Malaysia

including the former British North Borneo.

Also see the Fibiwiki pages Straits Settlements and Malacca and Penang (Prince of Wales Island).

Records

• See General Register Office, UK.
• National Registration Department, Ministry of Home Affairs [Malaysia] is responsible for birth , marriage and death registration. The page Corporate Information/History advises “Birth and death records kept by the National Registration Department since nearly 150 years ago continue to be preserved to this day.” The email address appears to be pro@jpn.gov.my.

There has been some registration since 1859. Marriage registration has been in place in Malaysia since the late 1800s.

It seems likely that records may be divided according to the current states and federal terrorities, so you would probably need to know geographical location.

• Birth, marriage and death notices may have been published in Singapore newspapers. See Singapore - Newspapers for details of free online Singapore newspapers.
• Birth, marriage and death notices may have been published in other publications, such as The Directory & Chronicle for China etc or The London and China Telegraph, refer Historical books online below.
• BACSA have published the following books:
  • Ipoh and Taiping: War Graves and Graves of Europeans in the Cemeteries in Ipoh and Taiping, Perak, Malaysia by Justin Corfield, 2000. 108pp, 27 illustrations and plan
  • Kota Bharu (Malaysia): European Graves in the Jalan Hamzah Cemetery by Justin Corfield, 1999. 24pp, 23 illustrations and plan
  • Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): St Mary's Cathedral and the Jalan Birch Cemetery by Justin Corfield, 2000. 24pp, 5 illustrations
  • Seremban, Malaysia: Graves in St Mark's Churchyard, and the Anglican Section of the Seremban Cemetery by E Beavington and Justin Corfield, 2000. 56pp, 11 illustrations
  • Teluk Anson (Malaysia): European Graves in the Jalan Anderson Cemetery by Justin Corfield, 2000. 20pp, 14 illustrations and plan

Some cemetery books are still available, see BACSA Books

BACSA have put indexes to the majority of their cemetery books online and these indexes are free to browse. If an indexed name is of interest then application can be made to BACSA for details of the relevant burial inscription - charges apply for this service.

• 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.

Military Operations

• Perak War

External links

• National Archives of Malaysia
• National Registration Department, Ministry of Home Affairs, Malaysia
• Malaysia Genealogy FamilySearch Wiki
• The Malayan Volunteer Forces by Rosemary Fell. cofepow.org.uk. 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. A Limited preview of this book, including small copies of photographs is available online, eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Also available in a reprint edition.

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.

• "The Malay States Guides in action at Hatum, Aden, 12th January 1916" by Harry Fecitt from Harry’s Sideshows kaiserscross.com. This regiment belonged to the Sultans of the Federated Malay States and was similar to an Indian Imperial Service unit.

"Nand Singh and Jangnamah Europe: Subaltern insights on the wars of Empire" by Raman Singh Chhina. lse.ac.uk. Havildar Nand Singh was a Sergeant in the Malay State Guides and also an Indian poet who wrote using a genre of Punjabi historical poetic writing. He composed the Janganamah Europe giving an empirical account of the First World War. On September 26 1915 the regiment left Taiping to join the Aden Field Force.

