INDIA, Agricultural & Horticultural Society, Calcutta, a gold award medal, unsigned, Hindu farmer ploughing field with two bullocks, palm-tree and temples in background, rev. wreath, named (Presented to Captn. Charlton as the first person to establish, to the Satisfaction of the Tea Committee and its Secretary, that the Tea Tree was indigenous in Assam, voted at a General meeting of the Society held Septr. 8th 1841). 62mm, 73.45g (Pudd. 824.1.1). Minor rim nicks and surface marks, with small piercing for suspension, otherwise good very fine and very rare £1,500-2,000

Illustration reduced.

In the early 19th century all Britain’s tea came from China, but following the revision of its charter in 1833 the EIC’s monopoly of the tea trade came to an end. Some years previously, stated by most authorities to have been 1823, a Major Robert Bruce (†1824), a Scottish trader and explorer, had learnt of the existence of a beverage brewed from locally growing plants in Assam and visited Rangpur to obtain samples to send to the Company’s Botanic Gardens at Calcutta, who declined to confirm them as tea. Lt Andrew Charlton, on service with the Chai Assam Light Infantry, stationed in Sadiya and reporting to a Capt F. Jenkins, sent some similar plants to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society in Calcutta, noting that they tasted of Chinese tea when dried, but official recognition was once again denied. On 1 February 1834 Lord Bentinck, the Governor-General, set up the Tea Committee and once again Charlton collected indigenous plants and sent them to Calcutta. This time his samples were pronounced genuine and Charles Alexander Bruce (1793-1871), younger brother of Robert, was appointed superintendent of the government tea plantations. The first chests of Assamese tea were sent to London in 1838. For his presumed contribution in the discovery of Assam tea plant Bruce was awarded the Society of Arts medal, presented through the Agricultural and Historical Society of Bengal, but Jenkins and Charlton strongly disputed this decision and both staked their claims for the honour. Acrimonious correspondence followed but both of them eventually received a medal from the Society