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RAFFLES, SIR THOMAS STAMFORD (1781-1826)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 814 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAFFLES, See also:SIR See also:THOMAS See also:STAMFORD (1781-1826) , See also:English See also:administrator, founder of See also:Singapore, was See also:born on the 5th of See also:July 1781, on See also:board a merchantman commanded by his See also:father. See also:Benjamin Raffles, when off See also:Port Morant, See also:Jamaica. He received his See also:early See also:education at a school at See also:Hammersmith, but when only fourteen he obtained temporary See also:work in the secretary's See also:office of the See also:East See also:India See also:Company. In 'Soo he was appointed junior clerk on the See also:establishment. In 18os the East India Company decided to make See also:Penang a See also:regular See also:presidency, and sent out a See also:governor with a large See also:staff, including Stamford Raffles, who was appointed assistant-secretary. On the See also:eve of his departure he married Mrs Fancourt (Olivia Mariamne Devenish), widow of a surgeon on the See also:Madras Establishment; she proved herself a helpful wife and counsellor to her See also:husband in his rapid rise to See also:fortune during the following nine years, dying prematurely in See also:Java in See also:November 1814. On his way out to Penang, Raffles began the study of the See also:Malay See also:language, and had mastered its See also:grammar before his arrival. He continued his studies, finding a congenial See also:fellow-worker and kindred spirit in See also:John See also:Leyden, who was invalided to Penang. In See also:August 18o6 Raffles was appointed acting secretary during the illness of that See also:official, and in 1807 he received the full See also:appointment. In the mean-See also:time he had acted as Malay interpreter, which entailed heavy and unappreciated work in addition to his regular duties. In 18o8 his See also:health gave way, and he was ordered for a See also:change to Malacca. This proved a turning-point in his career.

The East India Company had decided to abandon Malacca, and orders had been issued to dismantle it. Raffles perfected his study of Malay during his stay at this See also:

place, and learning from the See also:Malays, with whom he mixed freely, that the See also:abandonment of so important a position would be a See also:grave See also:fault; he See also:drew up a See also:report explaining the See also:great importance of Malacca, and urging in the strongest manner its retention. This report was sent by the Penang authorities not only to See also:London, but to the governor-See also:general, the See also:earl of See also:Minto. The latter was so impressed by the report that he at once gave orders for suspending the evacuation of Malacca, and in '8o9 the company decided to See also:reverse its own decision. When the whole question was calmly considered in the See also:light of subsequent events, many years later, the See also:verdict was that Raffles had " prevented the See also:alienation of Malacca from the See also:British See also:Crown." A See also:direct See also:correspondence with See also:Lord Minto was established by the See also:mediation of Leyden, who wrote to Raffles that the governor-general would be gratified in receiving communications direct from him. In See also:June 18'o Raffles, of his own See also:accord, proceeded to See also:Calcutta, where Lord Minto gave him the kindest reception. Raffles remained four months in Calcutta, and gained the See also:complete confidence of the governor-general. He brought Lord Minto See also:round to his See also:opinion that the See also:conquest of the See also:island of Java, then in the hands of the See also:French, was an imperative See also:necessity. To prepare the way for the expedition, Raffles was sent to Malacca as " See also:agent to the Governor-General with the Malay States." He did his work well and thoroughly----even to the extent of discovering that the See also:short and direct route to See also:Batavia by the Caramata passage would be safe for the See also:fleet. In August 1811 the expedition, accompanied by Lord Minto, and with Sir See also:Samuel See also:Auchmuty in command of the troops (11,000 in number, See also:half English and half See also:Indian), occupied Batavia without fighting. On the 25th of the same See also:month a See also:battle was fought at Cornelis, a few See also:miles See also:south of Batavia, and resulted in a complete English victory. On the 18th of See also:September the French See also:commander, General See also:Janssens, formally capitulated at Samarang, and the conquest of the island was completed.

