was his business as a banker and Stockbroker to a number of his customers. All the sons of Daniel and Jane Sanxay seem to have become highly successful in their trades. Their second son, Edmund Sanxay, became a distinguished Surgeon and Daniel, the youngest a Lace man with a business sign of the Peacock on the corner of Northumberland Street and The Strand. Their eldest son, James would eventually take over the headship of Cheam School from his parents. Edmund, the surgeon, mentioned above, married his cousin, Maria Antrobus; she was the daughter of Edmund, brother of Philip Antrobus, the Dyer, who had married Anne Vardon. Daniel and Jane's daughter, Hannah Sanxay, married John Antrobus of Od Rode, the eldest son of Philip Antrobus, Dyer. She moved to Odd Rode in the ancient parish of Astbury in the county of Chester and remained there with her husband. It seems in their later years they moved from their farm, Kent Green farm in Od-rode, and moved to Congleton where John was known as John Antrobus, Gentleman. The old farm and surrounding lands and messuage's were leased to a Robert Hodgson. They had two sons, the elder; John Antrobus, moved to London to train in Robert Sanxay's druggist business and would eventually become Robert's partner in the business. Edmund, the younger son, was born in 1762 and was eleven years junior to his brother.

When their father, John Antrobus, died in 1776 Edmund was probably still living with father, his mother had already died in 1772. John Antrobus of Od-Rode left the Kent Green farm to his two sons. However it seems that Edmund joined his brother in London and they sold the Kent Green farm and surrounding properties in Od-Rode to Robert Hodgson for four thousand pounds. This farm had been the traditional home and family seat of the Congleton Antrobus since the beginning of the 1600s. However it seems that on their father's death they saw no future in their home parish, their future was now bound up with Robert Sanxay and his business. It would be John and Edmund who would carry on the druggist and tea business after Robert Sanxay's death. It seems to have been Robert Sanxay who provided much of the means by which many of the sons of the Congleton Antrobus' to come down to London and get started in business. They had the opportunity to serve a while in his business house and establish connections in London. Since Robert never married and had no children of his own, he was able to give his Antrobus nephews a good grounding in commerce. As they were growing up the Sanxay Druggist and Tea business seems to have gone under the name of Sanxay and Bradley from 1762 to 1772. His partner in the business, Benjamin Bradley, was married to Robert's cousin Charlotte Sanxay. In 1772, however, Benjamin Bradley gave up his partnership to set up his own druggist and tea Business. It was then that Robert brought his nephew, John Antrobus, into the business as a partner and the business became known as Sanxay and Antrobus until 1781.

Sanxay & Antrobus on the Strand, A Place of Opportunity

Other relations from the Antrobus family also received the benefit of Robert Sanxay's business skills. This included all four of the sons of Philip Antrobus, the dyer, and Mary Rowley of Congleton, this Philip being the second son of Philip Antrobus and Anne Vardon. Their four sons made visits to stay at the various households of their Sanxay relations as they grew up. It was to Robert Sanxay that Philip Antrobus the dyer commended his eldest son, also called Edmund, in 1765 or 66 to serve in his business house and gain training in business and commerce. Within a few years this Edmund went into bill brokering and within a short period was able to open his own brokering house. His younger brother, Philip followed a year or two later possibly to serve first under his uncle, Robert Sanxay, in his business house, before joining his brother in the bill brokering business. Confusingly two of the sons of Philip Antrobus of Congleton are called Edmund and John, the same names as the two sons of John and Hannah Antrobus. These two would go on to be partners in the Coutts bank - Thomas Coutts & Co. while their brother, Philip, would continue with the bill brokering business house. When Edmund left bill broking to go into partnership with the Coutts bank, Philip took on a new Partner who was also from Congleton, he was from one of the many Wood families of Congleton, and their stock broking house became Antrobus & Wood. Years later this firm would go on to became James Capel & Co, a name it retained for over a century and a half, becoming a well-known name in the city of London and across the investment world. The firm was bought up to become the investment banking arm of the HSBC bank in the 1980s. Today this part of HSBC is known as HSBC Global Asset Management.

