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.

FIBIS resources

• Fort Canning Cemetery, Singapore FIBIS database images. FIBIS article Fort Canning Cemetery, Singapore by Peter Bailey 23/05/2017.

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 included in the digitised records now available on the commercial site findmypast

The FamilySearch (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 FamilySearch (LDS) catalogue entry based on keyword Singapore, and English language and online filter, includes details of digitised microfilm church and cemetery records available for Singapore. See FamilySearch Centres.

• 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.
  • 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.

• 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.

• Birth, marriage and death notices were published in Singapore newspapers. See following section for online newspapers.

• See below External links, Institutions for Singapore Government records of births and deaths.

• See General Register Office, UK for UK "overseas" records.

Newspapers

• Singapore Straits Times 1845-1982 (search) Free website. Full articles may now be viewed. newspapers.nl.sg

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

Also see

• For 1915 Singapore Mutiny, see 5th Light Infantry, Indian Army
• Second World War

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. Online Birth and Death Extracts Application System (eXtracts Online)
• National Library Board, Singapore:
  • Lee Kong Chian Reference Library
    • Tracing Roots: Resource Guide to the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library (LKCRL), ( a pdf brochure, now no longer available), advised resources includes Directories on microfilm, for years additional to those available in digital editions.
    • Also see External links- Other, below
  • BookSG "A digital collection of Singapore and Southeast Asia's print heritage". Includes Directories, refer below. The majority of the Directories 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.
    • Rare Maps Collection A digital collection of Singapore and Southeast Asia's print heritage from BookSG
  • Newspapers. Refer above.
• National Archives of Singapore, includes Access to Archives Online.
• National Heritage Board including the National Museum of Singapore

Other

• Remember Singapore remembersingapore.org
• National Library of Singapore by P.J. Thum, National University of Singapore. April 17, 2013 dissertationreviews.org
• Family History Records at the National Library of Singapore November 5, 2013 FamilySearch Wiki. Retrieved 19 November 2014
• Eurasians in Singapore Wikipedia
• Rootsweb Singapore Mailing List - for details refer Mailing lists
• Churches
  • St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore Church of England. flickr.com. St. Andrews Cathedral victorianweb.org.
  • Cathedral of the Good Shepherd Roman Catholic. victorianweb.org
  • Church of Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic. victorianweb.org
  • Chapel, Former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Singapore Roman Catholic. victorianweb.org
  • Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator (The Armenian Church) victorianweb.org
• Peter Stubbs’ Fort Siloso including A Soldier’s Home [in the 1880s]
• Singapore Volunteer Rifle Corps is set up 8th Jul 1854. If link is not permanent, access from History SG, and select Organisations. Refers to A History of the Singapore Volunteer Corps, 1854-1937 : being also an historical outline of volunteering in Malaya by T.M. Winsley 1938. Available online in a Limited Preview, and also in a reprint edition, which in turn is available online on the pay website fold3, refer below.

The Malayan Volunteer Forces by Rosemary Fell. cofepow.org.uk

Singapore And Malaya Volunteer Corps Medals 10 March 2013 from “Singapore Volunteer Corps, Straits Settlements Volunteer Force, Malaya Volunteer Forces”

Malayan Volunteers Group Includes categories such as History, Stories, Malayan Volunteer Air Force, Evacuees, Armoured Cars, Sumatra etc.

• "Singapore 1915 Sepoy Mutiny and Alexandra Barracks" October 16, 2016. amazingwalks
• "Mata.Mata: History of The Singapore Police" August 10, 2013 and updated 14 January 2018. remembersingapore.org
• Bibliography of Memoirs and Personal Reminiscences of Colonial Singapore and Malaysia postcolonialweb.org
• 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.
• Remnants of Jews in Singapore by Barbara Kingstone January 17, 2011 indulgedtraveler.com, now an archived webpage. Retrieved 29 May 2014
• The Jewish Community of Singapore bh.org.il. Retrieved 19 November 2014
• 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.
• "Amazing drone footage of Kranji War Memorial gives a stunning view of the place" by Tanya Ong July 13, 2017. mothership.sg. Refers to a YouTube video Kranji War Memorial
• Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire by Cecilia Y. Leong-Salobir, University of Wollongong 2011. Mainly in respect of India, but also includes Malaysia and Singapore.

