SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES
Name: Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles
Born: 6 July 1781 Off the Coast of Jamaica
Died: 5 July 1826 London, England
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (July 6, 1781 - July 5, 1826) was the
founder of the city of Singapore (now the Republic of Singapore), and is one of
the most famous Britons who expanded the British Empire.
Raffles was born on the ship Ann off the coast of Port Morant, Jamaica. Little
is known of Raffles' parents. His father, Captain Benjamin Raffles, was involved
in the slave trade in the Caribbean, and died suddenly when Raffles was fourteen,
leaving his family in debt. The younger Raffles immediately started working as a
clerk in London for the British East India Company, the quasi-government trading
company that shaped many of Britain's overseas conquests. In 1805 he was sent to
what is now Penang in the country of Malaysia, then called Prince of Wales
Island, starting a long association with Southeast Asia, starting with a post
under the Honourable Philip Dundas, the Governor of Penang.
As he was gazetted assistant secretary to the new Governor of Penang in 1805, he
married Olivia Mariamne Devenish, a widow who was formerly married to Jacob
Cassivelaun Fancourt, an assistant surgeon in Madras who had died in 1800. It
was also this time that he made acquaintance with Thomas Otho Travers, who would
accompany him for the next twenty years.
His knowledge of the Malay language as well as his wit and ability gained him
favour with Lord Minto, governor of India, and he was sent to Malacca. Then, in
1811, after the annexation of the Kingdom of Holland by France, he mounted a
military expedition against the Dutch in Java. The war was swiftly conducted by
Admiral Robert Stopford, General Wetherhall, and Colonel Gillespie, who led a
well-organized army against an army of mostly French conscripts with little
proper leadership. The previous Dutch governor, Herman Willem Daendels, built a
well-defended fortification at Meester Cornelis (now Jatinegara), and at the
time, the governor, Jan Willem Janssens (who, coincidentally, surrendered to the
British at the Cape Colony), mounted a brave but ultimately futile defense at
the fortress. The English, led by Colonel Gillespie, stormed the fort and
captured it within three hours. Janssens attempted to escape inland but was
captured. The British invasion of Java took a total of forty-five days, during
which Raffles was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor by Lord Minto before
hostilities formally ceased. He took his residence at Buitenzorg and despite
having a small subset of Englishmen as his senior staff, he kept many of the
Dutch civil servants in the governmental structure. He also negotiated peace and
mounted some small military expeditions against local princes to subjugate them
to British rule, as well a takeover of Bangka Island to set up a permanent
British presence in the area in the case of the return of Java to Dutch rule
after the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in Europe.
During his governorship, Raffles introduced partial self-government, stopped the
slave trade, became an early opponent of the Opium trade by placing strict
limitations upon its importation, much to the dismay of Calcutta, led an
expedition to rediscover and restore Borobudur and other ancient monuments, and
replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system with a land tenure system of land
management, probably influenced by the earlier writings of Dirk van Hogendorp (1761-1822).
He also changed the Dutch colonies to the British system of driving on the left,which
is why Indonesia drives on the left today.
Under the harsh conditions of the island, Olivia died on November 26, 1814, an
event that devastated Raffles. In 1815, he left again for England after the
island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the
Napoleonic Wars, under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, but not
before he was officially replaced by John Fendall on account of the poor
financial performance of the colony during his administration, as deemed by the
successors of Lord Minto in Calcutta. He sailed to England in early 1816 to
clear his name, and en route, visited Napoleon, who was in exile at St. Helena,
but found him unpleasant and unimpressive.
Name: Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles
Born: 6 July 1781 Off the Coast of Jamaica
Died: 5 July 1826 London, England
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (July 6, 1781 - July 5, 1826) was the
founder of the city of Singapore (now the Republic of Singapore), and is one of
the most famous Britons who expanded the British Empire.
Raffles was born on the ship Ann off the coast of Port Morant, Jamaica. Little
is known of Raffles' parents. His father, Captain Benjamin Raffles, was involved
in the slave trade in the Caribbean, and died suddenly when Raffles was fourteen,
leaving his family in debt. The younger Raffles immediately started working as a
clerk in London for the British East India Company, the quasi-government trading
company that shaped many of Britain's overseas conquests. In 1805 he was sent to
what is now Penang in the country of Malaysia, then called Prince of Wales
Island, starting a long association with Southeast Asia, starting with a post
under the Honourable Philip Dundas, the Governor of Penang.
As he was gazetted assistant secretary to the new Governor of Penang in 1805, he
married Olivia Mariamne Devenish, a widow who was formerly married to Jacob
Cassivelaun Fancourt, an assistant surgeon in Madras who had died in 1800. It
was also this time that he made acquaintance with Thomas Otho Travers, who would
accompany him for the next twenty years.
His knowledge of the Malay language as well as his wit and ability gained him
favour with Lord Minto, governor of India, and he was sent to Malacca. Then, in
1811, after the annexation of the Kingdom of Holland by France, he mounted a
military expedition against the Dutch in Java. The war was swiftly conducted by
Admiral Robert Stopford, General Wetherhall, and Colonel Gillespie, who led a
well-organized army against an army of mostly French conscripts with little
proper leadership. The previous Dutch governor, Herman Willem Daendels, built a
well-defended fortification at Meester Cornelis (now Jatinegara), and at the
time, the governor, Jan Willem Janssens (who, coincidentally, surrendered to the
British at the Cape Colony), mounted a brave but ultimately futile defense at
the fortress. The English, led by Colonel Gillespie, stormed the fort and
captured it within three hours. Janssens attempted to escape inland but was
captured. The British invasion of Java took a total of forty-five days, during
which Raffles was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor by Lord Minto before
hostilities formally ceased. He took his residence at Buitenzorg and despite
having a small subset of Englishmen as his senior staff, he kept many of the
Dutch civil servants in the governmental structure. He also negotiated peace and
mounted some small military expeditions against local princes to subjugate them
to British rule, as well a takeover of Bangka Island to set up a permanent
British presence in the area in the case of the return of Java to Dutch rule
after the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in Europe.
During his governorship, Raffles introduced partial self-government, stopped the
slave trade, became an early opponent of the Opium trade by placing strict
limitations upon its importation, much to the dismay of Calcutta, led an
expedition to rediscover and restore Borobudur and other ancient monuments, and
replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system with a land tenure system of land
management, probably influenced by the earlier writings of Dirk van Hogendorp (1761-1822).
He also changed the Dutch colonies to the British system of driving on the left,which
is why Indonesia drives on the left today.
Under the harsh conditions of the island, Olivia died on November 26, 1814, an
event that devastated Raffles. In 1815, he left again for England after the
island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the
Napoleonic Wars, under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, but not
before he was officially replaced by John Fendall on account of the poor
financial performance of the colony during his administration, as deemed by the
successors of Lord Minto in Calcutta. He sailed to England in early 1816 to
clear his name, and en route, visited Napoleon, who was in exile at St. Helena,
but found him unpleasant and unimpressive.