John Antrobus, Teaman

In time a number of the Antrobus family had moved to London and Cheam. Philip Antrobus, the stockbroker, bought Lower Cheam house in the 1780s. His brothers, Edmund and John Antrobus the bankers, lived in London. With the other links through marriage, Cheam School and the druggist and tea business the two families became very closely connected. When Robert Sanxay died in 1780, John Antrobus, the elder son of his sister and his partner in business, was the sole executor of his will and became the main proprietor of the druggist business. The Antrobus family of Congleton always recognised that it had been thanks to the Sanxay connection that they had found opportunities to prosper. However in 1786 there were three Miss Sanxay's living in Cheam whose means had become somewhat limited, Catherine, Jane and Caroline Sanxay. Edmund Antrobus, the banker at Coutts and co. was their second cousin. He wrote to his cousin, Edmund Antrobus the tea merchant, wishing to give them a sum of £800 pounds to ease any difficulties they were having, however he did not want it to be known that the money had come from him. He asked his cousin, who was first cousin to the three Miss Sanxay's, to present the £800 to them as a gift from himself. Edmund the banker wanted to give them financial help but felt that such a sum, in those days' worth considerably more, being equivalent today to tens of thousands of pounds, would have insulted them and put him in an uncomfortable position with them in future. He explained to his tea merchant cousin that he had built up a sizable wealth and this had been made on the back of the Sanxay's help. He had no need of this money, but he would not be able to look them in the face if they knew that it had been he that had given them the money. Edmund the Tea merchant seems to have been reluctant to do this but, after some insistence from his cousin, Edmund the tea merchant "Bestowed the gift on the three ladies as if from myself".

It is not known when exactly John's younger brother, Edmund, also became a partner in the tea business; he probably had a lesser involvement before the death of Robert Sanxay. However we do know that by 1786, thanks to the correspondence between him and Edmund Antrobus, the banker with Coutts and Co, Edmund is referred to as a tea Merchant and therefore must have been at least associated with the business at the time of Robert Sanxay's death. However John Antrobus seems to have brought in a new partner within a few years after Robert Sanxay's as the London directory of 1783 shows that his business house is now called Antrobus & Seaman, druggist's, 476 the Strand. Unfortunately nothing more seems to be known about John's partner, Mr Seaman. However, the name of the business indicates that John's brother, Edmund, may still not have been a partner in 1783, or at least not a full partner. It seems Edmund still worked with his brother in some capacity as the two brothers continued to provide the banking service started by their uncle, Robert. This seems to have been a mild form of banking where the business agreed to hold their client's money. However, later directories between 1894 and 1800 show the name of the business house during this period is called Antrobus Seaman & Antrobus Tea-Man to His Majesty. It is also interesting to note that the address of the business house has now changed from number 476 to No. 480 Strand. The exact date of this move is not known, but it probably occurred sometime between 1783 and 1786 as the Lowndes's London directory of 1786 shows the address of the tea house as 480 Strand, a location still on the corner of Charing Cross.

