A Family in Tea
Since the middle of the 19th Century the Graham family has been involved in tea.
The story begins with Birchall George Graham who went to India as an officer with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. On returning to England after his tour and 18 years of service he sold his commission. In 1872 he decided to return to India, joining his brother, and used his savings to make a living by planting tea in Darjeeling. Robert Fuller Graham, Birchall’s brother, was also involved in the tea trade. He was a founder member of the Darjeeling Tea Association and lived in India for most of his life. He is buried in Darjeeling where his gravestone can be found in the Tea Estate Cemetery.
Herbert Walter Onslow Graham, Birchall’s son, who was born in India but schooled in England, also planted tea in Darjeeling. He retired in 1938. Herbert’s brother Charles was a part owner of the Lingia Tea Company in Darjeeling, which owned Lingia, Pandam and Glenburn tea estates; these were all sold in the 1950’s.
The cycle almost repeats itself with Edward Graham, the father of the current chairman David Graham. In 1941 Edward went to India as an officer in the Sikh Regiment and like his grandfather Birchall 74 years before him fell in love with the enchantment and beauty of India. In 1946 at the end of his tour of duty, rather than return to Britain, he resigned his commission and stayed in India to plant tea.
The tradition in tea continues to the present day. David Graham the current Chairman of Imporient joined the tea trade in 1966 and became the fourth generation of the Graham family to be involved in tea. David Graham started Imporient with his wife Lesley in 1974 and the company now has offices and a factory in the United Kingdom, Offices and a 62,000 sq/ft factory in Kenya and the Pfunda Tea Factory and Plantation in Rwanda.
David Graham’s two sons Daniel and Tresham Graham joined the company in 1994 and are the 5th generation of the family involved in the tea Trade.
Today the company supplies the very best tea from East Africa, Kenya and Rwanda and is one of the largest tea buyers in East Africa exporting millions of kilos of tea all over the world every year. At the Pfunda Tea Estate the company produces in the region of 1.5 million Kilos of the very finest tea in the World.