• Sejarah Melayu: A History of the Malay Peninsula includes a Digital Library and Gallery, including historical maps (mostly pre 1800) sabrizain.org
• Has Somerset Maugham promoted Malaysia more than Shahrukh Khan? by Oscar the Grouch. The short stories by W. Somerset Maugham set in Malaysia and Borneo, written during the 1920s and 1930s, were typically concerned with the lives of the British imperial colonist. Includes details of a murder in 1911 in Malaya on which one of the stories is thought to be based.
  • A list of the short stories by W. Somerset Maugham set in Malaysia and Borneo www.maleisie.be
• “Obsession, isolation and the colonies” July 16, 2012 moncurdg.com. Retrieved 30 August 2014
• States and federal territories of Malaysia Wikipedia
  • Kedah Alternative name Quedah, it was visited by trading ships in the time of the East India Company. “In the hope that Great Britain would protect what remained of Kedah from Siam, the sultan handed over Penang and then Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai) to the British at the end of the 18th century. The Siamese nevertheless conquered Kedah in 1811, and it remained under Siamese control until transferred to the British by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909”.
  • Perak was visited by trading ships in the time of the East India Company. There was a British Resident from 1874.
  • Terengganu Wikipedia. Alternative name Tringaney. Terengganu's location by the South China Sea ensured that it was on trade routes from ancient times , and it was visited by trading ships in the time of the East India Company. The terms of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 saw power over Terengganu transferred from Siam to Great Britain. A British advisor was appointed to the sultan in 1919, and Terengganu become one of the Unfederated Malay States.
• "A Penang Kaddish: The Jewish Cemetery In Georgetown. A case study of the Jewish Diaspora in Penang (1830s-1970s)" by Raimy Ché-Ross 2002. ttc.edu.sg, now an archived webpage. The Penang Story-International Conference 18-21 April 2002. Includes some transcriptions from tombstones.
• "The Plantation Rubber Industry in Malaya up to 1922" by J. H. Drabble Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 40, No. 1 (211) (July, 1967), pp. 52-77. jstor.org. Register and read for free.

"Planters, Estate Health & Malaria in British Malaya (1900–1940)" by Liew Kai Khiun Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 83, Part 1, June 2010, No. 298, pp. 91-115 academia.edu

"Mad Ridley and the rubber boom" by Dr Loh Wei Leng and Khor Jin KeonG 2011. malaysiahistory.net. The history of rubber in Malaya.

Video: A Rubber Plantation in Malaya, 1911 / La Cultivation du Caoutchouc en Malaisie, 1911 You Tube video.

Video: Henrietta Estate Album. Album of photographs of a Rubber Estate in 1920's / 1930's Malaya. You Tube video.

• "Tobacco in Sabah" by Danny Wong Tze-Ken 2011. malaysiahistory.net. The industry commenced 1883, and was the main export from Sabah until 1914. However, estates shifted to rubber crops, which became the main crop in the State.
• Bibliography of travel accounts: Malay Peninsula and additional Secondary sources Cornell University Library.
• 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)

• "Malayan Cookery Books: The "Mem’s" Own Cookery Book" by Bonnie Tan, Senior Librarian at the National Library of Singapore. Originally in BiblioAsia, 7 (3), 30–34. 2011. academia.edu
  • For those in North America and some other countries, this cookery book by Mrs Kinsey, first published 1920, is available online at Hathi Trust Digital Library
  • "A Colonial Cookbook" by Irene Lim. BiblioAsia Volume 11 Issue 4 January-March 2016. National Library of Singapore. The “Mem’s” Own Cookery Book
  • "The Mrs Beeton of British Malaya who pioneered fusion cuisine" by Rosie Milne and Elizabeth Roberts 10 March 2016 The Telegraph
• "Review of the YWCA International Cookery Book of Malaya(1932-1964)" by Bonnie Tan, Senior Librarian at the National Library of Singapore. academia.edu

"Mrs Beeton in Malaya" by Janice Loo. BiblioAsia Volume 9 Issue. 3 October-December 2013. ywca.org.sg

• "A taste of the past: Uncovering food histories through Malayan newspapers" by Bonnie Tan, Senior Librarian at the National Library of Singapore. academia.edu

Maps

• 1929 Motoring Map of Malaya Pages can be rotated if required. National Library of Malaysia.
• Also see some Maps in Historical books online, below.