Antrobus Seaman & Antrobus, Teamen to His Majesty

In 1801 there appears to have been some competition between John and Edmund and their cousin Edmund Antrobus the banker with Coutts and Co. Thomas Coutts, the principal partner of Coutts & Co, was always ingratiating himself with the rich and the powerful of the land in order to win more wealthy custom for his bank. Two such wealthy gentry he approached were the chancellor of the exchequer, Henry Addington and then subsequently Lord Radnor, two long standing customers of Antrobus Seaman & Antrobus who did much of their banking with the tea merchants. A letter of complaint from both John and Edmund was sent in due course to their cousin, Edmund, about the improper behaviour of his partner at the Coutts & Co. banking house. In this letter they reminded him that it was thanks to their late relative, Robert Sanxay, the Antrobus' were in the prospering business positions they were now enjoying. Edmund Antrobus of Coutts & Co. would have remembered his early training with the Sanxay family and he seems to have tried to mediate between his cousins and his partner, Thomas Coutts, for his misconduct, as the tea merchants planned to withdraw their substantial account from the Coutts and Co. bank. However when Lord Radnor moved his accounts to Coutts & Co. the tea merchants withdrew their account, but Henry Addington seems to have kept his account with John and Edmund Antrobus and Co.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century the druggist side of the business seems to have waned and instead tea became the main source of trade. In the latter years of his life Robert Sanxay seems to have been referred more as a "Tea-man to his Majesty" rather than "druggist to his Majesty", in the house hold list of his majesty. After his death his place was taken by his partner, John Antrobus, and we can see in the Almanac for the year 1800, John Antrobus is listed as Tea-man to his Majesty. The tea business continued to hold the royal charter to supply tea to the royal household as it had done since it was awarded to Robert Sanxay in the year 1760. It was now John Antrobus who was included on the list of those in George the Third's household. Hanging outside the Tea House was the elaborate sign with the design "Teaman to his Majesty" braided across it. The popularity of tea continued to grow through the later part of the eighteenth century, especially as the customs tax on tea had now been considerably reduced, and the business was ideally located in the middle of London, business continued to thrive. In those days all tea was imported from China, and transported to Britain by the East India Company, a company that grew incredibly wealthy importing Teas and Spices and all sorts of other goods from the East. The company grew so big it literally became the world's first truly global trading company. Investing in tea was an expensive and long term business as a round trip for an East India company ship (usually called simply "East Indiamen") at the beginning of the 18th century could be as long as two years. East Indiamen were usually big, heavily armed vessels that would sail in conveys for safety, journeys across the globe to India and China via the Cape of Good Hope could be dangerous, in those days the sea were infested with pirates and hostile warlords looking to capture valuable cargos. Hence the heavily armed convoys of ships packed full with their cargos could only travel very slowly. As tea merchants John and Edmund would have dealings with the East India Company, regularly visiting the sales rooms at East India House on Leadenhall Street to barter for the best prices.

The tea business was not the only connection the Antrobus family was to have with the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). John and Edmund's cousin, Thomas Antrobus, a younger brother of Edmund Antrobus the banker with Coutts & Co., also joined the East India Company. Thomas Antrobus obtained a position of Writer in the company, thanks in some part to the influence of Thomas Coutts the banker. The position of writer is actually one of the lower positions (the post was eventually reformed and retitled as "civil servant"), but in order to enter HEIC he first had to take and pass the necessary exams and supply adequate references. A letter of reference from Thomas Coutts states that Thomas Antrobus had gained considerable experience in his employs at his counting house and was a master of book keeping and merchant accounts. In due course Thomas Antrobus was appointed to the position of Writer at Fort St. George in India (known later as Madras) in 1781. Thomas Coutts was a good friend of George Macartney, Lord Macartney, who went to India to take up his posting as governor of Fort St. George at the same time as Thomas Antrobus was shipped out. Using his influence with Macartney, Coutts urged him to give Thomas Antrobus a posting in his household to help him gain a better position in time. Correspondence between Coutts and Macartney between 1781 and 1784 shows that Macartney had placed Thomas Antrobus on his household staff, and that he was satisfied with his performance. The Records of Services of the East India Company published in 1885 show that in 1783 Thomas had been appointed assistant to the secretary to the select committee. It seems however by this time Thomas was suffering from bad health as the records then show that in late 1783 he was on leave to china for health, and that he is not traced after 1784. There is a tradition that Thomas was sent to China to begin discussions for an embassy to be sent to the emperor of China to open up more trade with the East India Company. His death in 1784 left some uncertainty as to whether he died in China or India. Coutts letter to Macartney in August 1784 expresses his regret on hearing of his death but makes no mention of where he died. A later decedent of the family, Rev Jocelyn Antrobus, states that he is buried on the Shameen in Canton. If so then perhaps there is a small patch in China that is forever England.

