death_date death_place birth_place birth_date spouse image article_title name occupation
06 september 1936 coimbatore , india london , united kingdom 13 may 1841 harriet huntingdon harris robertstanes.jpg robert stanes
 sir robert stanes founder educationalist . , t stanes & company ; industrialist ;
robert stanes

sir robert stanes -lrb- 13 may 1841 -- 6 september 1936 -rrb- was a british businessman and philanthropist in india who founded united nilgiri tea estates -lrb- unte -rrb- in coimbatore .
stanes was born in aldgate , london , the eighth of nine children of james stanes -lrb- 12 march 1796 -- 3 february 1880 -rrb- and sarah poultney stanes -lrb- née worth ; 26 april 1806 -- 15 july 1843 -rrb- .
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 -lrb- 1830 -- 1852 -rrb- , 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 -lrb- 12 may 1826 -- 31 january 1865 -rrb- , his eldest brother , was sent to india .
he was followed by the fourth son , thomas stanes -lrb- 6 january 1837 -- 30 january 1905 -rrb- , 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 -lrb- 1835 -- 1917 -rrb- , 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 .
robert immediately launched himself on a successful career as a coffee planter in coimbatore .
five years later he established the first inland coffee-curing plant in india , in 1885 , stanes & co went out of business .
stanes recalled that `` the firm suffered great losses and messrs stanes watson failed in business , which led to the collapse of my firm .
i had to begin all over again , all that i had was 500 rupees '' -lrb- about # 40 at that date -rrb- .
failure in business was at that time a disgrace and robert stanes 's son , fred , who was five at the time , remembered both the shame and also having to return to england on a cargo boat .
stanes wrote that `` my dear wife endured it all without a murmur and with the greatest patience '' .
he started again and the business again prospered .
by the time of his death he owned cotton mills , coffee and tea plantations , coffee curing plants , motor works and tire retreading plants ; coimbatore is still a major industrial city today , largely through stanes 's contribution .
when coimbatore city council was formed , he became chairman .
he set up the stanes school in the city in 1862 .
his elder brother , thomas stanes , had established the stanes school in coonoor , in 1858 .
in 1913 , he was awarded the kaiser-i-hind gold medal for services to coimbatore and to education and he was knighted in the 1920 new year honours .
sir robert died in coimbatore in 1936 and is buried alongside his wife , harriet huntingdon harris -lrb- 1843 -- 1901 -rrb- , at all saints church , coonoor .