"Spreading the word: using cookbooks and colonial memoirs to examine the foodways of British Colonials in Asia, 1850-1900" by Cecilia Y. Leong-Salobir, University of Wollongong. From The Routledge History of Food 2015 (pp. 131-155)

Maps

• Singapore (Dockyard area) (1944) British Library Online Gallery, Click on icon to enlarge.

Historical photographs online

• Royal Commonwealth Society Library. University of Cambridge Digital Library.
  • A series of 160 images of Singapore from circa 1880s to circa 1940s, originally from a collection of The British Association of Malaysia and Singapore, now in the Royal Commonwealth Society Library.
    • Includes two images of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore: A and B
  • Lillian Newton photograph collection of Singapore circa 1894-circa 1925

Historical books online

• Also see Malaysia
• Directories from BookSG
  • Prince of Wales Island: Annual register and directory 1821
  • The Singapore almanack and directory 1853-1855, 1857, Royal Almanac 1859-1860, 1856
  • The Straits calendar and directory 1861-1863, Royal Almanac 1864; 1865-1866, 1867-1869, 1870-1871
  • The Singapore directory for the Straits Settlements 1877, 1879
  • The Singapore and Straits directory for 1881
• The Singapore almanack and directory for the year 1856 is available to download as a pdf from the [Digital] Sejarah Melayu Library, located in the General section. Scroll down to T, and scroll further to The S…
• The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c. For a range of editions to 1922, see China.
• The London and China Telegraph. Published weekly in London. Covers China, Hong Kong, Japan, Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang), Batavia and perhaps a wider area. For editions 1860-1875 (missing 1862), see China.
• A History of the Singapore Volunteer Corps, 1854-1937 : being also an historical outline of volunteering in Malaya by T.M. Winsley 1938. A Limited preview of this book, including small copies of photographs is available online. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Also available in a reprint edition, which in turn is available online on the pay website fold3, owned by Ancestry, as A History of the Singapore Volunteer Corps.
• 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.
• Singapore and Malacca 1825-1826 page 231 Bits of Old China by William C Hunter 1885 Archive.org
• The Eastern Seas, or Voyages and adventures in the Indian Archipelago, in 1832, 33, 34 ... also an account of the present state of Singapore, etc by George Windsor Earl 1837 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.
• Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca: Viz. Pinang, Malacca, and Singapore, with a History of the Malayan States on the Peninsula of Malacca‬ by T J Newbold 1839 Google Books Volume I, Volume II
• Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire from the Official Records of the Colonial Office by Robert Montgomery Martin 1839 Google Books. Book IV- Possessions in Asia "Chapter V-Singapore (Singhapura)" pages 408-412
• "The Eastern Settlements: Singapore, Prince of Wales Island, Malacca" page 283 The Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazetteer for 1842 Volume II Google Books. Includes Lists of Inhabitants.
• "Cultivation Of Nutmegs At Singapore" is an article from Transactions of the Society, Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, Volume 54. January 1, 1843. Archive.org
• The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Various weekly editions during 1843. The text needs to be greatly enlarged. Archive.org (Catalogued as 1835)
• 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 is covered in Chapters 3 and 4. Google Books
• The Burney Papers. Cover the period 1825 to 1849. See Thailand.
• The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. Published at Singapore Volumes 1-9 1847-1855; New Series Volumes 1-4 1856-59/63.
  • Volume III, 1849, Volume IV 1850, 1862 Volume IV, New Series 1862 Google Books
  • Reprint editions Hathi Trust Digital Library A and B for all years of publication
  • Pdf downloads, Digital Library of India.
• De Zieke Reiziger: Or, Rambles in Java and the Straits. In 1852 [The Invalid Traveller] by A Bengal Civilian [stated elsewhere to be Charles Walter Kinloch] 1853 Google Books.
• A Gazetteer of Southern India: with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore by Pharoah &Co (1855). Singapore, page 725
• Memorandum on the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca by John Crawfurd 1858 Google Books (Missing pages 2-3) Penang, Malacca and Singapore.
• "Singapore" page 292 Reports on mountain and marine sanitaria; medical and statistical observations on civil stations and military cantonments, jails - dispensaries - regiments - barracks, &c. within the Presidency of Madras, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Islands, and British Burmah from January 1858 to January 1862] by Inspector General of Hospitals Duncan Macpherson. 1862 Archive.org. Part of the series Selections from the Records of the Madras Government.
• Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India: Being a Descriptive Account of Singapore, Penang, Province Wellesley, and Malacca: Their Peoples, Products, Commerce and Government by John Cameron. 1865 Google Books
• Jottings of an invalid in search of health, comprising a run through British India and a visit to Singapore and Java : a series of letters reprinted from the "Times of India" by Tom Cringle. [Author: William Walker] 1865. South East Asia Visions, Cornell University. Also available in the British Library Digital Collection
• The China Sea Directory by the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, London.
  • The China Sea Directory Volume I. Containing directions for the approaches to the China Sea and to Singapore, by the straits of Sunda, Banka, Gaspar, Carimata, Rhio, Varella, Durian, and Singapore by J. W. Reed , R N and J. W. King, R N. 1867 Google Books. 3rd edition 1886 Archive.org.