Both John and Edmund Antrobus seem to have married late in life. However Edmund seems to have caused something of a scandal by having a child born out of wedlock, something that would have been considered a serious stain against his character. He had a son, Edmund Edward Antrobus, by Ann Rogers in the year in 1806. Little is known about Ann Rogers except that she was born in 1777 and died 18th November 1835. Edmund did eventually marry Ann Rogers on 5th November 1814, a year after his brother's death, he would then have become the principal partner of the tea business. John Antrobus finally married in 1809, at the age of fifty eight; he married a widow from the town of his birth, Congleton, she was called Charlotte Bence. Her maiden name was Vardon, of a well-established Congleton family and one that was already closely linked by marriage with the Antrobus family. Her first husband had been Isaac Bence whom she married in 1794. John and Charlotte Bence were married in Congleton, in the ancient parish of Astbury on 14th February 1809.

Antrobus Green & Russell

Sometime around 1800 Mr Seaman seems to have ceased to be a partner in the Antrobus tea business house, it is not known if this was due to his death or if he withdrew from the business house. A new partner called William Green was taken on to replace Mr Seaman. Little information has been found about William Green, it is not known if he was originally employed as a clerk or brought in from outside the firm, he is but a name to us, yet he was to remain with the firm until his death in 1822. Under this new arrangement from 1801 the tea house traded under the name of Antrobus Antrobus & Green at number 480 the Strand. In 1803 another new partner called John Russell was taken on and the Tea firm traded under the name Antrobus Green and Russell. However on 29th September 1810 John Russell's partnership was allowed to 'expire' and he left the firm after agreeing to pay off depts he owed to the partnership. The two other partners still listed are Edmund Antrobus and William Green and it was they who were the recipients of the debts. It maybe that John Russell had some disagreement with his other partners in relation to these debts which had caused him to depart from the firm. It seems by now that John Antrobus also no longer took part in the running of the business; he would have been quite aged by this time, being now over sixty years old. Indeed he died just two years later in 1813 leaving the business in the hands of his brother and William Green. The firm now traded under the name of Antrobus & Green. John's wife, Charlotte Antrobus, formally charlotte Bence whom he had married in 1809, remarried two years later a man called John Harry Willard of Eastbourne. They were married in Cheam in 1815 suggesting there may have been a link with Willard and the Sanxay family. They settled in Eastbourne where it is thought Charlotte lived out the rest of her life. We can deduce that William Green was a capable partner for in the Year 1811 Edmund Antrobus decided to change his situation and go into partnership as the junior partner with the banker Philip Pleydell Bouverie to form the Bouverie & Antrobus banking house at No. 35 Craven Street, Strand. Edmund still maintained as his main business the Tea house at 480 Strand, especially now that his brother, John, was probably no longer able to take an active part in the running of the business by this time. However William Green would probably have been left to do much of the day to day running of the tea trade if Edmund was also involved as a main partner in a banking house. Edmund may have entered into the banking partnership with Philip p. Bouverie as a means of carrying on the banking and insurance business that was carried out alongside the tea business at 480 Strand. This would ensure that this side of the business to be conducted at a banking house that had a connection to the Antrobus tea business.