Historical books online

• Repositori Digital Digital repository of the National Library of Malaysia. Book files are available as pdf downloads. Contains some books in English, although it does not appear possible to browse the English language books as a distinct category. For some books the “date of issue” appears to br the digitization date, rather than the date of publication. A number of the English language books are in the category Koleksi Peribadi. Books available include:
  • Notes from the Sarawak Gazette 1909-1915 by J C Moulton
  • Malaysia and Indo-China : Information for Visitors to British Malaya, Dutch-Indies (Java, Bali, Sumatra etc.) Siam, French Ind0-China. Published by Thos. Cook & Son, Singapore 1926.
  • Malaya and Singapore Survey Directory of Churches and Missions in the Federation and Colony by V A Chelliah, No date in catalogue but c 1948
  • "Kelantan During World War 1" by W E Pepys. Article from Malaya in History July 1960.
  • The Last of The Creepers: Memoirs of A Malayan Rubber Planter 1907-1917 by C R Harrison, 1961. This is an article from Malaya in History, Volume 7, No 1, September 1961. A Creeper is variously described as described as a very new junior assistant, a novice assistant or an assistant planter.
  • Untapped Historical Source: Rest House Register Books by Robin W Winks April 1964
  • Planters and speculators : Chinese and European agricultural enterprise in Malaya, 1786-1921 by James Charles Jackson 1968.

Note this website is often unavailable, and possibly may only be available during office hours, Monday to Friday: 8.00 am - 5.00 pm (local time), being GMT 00.00 to 9.00am

• [Digital] Sejarah Melayu Library (abrizain.org) has an extensive collection of English language historical books to download as pdfs, with some to also read as text. Click on the titles for further details of the author and year published. If you prefer to read original images, look at the text version (if available), as for some books, it may be apparent they are available on websites such as Archive.org or Google Books. Books available include
  • An extensive collection of Journals of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (SBRAS) which became the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (MBRAS). Click on individual journal issues, and the contents will be shown. These do not seem to be complete issues, but selected articles.
• The Journal of John Jourdain, 1608-1617 : describing his experiences in Arabia, India, and the Malay Archipelago edited by William Foster. Printed for the Hakluyt Society . Second Series, Volume XVI. 1905 Archive.org. The author was in the service of the East India Company.
• The Burney Papers. Cover the period 1825 to 1849. See Thailand.
• 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: embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China with notices of numerous missionary stations and a full account of the Burman Empire by Howard Malcom

Volume I,Volume II 2nd edition, 1839 (2 Volumes in 1) Google Books. Tenth American edition [with deletions] c 1855 Archive.org

• Six months among the Malays, and a year in China by Dr Yvan, Physician to the scientific mission sent by France to China, 1855 Archive.org. The book appears to be translations of extracts from the book De France en Chine by Melchior Yvan 1855 Archive.org. This expedition departed France December 1843.
• 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
• 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
• Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 1878-1922. Multiple volumes: Archive.org. 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.
• Index To All The Journals Nos.1-86 Of The Straits Branch Of The Royal Asiatic Society Vol.5 Pt.4 1927 Archive.org.
• Journal Of The Malayan Branch Of The Royal Asiatic Society' Archive.org
• 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 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
• A Narrative of Travel and Sport in Burmah, Siam and the Malay Peninsula by John Bradley 1876 Archive.org
• The Golden Chersonese and the way thither by Isabella L Bird 1883 Archive.org. The map which is mentioned on the title page has either not been filmed , or may not have appeared in this edition, but is available at Map: digital.library.upenn part of its digital book version
• 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.
• To Siam and Malaya in the Duke of Sutherland's yacht 'Sans peur' by Florence Caddy 1889 Archive.org.
• 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 Collection.
• About Ceylon and Borneo : being an account of two visits to Ceylon, one to Borneo, and how we fell out on our homeward journey by Walter J Clutterbuck 1891 with Map of British North Borneo Archive.org. Also available British Library Digital Collection with rotatable images.
• About Perak by Frank Athelstane Swettenham 1893 Archive.org

Malay Sketches by Sir Frank Althelstane Swettenham 5th edition 1921. First published 1895 Archive.org

British Malaya; an account of the origin and progress of British influence in Malaya by Sir Frank Swettenham, late Governor of the Straits Colony 1907 Archive.org, with a 1906 Map of the Malay Peninsula

