How did Britain’s greatest tea mogul come to work on a rice plantation in South Carolina?
The front page of the October 25, 1899 Georgetown (SC) Semi-Weekly Times reported a rumor from Washington, DC that famed grocer and tea entrepreneur Sir Thomas J. Lipton was determined to invest $500,000 in tea culture in South Carolina –
Sir Thomas is familiar with the soil and climatic conditions of this State, having been at one time a laborer on a rice plantation in Georgetown County. He is now the largest land owner in Ceylon and is one of the wealthiest tea merchants in the world.
What were his roots in American soil?
In 1864, at the young age of 14, Thomas Lipton accumulated enough money to book a solo passage onboard a ship from Scotland to New York City. Unable to find work in that city healing from a great war, he headed south to the tobacco farms of Virginia and eventually ended up working two years in the rice fields around Charleston. In the wake of the Civil War, southern plantations often hired immigrant laborers to replace slaves. But Lipton’s wanderings in the wilderness did not last long.
His life changed dramatically when he returned to New York City and began working for a successful grocer. By 1869, his vocation was set. And with cash in his pockets, he returned to Glasgow to take over his parents’ small grocery. Within a few years, Lipton owned several of his own stores in Glasgow and London.