An example of Edmund's continued involvement with the tea business is shown by his being one of those tea merchants who attended the monthly sales of tea at East India House on Leadenhall Street. In 1818, directly after one such monthly sale, Edmund Antrobus was appointed to a committee formed to choose a deputation to attend to the board of excise. The function of this deputation was to the learning as to what extent the practice of adulterating tea had come to their knowledge and what seizures of this adulterated had been made. The committee met the next day after the monthly sale, Mr Twining of Twining & Co. was appointed as Chairman. Adulteration of tea was much more extensive than the board of excise cared to admit. This could have meant that most tea sold could be adulterated - a dangerous and dishonest act where tea had been diluted with additional substances such as charcoal, ash or even coal dust, or indeed something even more harmful, to in order to increase its volume and make more profit. The majority of Tea houses and grocers were extremely fearful that the tea they were selling could be poisonous. Thus it was hoped that the committee would be able to establish if adulterated tea was being seized and prevented from being sold on the open market. Although a law against adulteration was passed in parliament in 1776 it was not compulsory and the practice still continued (indeed it is a practice that is known to go on today). The adulteration of tea was taken very seriously as tea was still being sold for its presumed health benefits. Most adulteration of tea was said to occur at its source, which, in 1818, the supply of all tea was from China. Tea sellers in Britain blamed all adulterations of tea as occurring outside the country and blamed its import on customs and excise for not checking all tea thoroughly on arrival. It was not until the parliamentary Act of 1875 that inspection and analysis of imported foodstuffs became compulsory; this Act won the support of all traders and industry because of its emphasis on "outside" contamination.

In 1822 Mr Green of Antrobus & Green died, in Kent's directory in 1823 the firm is still called Antrobus & Green, after this the firm seems to have traded under the name Edmund Antrobus (Late Antrobus & Green).

Edmund's son, Edmund Edward Antrobus, would almost certainly have been involved in the business house by this time. At the age of sixteen his son was probably taking on greater responsibilities in the running of the shop. Edmund the elder was still also a partner in the Bouverie and Antrobus bank. It is interesting to note that at this time there appears to be several other people associated with the 480 Strand. From at least 1823 the book sellers T & W Boon are also located at 480 Strand, probably on one of the upper floors. Others who had spent some time at the address at the same time as the Antrobus tea business include the publisher and Printer James Daniell & Co. was also located at this address in the early 1800s. Before that resident at the address for a time in the 1790s was Dr Samuel Arnold (1740 - 1802), a musical composer. In 1825 Edmund is thought to have retired from the banking business and thus ended the partnership with Philip Pleydell Bouverie. Other sources seem to indicate that he remained a partner until his death, for example the "Citizens Chronicle, printed in 1828 still lists the firm as Bouverie & Antrobus bankers. However it seems that Edmund was at some point replaced by Pleydell Bouverie's childhood friend, Henry Francis, youngest son of Charles Shaw Lefevre and the firm was known from that time as Bouverie & Lefevre until about 1830.

Edmund Antrobus Teaman to his Majesty

In 1827 Edmund Antrobus died at the age of sixty-five, leaving his son, Edmund Edward Antrobus, as the sole proprietor of the tea business. Edmund E Antrobus seems have run the business this way for the remainder of his time in business. Throughout this time he continued to hold the position of supplier of tea to the royal house hold - Teaman to his Majesty. Edmund married Frances Carlisle on 6 October 1829, they would have five children, however, neither of his two sons, both named Edmund, survived childhood. Business went on however and in 1830 it seems that the premises at 480 Strand were to be demolished to make way for the Charing Cross Improvements of the day. The Tea house was relocated to No. 446 Strand, located on the north side of The Strand, between King William Street and Adelaide Street, opposite what is now Charing Cross Station.

