School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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Author: Wright, Nadia Helen × End date: 2022 × Subject: Singapore ×

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    Image is all: Lt-Colonel William Farquhar, Sir Stamford Raffles, and the founding and early development of colonial Singapore
    Wright, Nadia Helen ( 2012)
    In popular memory, Sir Stamford Raffles is hailed as the far-sighted founder of the British settlement at Singapore. This thesis challenges that image of Raffles, arguing that it obscures and undervalues the role played by Lieutenant Colonel William Farquhar. The thesis re-examines Farquhar’s role, along with that of Raffles, and analyses why Farquhar has been belittled and Raffles so glorified in Singapore’s conventional founding narrative. The thesis challenges three widely held beliefs which form the basis of Raffles’ dominance of that narrative. These are: that Raffles chose Singapore as a site for a new British trading post; that he was responsible for its rapid rise to a successful entrepôt port, and that he was responsible for Britain’s acquisition of Singapore. This research validates Farquhar’s competing claims that he was owed much credit in Singapore’s founding and early commercial success. The study breaks new ground. For the first time, an ongoing and positive link between Farquhar’s activities in Malacca and in Singapore is demonstrated. Moreover, evidence provided by Raffles’ biographers to aggrandise Raffles and criticise Farquhar is refuted by documentary evidence. Previously uncited material reveals the inaccuracy of two other popular beliefs: first, that Farquhar was an incompetent and disobedient official and, secondly, that Raffles was a highly principled and efficient administrator. This thesis also presents the first analysis of Raffles’ dismissal of Farquhar, and of Farquhar’s subsequent steps to obtain redress for what he considered was harsh and unjustified treatment by Raffles. Looking beyond Farquhar and Raffles, this research demonstrates how history can be tainted by subjective works, unsound memories and misinformation. It sheds more light on how and why particular men are immortalised, and how the pathways from historical records to myth making are created, as the cult of the great man obscures the achievements of other individuals. In addition, the research reveals how popular memory can create a simplistic, linear narrative, obscuring the complexities of history. This revisionist interpretation of the roles and characters of Farquhar and Raffles in Singapore’s founding and early development, based on new, as well as re-examined data, clarifies a misunderstood period in Singaporean history.