Scottish millionaire Thomas Lipton visited British Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 1890s, during his journey to Australia, and met Taylor.

His headstone reads, "In pious memory of James Taylor of Loolecondera Estate Ceylon, the pioneer of the cinchona and tea enterprise in this island, who died 2 May 1892, aged 57 years".

Two gangs of 12 estate workers reputedly carried Taylor’s body to his final resting place in appreciation of his noble efforts to establish Tea industry in Ceylon.

In 1893 one year after his death, one million packets of Ceylon tea of the first shipment to London were sold at the Chicago World's Fair.

John Field, the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka made a comment in 1992 for the 100th anniversary of the death of Taylor: "It can be said of very few individuals that their labours have helped to shape the landscape of a country, but the beauty of the hill country as it now appears owes much to the inspiration of James Taylor, the man who introduced tea cultivation to Sri Lanka".

Designed by Prof. Sarath Chandrajeewa and gifted to the Society by Mr Anselm Perera of Mlesna Teas, Colombo, Sri Lanka, the statue overlooks the Auchenblae Village Square.