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Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Drake, P. J. (Peter Joseph), author.
Title: Merchants, bankers, governors : British enterprise in Singapore and Malaya, 1786–1920 /
by Peter J. Drake.
Description: New Jersey : World Scientific, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017011670 | ISBN 9789813222410 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Great Britain--Commerce--Singapore--History. | Singapore--Commerce--
Great Britain--History. | Great Britain--Commerce--Malaysia--Malaya--History. |
Malaya--Commerce--Great Britain--History.
Classification: LCC HF3800.67.Z7 G73 2017 | DDC 382.0941/0595--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011670
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2018 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy
is not required from the publisher.
Desk Editor: Jiang Yulin
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore
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9”x6” b2853 Merchants, Bankers, Governors: British Enterprise in Singapore and Malaya, 1786–1920
For Madeleine, Justin and Felicity,
who have waited
decades for their book.
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b2530 International Strategic Relations and China’s National Security: World at the Crossroads
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9”x6” b2853 Merchants, Bankers, Governors: British Enterprise in Singapore and Malaya, 1786–1920
Acknowledgements
Over the long gestation period of this book I have received much material
support and encouragement from many institutions and colleagues, for
which I am most grateful.
The Nuffield Foundation generously awarded me a Commonwealth
Travelling Fellowship, which I held from August 1969 to October 1970
in the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. I was
also made welcome and granted facilities in the neighbouring School of
Oriental and African Studies of the University. The Nuffield Foundation
also provided fine accommodation for my family. When I returned to
London in 1984, the Nuffield Foundation again provided residential
accommodation and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies an aca-
demic home again. The University of Melbourne and The University of
New England each granted me study leave for these respective periods.
I owe special thanks to J. Gordon Menzies and George Rothery who
took constant interest in my work and used their influence to open com-
mercial doors for me in London. From the merchant firms and banks,
I thank H.B. Roper-Caldbeck, Frank Man, T.M. Walker, A.E. Scott, John
Wilson, J.H. Girling, K.G. Sinclair, J.H. Morris, T.B. Russell, T.B. Barlow,
Keith Anderson and Ina Swain in London; and Eric Jennings, J.G. Gilmour
and Sir Anthony Hayward in Singapore. Of particular mention is John
Gullick who was a colonial civil servant in the Malay States before join-
ing Guthrie & Co. in 1957; on his later retirement he continued to be
vii
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viii Merchants, Bankers, Governors
a significant and productive scholar of Malaya and took much interest in
this work.
In the academic world, I must first greatly thank John Drabble, with
whom I have long enjoyed friendship and collaboration on our common
interest in Malayan economic history. Chiang Hai Ding, Wong Lin Ken,
C.D. (Jeremy) Cowan, Peter Lyon, Peter Ayre, Leslie Pressnell, Harold
Luckham, Hal Hill and Gregg Huff deserve warm thanks for their advice
and encouragement.
Susan Littler, Florence Harris and Joan Drake gave research assis-
tance at different stages of the work. Jayne Carlon, Fiona Wilkinson and
Kate McDowell typed various sections of the manuscript. I thank them all
for their kind help.
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9”x6” b2853 Merchants, Bankers, Governors: British Enterprise in Singapore and Malaya, 1786–1920
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface xi
Chapter 1 The Earliest Times: 1786–1850s 1
Chapter 2 Taking Root: 1850s–1870 25
Chapter 3 Straits Politics and Trade Infrastructure, 1867–1873 37
Chapter 4 Opening the Peninsula, 1874–1896 55
Chapter 5 Currency and Banks 83
Chapter 6 Rapid Economic Growth and Change, 1896–1914 103
Chapter 7 Merchant Firm 1: Guthrie & Co. 121
Chapter 8 Merchant Firm 2: Boustead & Co. 143
Chapter 9 Finale 175
Bibliography 181
A Note on Sources 187
About the Author 189
Index 191
ix
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