  The China Sea Directory Volume I Supplement ... Directions for Malacca Strait. Compiled by Staff Commander John Cumins Richards. Hydrographic Office, Admiralty 1876. British Library Digital Collection

  • The China Sea Directory Volume II. Containing directions for the navigation of the China Sea, between Singapore and Hong Kong by J. W. Reed , R N and J. W. King, R N. 1868. British Library Digital Collection.
• A directory for the navigation of the Indian Archipelago, China, and Japan, from the straits of Malacca and Sunda, and the passages east of Java. To Canton, Shanghai, the Yellow Sea, and Japan, with descriptions of the winds, monsoons, and currents, and general instructions for the various channels, harbours, etc by Alexander George Findlay 2nd edition 1878 Archive.org
• Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China; or, Ten Years’ Travels, Adventures and Residence Abroad by J Thomson 1875 Archive.org. British Library Digital Collection version with rotatable images. Through the Lens of John Thomson : Biography
• Records of sport in Southern India : chiefly on the Annamullay, Nielgherry and Pulney mountains, also including notes on Singapore, Java and Labuan, from journals written between 1844 and 1870 by the late General Douglas Hamilton, Madras Army 1892 Archive.org
• Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 1878-1922. In 1923 the title changed to Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Multiple volumes: Archive.org; Pdf downloads, Digital Library of India under the title Journal of the Straits Branch; Pdf downloads, Digital Library of India under the title Journal of the Malayan Branch from Volume 1 1923. Restricted access Hathi Trust Digital Library may be available to viewers in North America and some other countries A, B and C, including index volumes. Also see Malaysia.

Index to journals nos. 1 to 50 of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and to notes and queries I to IV, published 1909. BookSG (which also has 1878 and 1880 editions)

