SUNDAY VIBES
peasant as with members of nobility. Over time, Raffles acquired the extraordinary insight into the hearts and minds of the Malay folk and they, in return, held him in the highest regard. The compass and square represent one of the most famous symbols of Freemasonry. The Lodge Room at the Singapore Freemasons’ Hall.
overseas bases. This directly threatened the BEIC settlement in Java and prompted Raffles to start collecting intelligence on the enemy.
Four years later, in 1810, Raffles made his way to Calcutta and persuaded Lord Minto to send an expedition to Java to forestall French ambitions there. Although the Governor-General of India had been instructed by his superiors not to take any offensive action, Raffles’ arguments were so convincing that preparations were immediately put in place for a naval force to set sail.
Raffles accurately predicted the French overtures and his information helped Lord Minto defeat a Franco-Dutch army five times the size of his own. The British took Java in just 45 days. Raffles was made Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies and made Buitenzorg (now Bogor) his residence.
Pondok-Gedeh coffee estate near Buitenzorg in 1812.
Raffles kept many of the former Dutch civil servants in his administration to assist his small subset of senior British staff members. A year later, the LieutenantGovernor went on an official tour of the island and stayed a night at Surabaya on July 5, 1813. That evening, a service was rendered at Lodge De Vriendschap to bestow upon Raffles the rank of Past Master.
Java benefitted greatly from the sweeping reforms, both political and humanitarian, initiated by Raffles. He tried to put in place restrictions on the local slave trade even though slavery remained widespread in Java during his tenure.
Raffles aggressively supported the plan to systematically catalogue, for the first time, a large number of ancient monuments in Java. Raffles’ surveyor, Colin Mackenzie prepared the first detailed English-language account of Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple complex located near Djokjakarta (now Jogjakarta) while Dutch engineer H.C. Cornelius was tasked to clear and survey Borobudur temple complex with the help of 200 villagers.
Shifting my attention to several other reference books, I learn that the year 1814 brought about the beginning of problems that were to beset Raffles for the rest of his natural life. His integrity was called into question when General Robert Rollo Gillespie, whom Raffles replaced as Lieutenant-Governor of Java in 1811, hurled accusations of corrupt practices.
Gillespie, a fellow Freemason, made the public slur out of jealousy for Raffles’ string of successes in the former Dutch colony. Although Raffles managed to eventually clear his name, a series of misfortune struck him soon after.
News of Lord Minto’s passing on June 21, 1814 affected Raffles badly. Added to the loss of his friend, Raffles was filled with sorrow to see his work in Java brought to nothing when it was decided, as part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, to return the island to the Netherlands.
The final and most devastating blow was the death of his beloved wife, Olivia Mariamne Fancourt on Nov 26, 1814. She died at Buitenzorg, aged 43, and was buried at the Tanah Abang burial ground (now Taman Prasasti Museum) in Batavia.
Although an 1897 article by Demetrius C. Boulger mentioned that “for about the same time” as the death of Olivia, Raffles had also “lost in quick succession the children she had borne him” but, after an exhaustive search, I discover that there’s no record of children born from the union of Raffles and his first wife Olivia.
As such, it was highly probable that Boulger had been misled by references of “deaths to the family”, a term that not only covered Raffles’ immediate family members but also those of his personal staff members.
Raffles returned to England in July 1816. A year later, he wrote and published a book called The History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times, as well as received the honour of knighthood. Raffles walked down the aisle the second time when he exchanged marriage vows with Sophia Hull on Feb 22, 1817 before setting sail for Bencoolen to take up his new Lieutenant-General post there.
In October 1818, Raffles sailed to Calcutta to interest Lord Hastings, Lord Monto’s successor, to set up a base at the southern end of the Malay Peninsular to counteract Dutch commercial aggression. Lord Hastings, himself a Freemason, authorised the search that eventually led to the establishment of a British trading post in Singapore a few months later.
Although my research ends with Raffles’ demise in 1826, the many tragedies he suffered in the year leading up to his death bring to light the many trials and tribulations faced by the man who founded modern Singapore exactly two centuries ago.
By 1823, Raffles and Sophia had lost four of their five children to diseases like enteritis and dysentery in Bencoolen. They managed to save Ella Sophia by sending her back to England, in the care of their nurse Mary Grimes and a Eurasian servant, J. Rousseau.
Raffles and his wife left Bencoolen on the East Indiaman Fame for England on Feb 2, 1824. Unfortunately, she caught fire that very evening after having just sailed 80 kilometres from port. Although everyone aboard was saved, Raffles’ treasured collection of natural history specimens and priceless documents went down with the ship. Raffles intended to use the materials to produce a comprehensive work on the Eastern Archipelago.
Even in retirement, Raffles was dogged by demands from the BEIC for monies they claimed had been paid to him in excess. Those demands survived his death and almost brought his widow to her knees. Raffles’ final act in service to his fellow man was the foundation of the London Zoological Society.
Enjoying a quick snack at the library foyer, I thank my lucky stars for the chance discovery of the Masonic Hall earlier in the afternoon. The subsequent library visit has certainly shed light on the tragic private life of one of the most famous Freemasons in the Eastern Archipelago.