Charles soon established a large crepe rubber factory on the estate in order to add value to the raw latex. The crepe rubber was exported to be used mainly for shoe soles. Although the estate was relatively small, the factory purchased latex from surrounding producers and was one of the largest manufacturers of crepe rubber at the time. In 1936, going somewhat against the conventions of the time, Charles married Muriel Susan Elizabeth Parsons, a divorcee and secretary, and not part of the landed plantation community. Muriel and her first husband had accompanied Charles when he visited his parents in the Isle of Man in 1934.