The Ceylon Planters’ Rifle Corps

Ceylon Planters’ Rifle Corps in the First World War

By the dawn of the 20th century Ceylon was a prosperous colony. Tea and rubber plantations produced a great deal of the island’s wealth. Spread mainly in the misty highlands, on land seized by the Crown and sold to British investors at nominal rates, the sprawling estates were originally planted with coffee. But a blight decimated the bushes in the 1870s and tea (Camellia sinensis) was planted in lieu. This proved successful, with Ceylon Tea gaining a reputation as the world’s best in a…