Robert Stanes

Who was Robert Stanes?

Sir Robert Stanes was a British businessman and philanthropist in India who founded United Nilgiri Tea Estates in Coimbatore.

Stanes was born in Aldgate, London, the eighth of nine children of James Stanes and Sarah Poultney Stanes. James Stanes was a glass and china shipping merchant who established the Stanes' presence in India by sending several of his sons to the country. In 1848, James Stanes junior, the second son, arrived in southern India and established the Runnymede Coffee Estate near Coonoor in Madras Presidency. He was drowned in May 1852 while traveling near Kulhutty. Later that year, following the death of James Stanes junior, William Henry Stanes, his eldest brother, was sent to India. He was followed by the fourth son, Thomas Stanes, who arrived at Madras on the SS Hindustan on 26 June 1855. James Stanes senior visited his sons William and Thomas in Madras Presidency in 1855, accompanied by his third son, Henry Thomas Stanes, who ran the London end of the family's businesses. The greatest impact in India was made by Robert Stanes, the youngest son, who arrived in India on 24 December 1858 on his father's ship the SS Trafalgar while still a boy of seventeen.