Insight into the life of the first female tea-taster in Britain – but where is her grave in Worthing?

Every avenue of enquiry has failed so far, so Sammy Tsunematsu, Professor Emeritus at Sojo University in Kumamoto, has come to the Worthing Herald in the hopes our readers can help him find the answer.

He said: "I have been researching into the life of Miss Margaret Irving, who was the first woman British tea-taster. I have visited her houses in Thornton Heath and researched at the British Library. I found that she died on March 11, 1997, aged 97 at Worthing, Sussex. I have Googled and researched all possible ways but no luck to locate her grave.

"Margaret must have moved to Worthing because her youngest brother Charles, who also worked at the same tea company, lived there. If I am luckily able to find her grave with kind help of your readers, I am going to visit it."

Born Maggie Irving in Croydon on October 19, 1899, to Albert and Isabella Irving, she was the middle sibling of five children, and she worked as a wholesale tea dealer. She died in Worthing on March 11, 1997. Her youngest brother, Charles, was a director and buyer for a wholesale tea company. He married Edna Willey in Croydon in 1931 and died in Ferring on May 17, 1982.

Margaret was a partner in the London wholesale firm Brash Brothers, founded in 1891 by brothers Thomas and W.R.A. Brash. She joined in 1915, the same year Mr W.R.A. Brash died, and was the only woman tea-buyer in the trade at the time. There was a scarcity of men due to the First World War, so she was employed in the sales department. She showed a natural aptitude for tea tasting and in 1922, she was made an under buyer, then head buyer in 1925. Margaret was admitted to partnership in 1931.

In an article in My Weekly in November 1933, Margaret gave an insight into her life as a tea-taster. She wrote: "The woman tea-taster is call upon to do a man's work for a man's pay. At this tea-table no reliance can be placed on the possession of a silver spoon!"

She described it as a 'queer profession', with the tea-taster, in a sense, representing the housewife. Her firm stood between the brokers who sold the tea for the growers and the shopkeepers. Tea sales were held four times a week in London and often 800 lots or more were auctioned every day. Each day, 200 to 300 samples were submitted to Margaret and her job was to decide which teas to instruct her firm's buyers to bid for at auction.

"About ten million pounds of tea are sold every week in London and it is necessary to follow the fluctuations of the market, which are considerable – tea sometimes jumps from ninepence to one and fivepence per pound in three months – with the closest attention. I have also to study the stock figures and reports of coming crops," she explained.

"Knowledge and experience are obviously necessary for the work of buying. However, intuition is almost as important a factor, and you need to have plenty of confidence when first starting to buy."

The process of tasting had to be carried out in good light. Margaret would first smell and then examine the dry leaf. Then she would take a pinch of tea and drop it into a third of a pint of absolutely boiling water in a small porcelain pot. Samples were allowed to brew for exactly six minutes, then poured into cups. Margaret would sip each cup, keeping the tea in the mouth for a few moments before ejecting it into a spittoon.

She said: "Tea varies so considerably that a mere inspection of the dry leaf will inform any expert not only of the country and the district it comes from but often even of the actual garden in which it was grown.

"The tests are made not only for taste but for colour, thickness, pungency and 'body'. The texture and colour of the wet leaf must also be studied – a bright coppery colour is always the sign of a good tea. It requires constant practice to keep my palate and sense of smell in good working order – even the weekend respite is not too good for them."

Margaret avoided highly-spiced and seasoned dishes, and she would not use perfume or scented soap. It took years of training and self-discipline to acquire a perceptive palate and sense of smell.

Are you able to help Sammy trace her grave, or provide more details of her life in Worthing? Please email [email protected] with any information