• An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore (1819-1867) Volume 1 Volume 2 by Charles Burton Buckley 1902 Archive.org
• Reminiscences of an Indian Official by General Sir Orfeur Cavenagh 1884 Archive.org. The author joined the Bengal Army in 1837. After the Indian Mutiny he was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlement, where he remained until transfer of the administration of the Straits Settlement to the Colonial Office in April 1867.
• Two Years in the Jungle : the Experiences of a Hunter and Naturalist in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo by William T Hornaday, Chief Taxidermist, US National Museum 1885 Archive.org. Contains a chapter on Singapore.
• The Stranger's Guide to Singapore with Maps Compiled by B E D' Aranjo 1890. British Library Digital Collection, BookSG
• Précis of information concerning the Straits Settlements and the Native States of the Malay Peninsula. Prepared in the Intelligence Division, Horse Guards, War Office, etc. 1891. With a Map of Town of Singapore (which can be rotated). British Library Digital file.
• Handbook to Singapore with Map, and a Plan of the Botanical Gardens by George Murray Reith 1892 Archive.org
• A Visit to Java : with an Account of the Founding of Singapore by William Basil Worsfold 1893 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
• Sophia Cooke, or, Forty-two years' work in Singapore by by E A Walker, 1899 Archive.org
• Sunny Singapore : an account of the place and its people, with a sketch of the results of missionary work by the Rev J A Bethune Cook 2nd Edition 1907 Archive.org
• Bibliotheca Indosinica: Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à la péninsule indochinoise [Biblioteca Indosinica: Bibliographic dictionary of books on the Indochinese Peninsula] by Henri Cordier 1912 Archive.org. "Péninsule Malaise", Volume II [Malay Peninsula]. Includes English publications. Contents; Index of authors; Alphabetical Index for all volumes
• Federated Malay States Railways : pamphlet of information for travellers : tours in the Malay Peninsula 1914 Archive.org. Includes
  • Map of Singapore Town and Map of the Malay Peninsula
• Lauterbach of the China Sea : the Escapes and Adventures of a Seagoing Falstaff by Lowell Thomas, 1930 Archive.org. During WW1 Julius Lauterbach was navigator on the German SMS Emden and subsequently was a prisoner in Singapore at Tangling prison camp page 95, and helped ferment dissatisfaction which led to the Singapore Mutiny, during which he escaped and fled, initially to Sumatra.

For more details of this Mutiny on 15 February 1915, see 5th Light Infantry.

• "A Lady’s Experiences in the Singapore Mutiny" page 781 Blackwood’s Magazine, no 198 July-December 1915. Archive.org. Also see previous entry.
• One hundred years of Singapore : being some account of the capital of the Straits Settlements from its foundation by Sir Stamford Raffles on the 6th February 1819 to the 6th February 1919. Edited by Walter Makepeace, Dr Gilbert R Brooke. Roland St J Braddell 1921. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org
• From Siam to Suez by James Saxon Childers 1932 Archive.org. The author travelled to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma and India.
• Singapore Patrol by Alec Dixon, 1935. Pdf download, National Library of Malaysia. Note: sample pages only. The author who joined the Straits Settlements Police postwar was one of a small force of detectives, where riots, murders, and robberies, occurred with alarming frequency. Full title (perhaps only in some editions): Singapore Patrol: Experiences of a Detective Officer in Malaya. Review The Straits Times, 6 December 1935 gov.sg. Review The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) 14 Dec 1935
• Some Principles of Policemanship by Mervyn Llewelyn Wynne 1938 Singapore. Pdf download, Repositori Digital, National Library of Malaysia. Probably sample pages only.
• Singapore : A Police Background by Rene Onraet 1947. Pdf download, Repositori Digital, National Library of Malaysia. Catalogued as an autobiography. The author was Inspector-General of the Straits Settlement Police between 1935 and 1939. Probably sample pages only.
• Return to Malaya R.H.Bruce Lockhart 1936 Archive.org. The author had previously left Malaya c 1910. Also includes references to Singapore.
• Bamboo Doctor by Stanley S. Pavillard 1960 Archive.org (from Digital Library of India). The author was newly arrived in Kedah when the Japanese attacked. He then became Medical Officer to the 1st SSVF and was subsequently a prisoner in Changi.
• CSCA: Source Documents on the Study of Christianity in Asia Online books from CSCA [The Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia] Trinity Theological College, Singapore. There also seem to be a few books of a more general nature.
  • Love Unites People : Memoirs of a Christian Worker in Singapore from 1913 to 1959 (or direct pdf) by George Daniel 1957. He was also in Bombay 1906-1908, and Rangoon 1908-1913. He was a Choirister and Server in Anglican Churches.

CSCA: Source Documents in Anglican Missions in Southeast Asia compiled by Michael Poon. anglicanhistory.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