Raffles, Sir Stamford

Raffles, Sir (Thomas) Stamford

(born July 6, 1781, at sea off Port Morant, Jam.—died July 5, 1826, London, Eng.) Administrator in the British East India Company and founder of Singapore. He joined the British East India Company at age 14, and his hard work won him an appointment as assistant secretary to the government of Penang (in present-day Malaysia). There he undertook an intensive study of the Malayan peoples, and his knowledge allowed him to play a key role in 1811, when the British defeated Dutch-French forces in Java. He subsequently became lieutenant governor there and inaugurated a mass of reforms aimed at transforming the Dutch colonial system and improving the condition of the native population. He was recalled by the company, which deemed his reforms too costly; though he was popular in London (he was knighted in 1816), his authority when he resumed his service in Southeast Asia was severely restricted. Undeterred, he founded the port city of Singapore in 1819 in order to to ensure British access to the China seas; in 1824 the Dutch relinquished all claims to Singapore. Raffles is credited with creating Britain's Far Eastern empire.