Having dug deep into our respective memory banks, neither Peter James nor I can remember which year it was that James Gourmet Coffee bought their first consignment of teas from the Nilgiris which was sourced from my earlier specialty tea project, the bouTEAque factory on Coonoor estate.
Be that as it may, in 2019 (by which time the Tea Studio was operational) I received a mail from Peter that he, accompanied by his wife Anni and his dad, Frank James, would be travelling to the Nilgiris and that could they visit the Studio. That short visit, which lasted all of an hour was followed by a statement that the trio was heading off to Ooty where they would be spending at least a week. To me, the prospect of anyone spending a week in Ooty, which is nothing more than an overgrown and congested town, being a not very pleasant prospect for a holiday, I tried my best to dissuade the James family from going ahead with their plan. Not sharing with me why they were hell bent on following through with their plan, off they went. It was a week later, on their return drive from Ooty back to Coimbatore when they dropped in to say bye, that I got the full picture.
For Peter whose mother had been born in India, the week in Ooty I was told, was not a holiday but a pilgrimage when he wanted to learn more about his family roots. Pottering around various institutions in and around Ooty the 3 James’s were able to dig out some very interesting bits and pieces which, when sewed together, end up as a fascinating tapestry.
Their only leads were that Peter’s mother, Janet, born in December 1942, was the daughter of Percy MacQueen, who had been the Collector of the Nilgiris district from 1936 to 1940. Post his retirement, Percy and Cicely (his wife from his second marriage) for the next 6 years till 1946, had taken up residence at some bungalow called Sedgemore House. In possession of an old, faded photograph of the house, they desperately wanted to visit it but had no clue as to where that bungalow was located or, for that matter, even whether it was still standing.
On the morning of the second day in the town, the trio having gone to pick up some stuff from Moddy’s, a popular provision store in Ooty, where while checking out, they had casually enquired off the owner whether he had ever heard about this house. The gentleman, in turn, simply turned towards all the folk milling around to loudly ask whether anyone had heard about some place called Sedgemoor House. Were they surprised when one of the shoppers shouted back that, yes, he had heard of a house by that name and that it was probably in one of the wooded areas close to what, back in the day, used to be the Collector’s residence. And there it was! Not very different from the frayed around the edges black & white photograph which they had found in one of the old albums in their house.
Spurred on by that one significant piece of the puzzle having fallen into place, they continued with the excavation of their antecedents.
One of Percy’s diaries had mentioned him having been a keen huntsman. Working on that lead, the trio ended up at the Ootacamund Club (colloquially the Ooty Club) which they had learnt, back in the day, used to be the Hunt Club. Requesting permission off the club secretary to dawdle around, they discovered his name on one of the many boards in the dining room which told them that Percy for four years, from 1940 to 1944, had also served as the President of the club.
It is a well-established fact that most church records are meticulously preserved. Ooty, which is nothing more than an overgrown township, having 14 churches belonging to different denominations, they knocked on the doors of each of those, requesting that they be allowed to go through whatever old registers could be made available to them. Patiently poring over reams of old records they finally hit pay dirt. The marriage register of St Stephen’s church besides the entry of the wedding of Percy and Cecily, also led them to locating the baptism record of Janet.
Delighted with the very satisfying outcome of that week’s detective work, it was a very contented James family which headed back home. As successful a pilgrimage as there ever could be.
While not relevant to the Hajj which the James’s undertook, this in some convoluted way linked to that story, the ensuing is an interesting postscript:
It is a recorded fact that most of the British men who arrived in India in various capacities, came in as bachelors. The women followed in their wake, arriving in what was called the “Fishing Fleet”. While most ended up tying the knot, those who were unsuccessful were referred to as “returned empty”. An interesting history if ever there was one – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15747679-the-fishing-fleet