1 Mill Copper

Mint year: 1869-1870
References: Pridmore 14.
Mint Place: Birmingham (UK) 

Denomination: 1 Unit  (Token) - Union Mills of Colombo – Carey Strachan & Co.

Weight: ca. 11.2gm

Material: Copper
Diameter: 32mm

Obverse: Large value numeral (1).



Reverse: Inscription (UNION MILLS) surrounded by company name ("CAREY STRACHAN & Co.) and region (COLOMBO), separated by five-spiked stars.

The Union Mills, now the property of Messrs. Carey, Strachan & Co., formerly belonged to Messrs. MacLachian & Mackenzie, who became insolvent in 1869 or 1870. They are situated in Union Place, Slave Island, Colombo.

CAREY, STRACHAN & CO. was established in 1869 under the name of Carey and Strachan, the partners being L. St. George Carey and Charles Strachan. In or about 1873 the name was changed to Carey, Strachan & Co.

L. St. George Carey died in 1875, and in 1887 the name of the firm was again changed, this time to Charles Strachan & Co.  In 1896, a company was formed in London, the objects being to acquire, carry on and develop certain tea estates, the central tea factory known as the Galaha Factory, the freehold property known as the Union Mills, and the General and Agency business of Charles Strachan & Co.

The Union Mills, Union Place, Slave Island, Colombo, employed over 500 hands for curing coffee etc.

British Ceylon (Sinhala: බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britanya Lankava; Tamil: பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Birithaniya Ilangai), known contemporaneously as Ceylon, was a British Crown colony between 1802 and 1948. At first the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka.

Slave Island is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located directly south of the Fort. The suburb contains Beira Lake, a large lake and its esplanade is visited by many for recreation. Slave Island is mostly a commercial area with hotels and shopping centres.

The name “Slave Island” was given during the period of British colonisation referring to the situation under Portuguese rule when slaves were held there, most of them black people from the Swahili coast and Portuguese East Africa. Many of these slaves later returned to Africa. However, a small group of African descendants are scattered throughout Sri Lanka and are collectively known as Sri Lankan Kaffirs.