<xi MONTHLY. 
Vol. XIII. 
COLOMBO, MAY ist, 1894. 
No. 11. 
PIONEERS OF THE PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN CEYLON." 
OABRIKIv AND MAURICE WORMS: 
CAPITALISTS, PIONKER COFFEE (AND TEA) PLANTERS AND MERCHANTS IN CEYLON — 1840-186.5. 
[For fche following eoncinct and interesting Inograpliieal notice we are indebted to a 
relative of tlie Messrs. Worms who has also favoureil us witli the photographs from which the 
collotypes were printed. We have made considerable additions of our own, chiefly in notes, 
and an appeuvlix, to this brief biography of t wo most enterprising pioneer colonists and good men 
whose departure from C(!ylon left blanks, that, in some respect, have never been filled up, — Ed. 
Tropical A grlculturist. ] 
ABRIEL W^orms and Maurice 
Worms were the second and 
thii d sons of Benedict Worms 
of Frankfort-on-Maine, and 
Janette his wife, eldest sister 
of the I'aron de Rothschild. 
( iabriel was born on the 2nd 
of April 1802, and Maurice 
on 20th July 180.5. Their elder brother was 
the first Baron de Worms who died on 25th 
October 1882, and was the father of the present 
Baron de Woruis of Milton Park, Surrey, and of 
I'.aron Henry de Worms, M.P., Parliamentary 
Secretary to the Board of Trade 1885-6, and 
Under Secretary of State for the Colonies from 
IMSfi lo 1 802. Maurice Worms was educated in 
I'laiikfort and came to England about 1827 and 
hccnine a member of the London Stock Exchange, 
where he was very successful ; but being extremely 
fond of travelling, life in London did not suit 
him. So in 1838 he made a long tour in the United 
States, Canada, Newfoundland, &c., returning in 
1840. In February 1841 he bet out for the East, 
ami after visiting India, Cliiiia, Sii.gaioie, 
Manilla, &c., he finally dfciiled (.n >ettling in 
Ceylon and taking up coffee i Ua.tir.g us an 
occupation. He accordingly bought a considerab le 
extent of forest land in Pussellawa* and other 
districts, and gradually established the celebrated 
Rothschild coffee estate, .so well-known through- 
out the Island. It has been thought that this 
name was given to the property because the 
Rothschilds themselves were interested in it. This 
* The story current in Ceylon planting circles was 
that Mr. M. Worms on visiting the Central Province 
took a grc'at fancy to th" forest-clad Pussellawa 
valley forming part of the "Black Purest " of that 
district. Learning that it had been allotted for a 
nonii. al anm (perhaps 5.s'. an acre) to Major Mnrray who 
was then in England, he wrote to his brother (Mr. 
Gabriel VVorni.sj iusUucting him to call on the Major 
and, if possible, purchase the whole property of 1,2(X1 
acres. Mr. Gabriel Worms found Major iMurray at 
his hotel, and at once asked him if he would sell 
Black Forest, Ceylon, and at what price ? " For tTi 
an acre, paid down was said to be the immediate reply 
of the Major who, to his aatonisbment, found his 
price at once accepted— so that, as the story runs, 
he always regretted he bad not with eqpal boldness 
asked £10 per acre ! Whether strictly correct or not, 
the story has its use in ehowini- the reputation for 
promptitude iu business whicli rharacterioed tlu- 
Mrssrs. Worms. Their names, of comrae. stood 
111 the higbtst iu the bankint;, mercantile and 
piautiug world in CeyloD, and eveij body in Colombo 
knew the merchant as 'everybody upconntry did 
thi- planter; but. on one cccasio , a yoong niercanlile 
assistant fresh to the Colony, asked the nume of 
the gentlcnuin wlo was giving a Iitri tfctfi fi.i 
conugattd iron tottiug, ice— • My csnie, tir, n>y 
nume is cflf''," iho innudiato reply! 
