Stamford
Raffles |
(1781
- 1826)
He was sent by the British East India Company to Penang to serve
as Secretary to the Governor. He landed in Singapore in 1819. He
was mentioned briefly in Sun Yat
Sen Villa. He passed away a day before his 45th birthday in
1826. |
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| Raffles'
Landing Site |
 Raffles
had ventured to Singapore in the hope of establishing a British
port to compete with Dutch ports in the region. His ambition was
to make Singapore a free port and an ideal stopping point for traders
along the shortest sea route between India and China. |
Treaty
of 6 February 1819 |
 A Treaty
was signed by Raffles & the Malay rulers of Singapore island,
Sultan Hussien Shah and Temenggong Abdul Rahman. The Treaty gave
the British the right to establish a trading station. See more of
this at Images of Singapore. |
Government
House |
| Raffles
built the first official Government mansion on top of Fort Canning
Hill in 1822. In front of it he laid out a fine garden which was
depicted in early paintings. The original house was large but
flimsy, built of wood and thatch in only a few weeks. John Crawfurd
and later Residents enlarged the house. |
Rafflesia
Arnoldi |
 The
largest flower in the world named after the naturalist Sir Stamford
Raffles, weighs 7 kg & grows only on the Sumatra island of Indonesia.
Its petals grow to ½ metre (1,6 feet) long and 2,5 cm (1
inch) thick. You can inspect a wet specimen of the famous flower
on display at the Raffles
Museum. |
| Raffles
Institution |
 Would
that I could infuse into the Institution
a portion of that spirit and soul by which I would have it animated,
as easily as I endow it with lands, &c. - Thomas Stamford
Raffles, 23rd April 1823.
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|
Born
at Sea |
Yes, on board a ship Ann on the 6th of July, 1781 off the coast
of Jamaica. In 1795, the young man accepted his first job in
the East India Company as a clerk. But he studied hard in his
spare time and in 1804, was posted to Penang. His mastery over
the Malay language made him indispensable to the British Government,
and he was later appointed Malay translator to the Government
of India.
In
1811, he returned as the Lieutenant Governor of Java, and was
soon promoted to Governor of Bencoolen (now Sumatra).
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