Lord Minto's first See also:

act was to appoint Raffles See also:lieutenant-governor of Java. From September 1811 -until his departure for See also:England in See also:March 1816, Raffles ruled this large island with conspicuous success and the most gratifying results. To give only one fact in support of this statement, he increased the See also:revenue eightfold at the same time that he abolished transit dues,, reduced port dues to one-third and removed the fetters imposed on See also:trade and intercourse with the Javanese by Dutch officialdom. In his own words, his See also:administration aimed at being " not only without fear, but without reproach." He had a still greater ambition, which was, in his own words, " to make Java the centre of an Eastern insular See also:Empire," and to establish the closest relations of friend-See also:ship and See also:alliance with the See also:Japanese, whom he described as " a highly polished See also:people, considerably advanced in See also:science, highly inquisitive and full of penetration." It is interesting to See also:note that when another great Englishman, Rajah See also:Brooke, began his career in See also:Sarawak in 1838, he announced: " I go to carry Sir Stamford Raffles's views in Java over the whole See also:Archipelago." The policy of Raffles was based on the See also:assumption that Java would be retained, but for reasons of See also:European policy it was decided that it must be restored to See also:Holland. After his return to England in 1816 he endeavoured to obtain a reconsideration of the question, but the decision taken was embodied in a treaty and beyond all possibility of modification. During his stay in England Raffles was knighted by the See also:prince See also:regent, published his See also:History of Java (1817) and discussed with Sir See also:Joseph See also:Banks a project for the See also:foundation in London of a zoological museum and See also:garden on the See also:model of the Jardin See also:des Plantes at See also:Paris. He also married his second wife, See also:Sophia, daughter of T. W. See also:Hull of Co. Down; he had many See also:children by both marriages, but the only one to live beyond childhood was a daughter, who died fifteen years after her father's See also:death, and before she was twenty. He See also:left, therefore, no direct descendants. In November 1817 Sir Stamford quitted England on his return to the East, where the lieutenant-governorship of Fort See also:Marlborough (See also:Sumatra) had been kept in reserve for him.

His administration of Sumatra, which lasted from March 1818 till See also:

December 1823, was characterized by the same breadth of view, consistency of purpose and See also:energy in See also:action that had made his See also:government of Java remarkable. He had not, however, done with the Dutch, who, on their recovery of Java, endeavoured to establish a complete See also:control over the Eastern archipelago, and to oust British trade. This See also:design Sir Stamford set himself to baffle, and although he was more frequently censured than praised by his superiors for his efforts, he had already met with no inconsiderable success in See also:minor matters when, by a stroke of See also:genius and unrivalled statecraft, he stopped for all time the Dutch project of a See also:mare clausum by the acquisition and See also:founding of Singapore on the 29th of See also:January 1819. In 1824 Sir Stamford returned to England, but unfortunately the See also:differences between him and the East India Company had resulted in an See also:accumulation of disputes which placed a severe See also:strain on his enfeebled constitution. The memorials and statements that he had to compile for his own vindication would fill a large See also:volume, but at last the See also:court passed (12th of See also:April 1826) a formal decision in his favour. It did not omit, however, to censure him for " his precipitate and unauthorized emancipation of the Company's slaves," or after his death to make his widow pay £ro,000 for various items, which included the expense of his See also:mission to found Singapore ! Harassed as he was by these See also:personal affairs, he still found time to carry out his See also:original See also:scheme with regard to a zoological society in London. He took the largest See also:part in the creation of the existing society, and his See also:fine Sumatra collection formed its endowment. He was unanimously elected its See also:president at the first See also:meeting, and by a remarkable unanimity of opinion on the part of those who helped in the work, he has been recognized as " the Founder of the Zoological Society." He was contemplating entering See also:parliamentary See also:life when his sudden death on his birthday, 1826, ended his brilliant career at the early See also:age of See also:forty-five. Sir See also:Frederick Weld, lieutenant-governor at Singapore, when unveiling the statue of his predecessor at that place in 1887, crystallized the thoughts of his countrymen and anticipated the verdict of history in a single See also:sentence: " In Raffles, England had one of her greatest sons." See See also:Lady Raffles, Memoir of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1830); D. C. Boulger, Life of Sir Stamford Raffles (1897); See also:Hugh See also:Egerton, Sir Stamford Raffles (1899); J. iBuckley, Records of Singapore (1903).

(D. C.

End of Article: RAFFLES, SIR THOMAS STAMFORD (1781-1826)

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