The founding of Singapore
Sir Stamford Raffles, writing from Singapore on 10 June 1819 to Colonel Addenbrooke, offers the most extensive contemporary justification for the founding of the settlement, framing its establishment as a necessary British counter to Dutch monopoly across the Archipelago. The letter, preserved in the Scholefield collection and published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1878, combines strategic argumentation with personal and scientific reflection.
Summary
The letter’s central argument is geopolitical. Raffles recounts how, following the cession of Java and the Moluccas to the Dutch, they had attempted to monopolise all Archipelago trade through Batavia, excluding English merchants and threatening the China trade route. He narrates his own movements through southern and central Sumatra (including a visit to Menangkabau, described as “the original seat of Malayan Empire”), his subsequent journey to Bengal to report to Lord Hastings, and the Governor-General’s approval of a policy to seize command of one of the two strategic straits. Singapore was selected as the station commanding the southern entrance to the Strait of Malacca, and Raffles describes its condition four months after establishment: a population exceeding five thousand, a harbour “filled with Shipping from all quarters,” troops healthy, and provisions abundant.
The strategic vision is explicit: Singapore is conceived not as a territorial acquisition but as “a great commercial Emporium, and a fulcrum whence we may extend our influence politically,” with the aspiration that “what Malta is in the West, that may Singapore become in the East.” Raffles also notes the Dutch debt of nearly one million sterling on the Java accounts, which he hopes will facilitate the eventual return of Malacca, Padang, and Banca to British control.
The letter’s latter half turns to personal and scientific matters. Raffles announces the birth of his daughter Charlotte (named Tunjung Segara, “Lotos of the Sea,” by the Javanese) and his son Leopold, both born under difficult circumstances during his absence from Bencoolen. He reports on his natural-history collections, the death of his assistant Dr. Arnold during an interior journey, and Arnold’s discovery of a remarkable flower measuring a full yard across and weighing fifteen pounds—almost certainly Rafflesia arnoldii. He mentions two French naturalists in his household, one a stepson of Cuvier, and proposes a botanical volume dedicated to Prince Leopold, Duke of Kent.
Key Findings
- Singapore’s population had reached “above five thousand souls” within four months of the settlement’s founding (p. 178).
- Raffles identifies the Dutch debt on the Java accounts at “nearly a Million Sterling,” which he anticipates will enable a compromise for the return of Malacca, Padang, and Banca (p. 178).
- The flower discovered by Dr. Arnold measures “a full yard across, weighs fifteen pounds, and contains in the Nectary no less than eight pints, each petal being 11 inches in breadth and there being five of them” (pp. 180–181).
- Raffles received authorisation from Lord Hastings to establish British interests at Acheen (commanding the northern entrance to the Strait of Malacca) and at a southern station, which became Singapore (p. 178).
- The letter was presented to the Raffles Museum by W. W. Willans on 3 December 1878, having been entrusted by T. Dunman, formerly Commissioner of Police, Straits Settlements, and belonging to T. H. Scholefield Esq. of Bournemouth (p. 175).
Conclusion
This letter is the founding document of Singapore in its own author’s words, providing the strategic rationale, the immediate administrative report, and the long-term commercial vision in a single text. Its value lies in the unmediated expression of imperial purpose—monopoly broken, strait commanded, colony justified—coupled with the intimate domestic and scientific preoccupations of its writer at the moment of possession.
Context
- Raffles was the founding Governor of the Singapore settlement (established January 1819) and writing here in his capacity as its chief administrator, four months after taking formal possession.
- The letter was published from the Scholefield private collection via the Raffles Museum Committee; no other archival sources are consulted, making this a standalone primary document rather than a scholarly article.