Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781 - 1826)
SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, KNIGHT. FELLOW OF THE ROYAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETIES OF LONDON ; PRESIDENT OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF LONDON; A VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN INSTITUTION; ALSO OF THE LANGUAGE INSTITUTION; MEMBER OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF CALCUTTA, AND OF THE LITERARY SOCIETY OF BOMBAY ; AND PRESIDENT OF THE LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF JAVA.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was born on board the ship Anne, at sea, off the harbour of Port Morant, in the island of Jamaica, on the 6th of July, 1781. His father, Benjamin Raffles, was one of the oldest captains in the West India trade, from the port of London. Sir Stamford received his education principally under Dr. Anderson, who presided over a respectable academy at Hammersmith.
At an early age this gentleman entered the service of The East India Company, as a clerk in the secretary's office on their home establishment; in which situation his talents and his industry obtained for him the esteem and confidence of the then Secretary, William Ramsay, Esq., a relation of whom Mr. Raffles married.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, as an official with the British East India Company, arrived in Penang in 1805 and went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Java for five years after the British temporarily expelled the Dutch in 1811. He was knighted in London in 1817 for his scholarly and comprehensive History of Java. Some eight years later in 1819, Raffles founded the British colony of Singapore.
The name of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles will live in British history, not among warriors, but among the benefactors of mankind, as a philanthropist .and statesman of the very first eminence. Time alone can ascertain the extent of the debt which the nation owes to his memory and to his family : but it will be by all acknowledged, that to the public he was a vaJuable servant, and, in connection with the British possessions in the East, a most powerful agent. There can be no doubt that the great designs which he formed, and the measures he pursued, if followed up as a part of her colonial policy, will exalt the character of Great Britain far more than her proudest victories have ever done.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles had the honour of a share in the esteem of his Majesty ; and he enjoyed the personal friendship of not a few individuals of eminence, both in Europe and in Asia ; some of whom were of exalted rank, and others of high literary character; the latter description includes Dr. Morrison, the author of the Chinese Grammar and Dictionary; Sir George Staunton, the author of the Embassy to China; Dr. Wilkins, the East India Company's Librarian ; and almost every other orientalist of celebrity. Of the excellence of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' private character, and of the virtues of his heart, it is impossible to speak too strongly. There never was a man more deservedly endeared to his family and friends, or more deeply lamented by them.
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-1826), Colonial governor and zoologist. This portrait was painted when Raffles returned to Britain to oversee the publication of his History of Java (1817). The Buddhist sculptures (left) and the distant landscape (right) allude to his study of the ethnography, ancient civilisation and languages of the region. Painted with oil on canvas by Artist George Francis Joseph (1764-1846). This painting is on display in Room 19 at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles own publications were, "The History of Java," already mentioned, which appeared in 1817, in two volumes; and "Finlayson's Mission to Siam, with Memoirs of the Author, by Sir T. S. Baffles," 1822. Some time after his return to England, he edited "The Malay Annals" of the late Dr. Leyden ; to which he prefixed an introduction. He is also known to have left some literary projects unexecuted, particularly a Memoir of Singapore, in manuscript.