Letter from Sir Stamford Raffles to Charles Grant, 1815 - 1915
Scope and Contents
A letter from Sir Stamford Raffles in Batavia to Charles Grant, Chairman of the East India Company, 25 October 1815 (3 pages), defending Raffles' administrative record in Java, written before he had received news of the decision to return Java to the Dutch. There is an undated typescript copy of this letter (2 pages) and a photocopy of a second letter, written by Raffles in Singapore to David Brown, 12 November 1822 (3 pages).
Dates
- Creation: 1815 - 1915
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
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Biographical / Historical
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was born on 5 July 1781 at sea off Port Morant, Jamaica. He joined the East India Company, and was posted to Penang in 1805. After assisting in the reduction of Java, Raffles was the island's Lieutenant-Governor, 1811-1815. He published 'The history of Java' in 1817, the year he was knighted, and became Governor of Bencoolen in 1818. After encouraging the East India Company to acquire Singapore in 1819, Raffles was posted to the island to establish a system of government, 1823-1824. He returned to England in 1824, where he lived in retirement for the rest of his life near Barnet. He founded the Zoological Society, and served as its first president. He died on 5 July 1826. Charles Grant (1746-1823), statesman and philanthropist, became Chairman of the East India Company in 1805.
Extent
8 page(s) : paper
Language of Materials
English
Former / Other Reference
MSS 333
Other Finding Aids
Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), p. 75.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Presented by Sir Harry Wilson, 1915.
Bibliography
General
This collection level description was created by RAS using information from Donald Simpson's R.C.S. catalogue. The biographical history was compiled with reference to the entry on Sir Stamford Raffles in Sidney Lee, ed., 'Dictionary of national biography', vol. XVI (London, 1909), pp. 604-608.
Originator(s)
Raffles, Sir, Thomas Stamford, 1781-1826, Knight, colonial governor
Finding aid date
2004-01-08 16:09:05+00:00
Subject
- Grant, Charles, 1746 - 1823 (statesman and philanthropist) (Recipient, Person)
Geographic
Repository Details
Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository
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