We can learn something of the day to day running of the Tea house business of Edmund E Antrobus thanks to house of commons enquiry into duties attended to by Edmund E Antrobus. On the 9th May 1833 he was called before the commissioner of Excise to answer some questions about his business. He confirms he is a tea dealer on the Strand, but only in retail rather than in a wholesale tea dealer. He also confirmed that the business was over one hundred years old. Each room in which tea is stored has to be numbered and he is required to have a permit with all teas that come into the house and he must have a license to sell tea. By an act of parliament, as a tea house retailer, he must keep a debtor and credit account that distinguishes between black and green tea. Each time tea is brought into the house the weight of the tea is entered in a stock book for which the permit is drawn up, unless the weight is six pounds or under, in which case the quantity is entered into the 'small' book. Tea sold at the counter is entered into a cash book and so on. Every twenty-eight days an exciseman takes stock and regularly checks the accounts. The commission asked Edmund if his books always balanced or correspond, to which Edmund replied they most certainly did not, they were always down, something that was impossible to avoid in a large retail shop. He explained that these loses are due to small amounts not been logged in the books due to accidental omission or other reasons. However the exciseman allows for one pound of tea loss per chest or box of tea as allowed by the East India Company. Having now established how Edmund regulates his business the commission now turn to the subject of smuggling by asking Edmund if keeping stock and drawing up permits helps prevent the sale of smuggled tea? To which Edmund replied in the negative, saying if a dealer were inclined he might omit to enter all small quantities as he is not compelled to draw up permits for such quantities. Further questioning reveals that Edmund employs porters to take delivery of stock and deliver parcels of tea to customers. He also employs clerks to keep the books and keep stock records up to date. Also the permit offices close at five o'clock in the evening during winter, and at seven in the evening during the summer months. Asked if the excisemen check parcels being carried by porters to see if they are really carrying tea, Edmund replies that excisemen had not checked parcels for ten or fifteen years, because they were wrapped and sealed. The lowest price of teas was the lowest Twankay green tea sold at 5s 4d per pound (5 shillings and 4 pence per pound).

Tea had been a thriving business all this time in Britain but there was always concern about the reliability of the source and therefore the price of tea. The only known source of tea had always been China and there were those who were keen to try and find a way of breaking this monopoly and hold on such a lucrative Trade. Until such a means was found, all tea sellers and merchants were reliant on China, a country that still identified and referred to the British as barbarians and were prone to suspending trade at a moment's notice. With increasing numbers of ships involved in the China trade tea was becoming ever more affordable by the end of the eighteenth century, there were now teas that the poorest people could afford with common black or "Congou" tea and common green or "Twankay" tea increasingly available. Concerns that the supply of such an increasingly popular beverage could be brought to a halt at any moment could only grow as demand grew. The tea industry was not just an English commodity by the nineteenth century; it was fast becoming the world's first truly global commodity. Attempts were made from the late eighteenth century to try and grow the tea plant in various parts of the world, in both Asia and the new world, but all had failed. With the discovery in 1823 of wild tea plants that were growing in some remote parts of Assam in India by Major Robert Bruce, another attempt to introduce the Chinese tea plant to this region was made. The work was done using experts in the nurturing of the plant from China, this time the china tea plant was finally grown successfully outside of China. It was decided, initially, that the "Genuine plant from China" should be grown in Assam instead of the local plant to produce the first tea grown in quantity outside of China and then shipped in one hundred boxes to Britain.

The Meeting of Merchants and the incorporation of the Assam Company

On the 12th February 1839 there was held a meeting of Merchants at No. 6 Great Winchester Street with the idea of forming a company that would finance and market the newly produced tea that was grown in the remote hills of Assam in India.

Already, a month earlier, the first auction of Assam tea had taken place. This was the first China tea to be grown outside of China with the potential to be sold in Britain. At this time, however, it was still in the experimental stage. The meeting was made up of eighteen people forming a provisional committee whose objective was to ascertain the quality of the tea and likely quantities that could be produced, and also to ascertain what assistance the East India Company would give in its cultivation and manufacture. Third on that list was Edmund E Antrobus who was listed solely as Mr. Antrobus, suggesting he wished to be connected to the project as a person not connected with his business. The committee met over the next four days to agree how such a company would operate, the company that was incorporated was called the Assam Company. This newly formed company was able to bring forward large sums to finance the development of large areas in Assam for the cultivation of China tea. It was decided in the early days of the company that the local plant would not be of as good a quality as the Chinese tea plant. Indeed there was some doubt that the Assam tea plant was actually native to Assam and could not be a true tea plant.

