Richard Twining
The National Portrait Gallery, London
In yesterday's post we learned that the new and very young Prime Minister, William Pitt The Younger, was very concerned about taxation. He met regularly with tea merchants like Richard Twining. Richard was Chairman of the 30,000 Dealers of Tea (to sell tea, one had to have a license as a "Dealer of Tea") who persuaded the PM to repeal the English tea taxes. Within a year, legal imports rose, smugglers went out of business, tea prices fell, tea merchants were happy - and teapots got larger!
In 1793, Richard Twining was elected Director of the East India Company. Way to go, Richard.
Interesting bit of tea trivia: The combination of name and typeface that Richard placed above the world-famous Twinings doorway still appears on packets of Twinings tea. It is said to be the oldest logo in continuous use in the world.
