Singapore

In 1819, the British East India Company, led by Sir Stamford Raffles, established a trading post on the island of Singapore, which was used as a port along the spice route.

Singapore formed part of the Straits Settlements, together with Penang (Prince of Wales Island) and Malacca.

Records

• Ecclesiastical Returns: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials at the British Library. Prince of Wales Island [Penang], Malacca and Singapore 1799-1829 in IOR N/8. These records are probably included in the digitised records now available on the commercial site FindMyPast

The LDS film number for these records is 498606, item 2. LDS batch number for baptisms 1828-1829 C310051. Data for the baptisms 1828-1829 has been transcribed on the LDS website Family Search. Enter batch number C310051, and baptismal records for Singapore 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.

Returns are continued in the Bengal returns 1830-1868, N/1. For Malacca marriages 1820-1824, see also IOR: R/9/39/3.

• This LDS catalogue entry gives details of the church and cemetery records available for Singapore.

• BACSA has published the book Singapore: Early Cemeteries by Alan Harfield 1988 (revised edn) "Comprehensive record of all main cemeteries. 400pp, over 150 illustrations, maps and plans". See BACSA Books. This book is included in the BACSA Search database which is free to search. If you want a copy of the full record, a fee applies.

• British & Indian Armies in the East Indies (1685-1935) by Alan Harfield 1984 is available at the British Library. History of British and Indian Armies in Sumatra, Java, Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore from 1685-1935. Includes names of officers and men buried in these areas. Also includes name lists of persons in some military units which served in these areas.

Newspapers

• Singapore Straits Times 1845-1982 (search) Full articles may now be viewed. (Previously searches could provide results to be explored on microfilm where available, such as at BL Colindale, and Monash University Library, Victoria, Australia (catalogue entry).

Recommended reading

• Raffles and the Golden Opportunity by Victoria Glendinning, published 2012.

This book has been reviewed by Beverly Hallam in FIBIS Journal Number 30 (Autumn 2013) page 43

External Links

Encylopedia entries

• Singapore Wikipedia

• Singapore in the Straits Settlements era Wikipedia

• Thomas Stamford Raffles Wikipedia
• Straits Settlements Wikipedia
• Singapore Infopedia National Library of Singapore

Institutions

• ICA (The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Singapore Government) maintains birth and death records which were registered in Singapore since 1872. Birth and Death Extracts Application System (eXtracts Online)
• The National Library of Singapore - items in the section Singapore Pages include:

• "Tracing Roots" pdf brochure
• Singapore Collection of the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. This India List post mentions microfilms of directories at the Library.
• Books available to download including:

• Directories for The Straits and/or Singapore for the years 1853-1857, 1859-1863, 1867-1871, 1875, 1877, 1879, 1881. The majority of these books are in the category 'Commerce and Industry', but the volume for 1867-1869 is in the category Events. There is also an 1821 Directory for Prince of Wales Island (Penang) in the category Organisations.
• The stranger's guide to Singapore with maps 1890

• National Archives of Singapore, includes Access to Archives Online. This India List post details some of the information available at the National Archives.
• National Heritage Board including the National Museum of Singapore

Historical books online

• Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles...particularly in the government of Java, 1811-1816, Bencoolen and its dependencies, 1817-1824: (etc) Volume 1, by Sophia Raffles (1835), Volume 2 Google Books.
• Travels in South-Eastern Asia (etc) by Howard Malcolm (2nd edition 1839) 2 volumes in one, Google Books. Singapore in 1837 commences page 81 of Book 2.
• Trade and Travel in the Far East; Or, Recollections of Twenty-one Years Passed in Java, Singapore, Australia, and China by G.F. Davidson (1846). Singapore covered in Chapters 3 and 4. Google Books
• A Gazetteer of Southern India: with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore by Pharoah &Co (1855). Singapore, page 725
• An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore (1819-1867) Volume 1 Volume 2 by Charles Burton Buckley 1902 Archive.org
• Handbook to Singapore with Map, and a Plan of the Botanical Gardens by George Murray Reith 1892 Archive.org
• 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

Medical history of Singapore

• "History Of Medicine In Singapore” by J S Cheah Singapore Medical Journal 1997 Volume 38 (6)
• Articles by Y K Lee in the online Singapore Medical Journal

• “The General Hospital in Early Singapore" “Part I 1819-1829” 1973 Mar 14 (1) 37-41 "Part II 1830—1839” 1973 Dec 14(4) 519-
• “Forensic Medicine in Early Singapore Part I 1819-1839” 1974 Mar 15(1) p 84-90
• “A Brief Introduction to the Early History of Surgery in Singapore” "Part I" 1997 Volume 38(6) "Part II" 1997 Volume 38(7) "Part III" 1997 Volume 38(8):353–355
• "Private practitioners and private hospitals in early Singapore (1819-1872)" 2005 Sep; 46(9):489-503
• Other articles by Y K Lee about the early medical history of Singapore in the Singapore Medical Journal] available online (search by year) are in respect of:

• Cholera(1973 Mar)
• The Pauper Hospital (8 Parts-1973 Mar; 1974 Mar; 1975 Jun; 1975 Sep; 1975 Dec; 1976 Mar; 1976 Jun; 1976 Sep)
• Smallpox and Vaccination (4 Parts- 1973 Dec; 1976 Dec; 1977 Mar; 1977 Jun)
• Prostitution And Venereal Disease (2 Parts-1980 Oct; 1980 Dec)
• The Mental Diseases Hospital Singapore (1st 100 Years) (4 Parts-1992 Aug; 1992 Oct;1992 Dec;1993 Feb)
• The Coroner (2005 Oct)
• Radiology (2006 Feb)
• Anaesthetics (2006 Mar)
• Pharmacy (2006 May).

• "Lunatics and Lunatic Asylums in Early Singapore" (1819-1869) by Y K Lee Med Hist. 1973 January; 17(1): 16–36. html version, pdf
• “A Century of Medical & University Education in Singapore (1905-2005)” Annals Academy of Medicine Singapore Vol 34 No. 6 July 2005 Contains many articles about the medical history of Singapore, including some by Y K Lee

Also see Apothecary and Nurse

Other

• Eurasians in Singapore Wikipedia
• Rootsweb Singapore Mailing List - for details refer Mailing lists
• Peter Stubbs’ Fort Siloso including A Soldier’s Home [in the 1880s]
• Official website of the Malaysian Dutch Descendants Project includes History of the Dutch and Dutch-Eurasians in Malaysia. Many Dutch Eurasians moved from Malacca to Singapore from the middle of the nineteenth century.
• Post from Victorian Wars Forum with images of two gravestones from Fort Canning Cemetery, Peter Parks and John Hide, both sailors. Both are listed in the BACSA book Singapore: Early Cemeteries by Alan Harfield, refer above
• Remnants of Jews in Singapore by Barbara Kingstone January 17, 2011 indulgedtraveler.com
• Article about golf courses from the New York Times, dated January 8, 1899. Includes a description of the Sepoy golf links at Singapore with its uniquely named greens. From Amit Paranjape’s Blog, June 1, 2009