Robert Bruce, an ex-army business man, is the man who is credited with finding the plant, but it was his brother, Charles A Bruce who sent samples of the local tea plant to the Calcutta Agricultural and Horticultural Society to establish if they were true tea plants in the 1830s. Not long after another discovery independent of the Bruce find was discovered by Lieutenant Charlton who was in service in Assam. Samples of both finds were studied by the superintendent at the botanical gardens in Calcutta, a Dr Nathaniel Wallich, Botanist to the East India Company. But on receiving these first samples refused to give them official recognition of being tea plants, no explanation seems to have been given despite many people being convinced this was the same plant as found in China. There then followed a heated debate as to which of the two finds had been the first discovery of the Assam plant. Despite the botanist's conclusion both Bruce and Charlton remained convinced this was a tea plant. However, Charlton had then subsequently discovered more of the local plant in another region of Assam called Sadiya. He studied the use of the plant by the Assamese people and was further convinced these were tea plants, despite seeing that they chewed the plant without processing it. Samples of these were also sent to Dr Wallich who this time agreed these were indeed a tea plant and one that was local to Assam and not the China tea plant. Dr Wallich later concluded that the local Assam tea plant produced a better quality of tea than the China tea plant.

Once the investment had gone into producing Assam Tea in large quantities it was found that the costs of establishing areas for the large scale cultivation of tea were much higher than had been expected, and the next auction did not bring in the expected profits. And then an opium war erupted which seriously disrupted trade, preventing the required Chinese expertise from reaching Assam to instruct on the methods of large scale tea cultivation, and risking the company making a loss.

Though incorporated the company was operating without limited liability, effectively making its investors liable to cover all company losses. The result was that many of the London investors in the Assam Company sold their shares when they became concerned that it was going to become insolvent. Indeed, some shareholders decided to forfeit their shares rather than risk having to pay any dues. It seems that only the Bengal Tea Association, a group of Calcutta based merchants and investors who had formed an amalgamation with the London based Assam Company, held their nerve during this period and kept the company viable. Finding the Company was in serious financial difficulties a special act of parliament was passed in 1845 to make the company fully incorporated. Its seal depicted a tea bush and an elephant, surmounting the motto 'ingenio et laboré' - 'by ingenuity and hard work' Some investors still wanted to liquidate the company but no buyers could be found. The company limped on through the 1840s making little in the way of profits. A dividend was declared in 1845 but with monies borrowed from banks; this was made to placate concerned investors. To keep the company solvent drastic cuts had to be made, the company steamer and sawmill were sold off and the northern most estates in Assam were abandoned. By concentrating on the most profitable plantation fields the company began to produce tea that generated profits. Only in the 1850s did Assam tea start to produce the sales and profits that had been originally envisioned. It was not until the 1860s that Assam tea really took off.

It is probably due to the shaky start of the Assam Company that there seems to be little further mention of Edmund E Antrobus being involved with the company, or at least directly. It is assumed he is one of those who made a contribution to finance the establishment of the company but of his continuing involvement there is little as yet that is published. A full history of the Assam Company was written by another Antrobus; see "History of the Assam Company 1839 - 1953" by Hinson Allen Antrobus

Wilkie Collins and the Prison on the Strand

We know from the enquiry in on duties detailed above, that Edmund E Antrobus employed both porters and clerks at his tea house. On January 1841 a seventeen year old called Willkie Collins was taken on as an unsalaried apprentice, instead he was subsidised by his father. The position seems to have been found by his father's friend, Charles Ward, who knew the Antrobus' by their connection with the Coutts bank. Wilkie Collins seems to have been very much against joining the tea business as, he says, he hated commercial pursuits. Finding this position for Wilkie seems to have been a last resort. After Wilkie had finished his schooling at Henry Cole's Academy he seemed unable and unwilling to find a position. His father had hoped he would go to Oxford University to prepare to become a clergyman, but this did not appeal to Wilkie. At a loss for what his son could do, this position was, it seems, more to keep his son occupied than as a permanent position. However Wilkie was to remain with tea house for five years. Edmund E Antrobus was to become good friends with Wilkie's parents for the time he was with the firm, even going on holiday to Torquay and Scotland together. Wilkie's father, William Collins, was a well-known painter at that time. It was while Wilkie Collins was working at the Antrobus Tea House that he published his first work, called 'The last Coachman.

