Bencoolen

Bencoolen
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Presidency:
Coordinates:	3.8127211°S 102.24979°E
Altitude:
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Benkulu City
State/Province:	Benkulu, Southwest Sumatra
Country:	Indonesia
Transport links

A settlement originally established in 1685 by the East India Company on the south side of the island of Sumatra, following the expulsion of the EIC from Bantam by the Dutch. In 1714, the EIC built Fort Marlborough to protect its interests.

In 1825, the EIC exchanged Benkulen with the Dutch for Malacca which was more strategically useful to the British. Benkulen remained a Dutch possession until after World War 2.

Spelling Variants

Modern name: Bengkulu
Variants: Benkulen, Bencoolen

FIBIS resources

• "The Assassination of Thomas Parr, Resident of Bencoolen" by Joanna C Fennell FIBIS Journal Number 28 (Autumn 2012) pages 32 -38. The muder took place in December 1807. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article
• "Distant Relations Discovered - A Bencoolen Family Reunited" by James T Day FIBIS Journal Number 29 (Spring 2013) pages 15- 18. "The story begins way back in 1794". See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article

Records

• Held at British Library
  • Deaths at Benkulen 1691 IOR/E/3/48 f.252
  • Baptisms, Marriages and Burials at Benkulen 1740-1742, IOR/G/35/9
  • Ecclesiastical Returns: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. Fort Marlborough [Bencoolen, Sumatra] 1759-1825, reference IOR N/7. These records are included in the digitised records now available on the commercial site FindMyPast. The LDS film of this data is 498606. Data for the baptisms and marriages has been transcribed on the LDS website Family Search. Enter batch number C310011 for the baptisms and batch number M310011 for the marriages, and baptismal and marriage records for Bencoolen on film 498606 will be shown. It is not known whether the data is a complete transcription or not. These records are in the World category (All Records Collections) in a group of records called World Miscellaneous.

• Refer also Dutch Indies Genealogical Association.

• The BACSA publication entitled Bencoolen: The Christian Cemetery and the Fort Marlborough Monuments by Alan Harfield 1985 is now out of print but can be found in the British Library on the open shelves or amongst the BACSA files under reference MssEur F370/1243. Indexes from this book are online (for free) at BACSA search. BACSA also have a cemetery file under reference MssEur F370/823
  • FamilySearch have digitised the above BACSA book, which has restricted access, but which may be viewed on a FamilySearch computer at a FamilySearch Centre. catalogue entry. For more information, see FamilySearch Centres. Update June 2018. It appears that FamilySearch digital viewing is no longer possible. To be clarified.

Recommended Reading

• Letters from Bencoolen 1823-28 by Thomas Day and William Day with an intro by James Trelawny Day (Cambridge Asia Series , Hardinge Simpole 2008) Book reviewed in FIBIS Journals no 26.

External links

• 'Benkulen', The British Empire.
• 'Bengkulu', Wikipedia.
• Richard Davies' Sumatra’s Westkust includes The British in West Sumatra 1770-1824: Bencoolen, Fort Marlborough, now archived. This site contains many names.
• "The East India Company slaving voyage of Nicholas Skottowe" by Professor Huw Bowen 09 January 2012 British Library Untold lives blog. The slaves were transported to St Helena and Bencoolen 1764-6.
• The Anglo-Dutch 1824 Treaty History of Bengkulu website
• Ghosts of Britannia The Jakarta Globe (News site), archived.
• Company culture: information, scholarship, and the East India Company settlements 1660-1720s by Anna E Winterbottom 2010 PhD thesis, University of London. Pdf, core.ac.uk. Includes one chapter which has information about Bencoolen.

Historical books online

• The History of Sumatra: containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitants, with a description of the natural productions, and a relation of the ancient political state of that island ‬by William Marsden. Third edition with additions 1811 Google Books.The map has not been filmed. First published 1783. The 2nd edition describes the author "late Secretary to the President and Council of Fort Marlborough".
• Memoir of Lieut.-Col. John Macdonald 1831 Google Books. He became a cadet of the Bombay Army in 1780, first in the infantry , then the Engineers. In 1782 he joined the Bengal Engineers and was sent to Bencoolen and mainly performed survey work in this area until 1796. (Note, an unrelated book follows the Memoir)
• Article in the Asiatic Journal, Volume 13, January-June 1822. A Succinct Historical Narrative of the East India Company’s Endeavours to Form Settlements and to Extend and Encourage Trade in the East and of the Causes by which those Endeavours have been Frustrated. Section 1 Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Eastern Islands, etc . pages 1-11. Other Sections page 11, page 105, page 209 Google Books
• Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles,F.R.S., &c. &c., particularly in the government of Java, 1811-1816, Bencoolen and its dependencies, 1817-1824: with details of the commerce and resources of the Eastern Archipelago, and selections from his correspondence by Sophia Raffles 1835 Volume 1, Volume 2 Google Books
• Prisoners their own warders: a record of the convict prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements, established 1825, discontinued 1873, together with a cursory history of the convict establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca from the year 1797 by Major J. F. A. McNair, assisted by W. D. Bayliss. 1899 Archive.org