Actions for Straits Settlements: Despatches to Prince of Wales Island, Abstracts, 18 April 1805 to 12 May 1830 : Index 1805

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Straits Settlements: Despatches to Prince of Wales Island, Abstracts, 18 April 1805 to 12 May 1830 : Index 1805/04/18-1830/05/12.

Published
Marlborough, Wiltshire : Adam Matthew Digital, 2018.
Physical Description
1 online resource
Additional Creators
Adam Matthew Digital (Firm)
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Summary
Description: IOR/G/34: Factory Records: Straits Settlements, 1786-1830. Miscellaneous papers, 1769-1795; Bengal consultations relating to Prince of Wales Island, 1786-1795; Prince of Wales Island public consultations, 1805-1830; Prince of Wales Island secret and political consultations, 1806-1829; Prince of Wales Island marine consultations, 1806-1809; Prince of Wales Island military consultations, 1806-1807; Singapore diaries, 1827-1830; Singapore political and secret consultations, 1827-1830; Malacca public consultations, 1827; Malacca political consultations, 1828; Malacca journals and ledgers, 1826-1830; letters received from Prince of Wales Island, 1805-1830; abstracts of letters received from Prince of Wales Island, 1805-1830; despatches to Prince of Wales Island, 1805-1830; abstracts of despatches to Prince of Wales Island, 1805-1830. 199 volumes.Origin: In 1772, Francis Light, a Company servant who had traded extensively in the native states of the Malay Peninsula, wrote to the Government of Bengal recommending the country of Quedah as a trading base for the eastern trade. The Company were keen to establish a commercial port in the region and obtained the island of Pulo Penang in Quedah in 1786, renaming it Prince of Wales Island. Fourteen years later a tract of land on the nearby coast was also obtained and renamed Province Wellesley.In 1795 the Company acquired the port of Malacca from the Dutch and in 1805 Penang was raised to the status of presidency. In 1818, under the Treaty of Vienna, Malacca was restored to the Dutch. In order to protect British trade in the area and to secure the passage through the Straits of Malacca, the Company servant Stamford Raffles was sent from Bengal with instructions to form a settlement on Rhio, south of Malacca. He found the place in Dutch hands, however, and selected Singapore as a suitable alternative. In 1819 Raffles obtained the right from the ruler of Singapore to establish a factory there. At first the factory came under the control of Fort Marlborough in Sumatra but in 1823 it was placed under the Government of Bengal. In 1825 Malacca was restored to the English and in 1826 Penang, Malacca and Singapore were brought together under a single administration at Penang. In 1830, all three settlements were brought under the Bengal presidency. In 1851 the Straits Settlements, as they were known, were brought under the Government of India and in 1867 their administration was transferred to the Colonial Office.Related Resources: Java Factory Records (IOR/G/21); Bengal and Government of India Proceedings (IOR/P); 'A historical sketch of the circumstances which led to the settlement of Penang & of the trade to the eastward previous to and since that period' (IOR/H/437 ff.139-89), which James Scott published as John Bastin (ed.), 'Historical sketch of Penang in 1794' in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 32/1 (1959).
Other Subject(s)
Note
East India Company Factory Records (1608-1858). A 'factory' was a trading post where a number of merchants, or factors, resided. When company ships arrived at the factories, ships' merchants were thus enabled to exchange goods for trading immediately instead of having to wait to make deals with local merchants. Factories were run by a chief factor and a council of factors. The 'Factory Records' is an artificially-created sub-fonds; the records of individual Company factories consist mainly of consultations (records of administrative decisions and of correspondence), diaries (records of daily activities), letters received, copies of letters sent and collections of papers on particular subjects.
AMDigital Reference: IOR/G/34/196.
Original Version
Reproduction of: Straits Settlements: Despatches to Prince of Wales Island, Abstracts, 18 April 1805 to 12 May 1830 18 Apr 1805 - 12 May 1830.
Location of Originals
The British Library
Copyright Note
The British Library Board
View MARC record | catkey: 24148546