During the whole period Wilkie was apprenticed at Edmund's tea house he did not really take to the tea business and would often spent his time 'tale writing'. When Edmund caught him in the act of writing his tales he would quickly find him a new task to occupy him. Edmund does not seem to have tried to over exert his apprentice and allowed him to go on regular holidays with his parents. However Wilkie longed to find a position more suited to his writing skills. Seeing that his son was not taking to mercantile work, his father wrote to his friend, Robert Peel, who had lately become Prime Minister, if he could find Wilkie a civil service position. Peel was not able to help due to the high demand for such postings. William continued to look for alternative positions for his son for the whole time he was working at the tea house. In Later years Wilkie Collins seems to have made one of his novels a semi-autobiographical that included some descriptions from his experiences at the tea merchants. In this novel, called "Hide and Seek", the father of the main character called Zack sends him to work for a counting house: 'My son requires the most unremitting parental discipline and control' remarks the father, and in order to manage his sons "discipline and moral and religious training he is placed in the counting house of a good friend. The character has a friend who is sent unwillingly to work in a tea brokers much like Wilkie Collins, and some of the work is described - "working in a merchants office when I could not do his multiplication tables... Going to filthy places like St. Mary-Axe to take samples, with a blue bag to carry them in, and a dirty junior clerk; who wears Blucher boots and cleans his pen in his hair, to teach me how to fold parcels."

Wilkie's time in the Antrobus tea firm, his "prison on the Strand", seems to have ended acrimoniously. After working almost five years in the business in May of 1846 Wilkie seems to have left on bad terms with Edmund Edward Antrobus. It seems that Wilkie had understood that he would be paid an annual salary of £200 but that: "Old tea bags" has reneged on his promise - as a result there was now "A mighty feud henceforth and forever between the houses twain of Collins and Antrobus" Shortly before leaving Wilkie Collins had started work on his first full novel which he described as "a novel of the most wildly impracticable kind, on the subject of savage life in Polynesia, before the discovery of the group of islands composing that country by civilized men." The novel was called Ioláni and of all his novels it was never published in his lifetime, not until 1999 after the manuscript had been presumed lost for over one hundred years. He went on to study law at Lincoln's and write many more novels which are still in publication today.

Edmund Edward Antrobus

Edmund Edward Antrobus was the author of a number of publications of his own, which may explain why he did not reprimand Wilkie Collins more harshly than he did when he found him writing his tales, when perhaps he should have been carrying out his duties. He was a man who liked to write about social issues regarding delinquency, drunkenness and issues regarding the law. Edmund E Antrobus seems to have an interest in social troubles, and he wrote his books during the late 1840s right through the to the end of the 1860s, a period when Charles Dickens and other authors were writing novels full of the grinding poverty which still affected much of the population. The titles of his works included: London, its Danger and Safety; Suggestions for its present and future, 1848, Anarchy and Order: Facts for the Consideration of All Classes of the Community 1848, Training Schools and Training Ships. The Prison And the School 1853 and Destitute, and Criminal Children of the Metropolis. Edmund was also a contributor to a book entitled The Burials Question, which discussed the overcrowding issues caused by the sudden expansion of London that had resulted from years of industrialisation. He also showed great interest in the arts, he became the president of the amateur arts society. An idea of what this involved can be seen in the article that appeared in the 'London and Edinburgh Magazine issue of March 1841.

Antrobus Topics

Antrobus & Tea Co.