Charles Ledger (4 March 1818 – 19 May 1905)B. G. Andrews,

, '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 73-74. Retrieved 9 Sep 2009 was an

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...

farmer noted for his work in connection with

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal le ...

, a treatment for

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

Background

Ledger belonged to a

huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

family that emigrated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 18th century; he was born at 1 Bucklersbury, City of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the son of George Ledger, a mercantile broker, and his wife Charlotte, ''née'' Warren. After leaving school he went to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and in 1836 was a clerk in a British merchant's office at

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. It was at Lima that Charles rescued a drowning native Manuel Incra Mamani, who offered to become his servant.

Alpaca career

He became an expert in

wool, and in 1842 began business as a dealer in South American products. In 1847 he was grazing sheep and cattle half-way between

Tacna Tacna is a city in southern Peru and the regional capital of the Tacna Region. A very commercially active city, it is located only north of the border with Arica y Parinacota Region from Chile, inland from the Pacific Ocean and in the valley of ...

and La Paz, and in 1852 went to Sydney to inquire into the possibility of introducing the alpaca into Australia. He returned to South America and by 1859 had brought several hundred alpacas to Sydney. This was a hazardous and difficult business as the export of alpacas was forbidden. Ledger was paid £15,000 for his alpacas and given a position in charge of them. The attempt to acclimatize alpacas in Australia ended in failure, but Ledger was not at fault.

Quinine production

Ledger returned to South America in 1864 and turned his attention to another problem. The cinchona tree, the bark of which yields quinine, grew in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, and Bolivia, but the export of either trees or seeds was prohibited. The trees were being wastefully cut down without being replaced, and there was some danger that they might become extinct. Some seeds and plants had been introduced into Europe and Asia by

Hugh Algernon Weddell Hugh Algernon Weddell (22 June 1819 – 22 July 1877) was a physician and botanist, specialising in South American flora. Weddell was born at Birches House, Painswick near Gloucester, England but was raised in France and educated at th ...

in 1848, and Sir

Clements Markham Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for ...

went later to Peru, and Bolivia, and succeeded in acclimatizing trees in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the Dutch East Indies. Ledger, however, employed

Manuel Incra Mamani Manuel Incra Mamani was a Bolivian Incan ''cascarillero'' (bark and seed hunter) who found a cinchona tree that had a higher proportion of quinine than most others. It went into commercial cultivation, providing most of the world's quinine. Life ...

to find a better variety for producing quinine. In 1865, after four years of frost destroying high-quinine plant seeds (plants with a lower proportion were hardier), Mamani was able to collect some seeds from a high-quinine specimen. Ledger sent them to his brother George Ledger in London. The seed was sent to London where some of it was purchased by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

government. Seeds were also sent to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

but the trees do not appear to have been grown in Australia. The high-quinine plant was named '' Cinchona ledgeriana''. In 1871, Mamani was arrested whilst on a seed hunting trip, and beaten so severely that he died soon afterwards. Ledger ceased to collect seeds and provided money to Mamani's family. In 1883 Ledger went to Sydney again and in 1884 took a farm 20 miles (30 km) from

Goulburn, New South Wales Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent ...

Retirement and death

Losing his savings in the bank failures of the early 1890s, efforts were made by Sir Clements Markham and others to obtain some provision for Ledger from the Indian and Dutch governments. Initially this was refused, but in 1897 on Ledger's 79th birthday, he received news that the Dutch government had granted him an annuity of £100 a year. He died eight years later in 1905 at 'Mimosa Cottage', Elswick St, Leichhardt, Sydney. He is buried in

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating ...

, Sydney.

Impact

Ledger did a great service to the world, as millions of cinchona trees grown in India and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

sprang originally from the seeds he collected. By 1900 two-thirds of the world's supply of quinine came from Java, and over 40 years later the Ledger types of cinchona were still the best quinine yielders.''Harper's Magazine'', August 1943, p. 278

References

*Part of Ledger's own account of his life can be found at p. 118, ''Chemist and Druggist'', 27 July 1895, which is available as a searchable archive. *Some of Ledger's papers are available at the

State Library of NSW The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...