MY BROTHER HUGH Born 5th October 1920 died 9th May 2006
In August 1939 I went by cargo boat for the summer holidays to Turkey to see Grandad Dr Chasseaud whom I adored and who would talk to me for hours on every subject, from inheritance and genetic defects, to Greek History and to human behaviour. He was a mine of information and I was just the right age to appreciate all our long conversations as we walked over the Turkish hills at Bornova nearby amongst the wild thyme,full of the sound of bees collecting nectar , rockroses, wild irises olives etc. Whilst returning in September 1939, War was declared and suddenly the ship I was on was suddenly diverted at Lisbon to New York and so I had to disembark and attempt to get a passage back to England. This took a fortnight to arrange but luckily on board was a most attractive girl Jane Whittall, one of the large Anglo-Levant family. We had a marvellous time which seemed to go all too quick until I was brought up short, by frantic cables from Mother to the British Consul to find out what had become of me. Eventually all good things come to and end and I safely reached England and again at Mother’s insistence caught another ship for Ceylon where again dodging German submarines I arrived at the end of November 1939 and here for the first time I met my young brother Michael. Father was so pleased to see me and gave me a great welcome, but then was nagging me first for wearing the fashionable “Oxford Bags” which he said were awful, sloppy and effeminate. Of course he was right , but at the time I did not think so, and soon was dressed in the normal khaki drill trousers and shorts as the other young planters.
2. TEA PLANTING
I started my first proper Job on a huge 2,000 acre Tea Estate called Glen Alpin which sprawled over the steep slopes of Namunakula the highest mountain in Uva Province, near Badulla,.. steeply rising to a jungle covered craggy peak. My Boss and to start with, teacher as I was just a “Creeper” or learner for the first 6 months, was a Mr Percy Will, a short stocky red haired man, of great intelligence, with whom I had a wonderful rapport and trust. After 6 months I was given charge of one of their divisions of about 400 acres called Ballagalla . Here I was in control of all the field works with about 350 Tamil labourers or “Coolies as the Tamil term them” both men and women who were mainly tea pluckers. It was my duty to carry out Percy Will’s orders such as making and repairing roads, clearing monsoon erosion ditches, terracing, applying fertilizer, pruning the tea bushes etc etc and above all keeping a register of costs and expenditure on each operation. My Father bought me a good horse called Ariel which for years was my practical main form of transport around the Estate. Later I bought a semi-sports car , a Wolsey Ariel and taught myself to drive it….no lessons etc in those days. I also bought a motorbike which I adored for going down to the low country shooting as it cornered on the twisty hill roads well, and was useful for going down through jungle tracks at weekends. I was off most weekends in the wonderful wild country just an hours drive from the estate. Here I would lose myself going after duck, and snipe . In those days I would use a shot gun, but later would be able to get a thrill out of shooting a flying duck at 120 yds with a .22 rifle. I have always loved the challenge of shooting a flying wild bird than ever shooting a wild animal as I am a softie at heart. Shooting reared pheasants as they do in England I find cruel and repugnant especially when shot as a commercial shoot for city types who have little rapport with the intimate details of the countryside. Crocodiles however are an exception and I have no feelings for them whatsoever as they are like prehistoric killing machines.