Dimensions
135 x 206 x 23mm
The founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, was born into genteel poverty in 1781 London before joining the East India Company at the age of 14 and working his way up to become Lieutenant Governor of Java (now in Indonesia). There he fell in love with all things Javanese and vaunted it as a place of civilisation as he discovered himself as a man of science as well as commerce. A humane and ever-curious figure, his administration was a period of energetic reform and boisterous research that culminated in his History of Java in 1817 and it remains the starting-point of all subsequent studies of Indonesian culture.
Personal tragedy and ill-health stalked his final years in the East. Yet, though dying at the early age of 44 and dogged by the hostility of lesser men, he would still find time to found the city-state of Singapore and guide it through its first dangerous years. Here, mythologised by the British and demonised by the Dutch, he is more than a remote founding father and remains a charter for its independence and its enduring values. In this intriguing book, part history, part travelogue, Nigel Barley re-visits the places that were important in the life of Stamford Raffles and evaluates his heritage in an account that is both humorous and insightful. First published by Penguin, this book has been updated and reissued by Monsoon Books.