• A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya by N B Dennys 1894 Archive.org
• A Trip across the Malay Peninsula with H.E. the Governor [Sir C. B. H. Mitchell] ... Reprinted from the "Singapore Free Press" by Major H E McCallum (Henry Edward) 1894. British Library Digital Collection.
• Through the Buffer State : a record of recent travels through Borneo, Siam and Cambodia by Surgeon-Major John MacGregor, Indian Medical Service. 1896 Archive.org.
• Five Years in Siam, from 1891 to 1896 by H Warington Smyth, formerly Director of the Department of Mines in Siam. 1898. With Maps and Illustrations by the author. Also includes the Malay Peninsula. Volume I Archive.org. Volume I, Volume II HathiTrust Digital Library. Volume I with General Index Map; Volume II with with Map of the Malay Peninsula (rotatable). British Library Digital Collection.
• Camping And Tramping In Malaya: Fifteen years' Pioneering in the Native States of the Malay Peninsula by Ambrose B Rathborne 1898 Archive.org.
• All About Rubber and Gutta-Percha : the Indiarubber Planter's Manual with the latest Statistics and Information by J Ferguson Colombo A.M. & J. Ferguson 1899 Archive.org
• India Rubber, Gutta-Percha, and Balata: occurrence, geographical distribution, and cultivation of rubber plants; manner of obtaining and preparing the raw material, modes of working and utilizing them, and statistics of commerce by William T Brannt 1900 Archive.org
• "The Rival of "Para" Rubber in the East" page 219 The India Rubber World April 1, 1903 Archive.org

"Rubber Planting in Ceylon and the Malay States" page 225 The India Rubber World April 1, 1904 Archive.org

• Further India: being the story of exploration from the earliest times in Burma, Malaya, Siam and Indo-China by Hugh Clifford 1904 with Orographical Map and Political Map of Farther India and Index Archive.org
• Historical tombstones of Malacca, mostly of Portuguese origin, with the inscriptions in detail and illustrated by numerous photographs by Robert Norman Bland 1905 Archive.org
• Malay Tin-fields; mining position broadly reviewed by Ralph S. G Stokes1906 Archive.org Reprinted from the Straits Times
• "Gutta-Percha Trees of the Malay Peninsula" by J S Gamble, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Bulletin of Miscellaneoue Information No 4 1907. Archive.org
• In Malay Forests by George Maxwell 1907 Archive.org. 2nd edition 1911 Archive.org.
• Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources by Arnold Wright 1908 Archive.org
• Kelantan [a State of the Malay Peninsula; a handbook of information by Walter Armstrong Graham] 1908 Archive.org with Map of Kelantan
• My Tour in Eastern Rubber Lands by Herbert Wright 1908 Archive.org Ceylon, Malaya, Java, Sumatra
• Rubber-Planter's Notebook by Frank Braham 1911. Pdf download KrishiKosh, Institutional Repository of Indian National Agricultural Research System. Full title: The Rubber Planter's Notebook : a handy book of reference on Para rubber planting with hints on the maintenance of health in the tropics and other general information of utility to the rubber planter : specially designed for use in the field. Review, page 242 Nature December 21, 1911 Archive.org.
• The Far East revisited; essays on political, commercial, social, and general conditions in Malaya, China, Korea and Japan by A. Gorton Angier 1908 Archive.org
• Through the Malay Archipelago by Emily Richings 1909 Archive.org
• The Malay Peninsula : a Record of British Progress in the Middle East by Arnold Wright and Thomas H Reid 1912 with a 1912 Map of the Malay Peninsula Archive.org
• Three Months in Pahang in Search of Big Game : A Reminiscence of Malaya by Theodore R Hubback, 1912 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 Penang
  • Map of Taiping area, showing Estates
  • Map of Ipoh area showing Estates
  • Map of Town of Kuala Lumpur
  • Map of Malacca Town
  • Map of Singapore Town
  • Map of the Malay Peninsula
• Tapioca and its many uses : a rice substitute for Malaya by Leopold Es Chasseriau, 1919. Archive.org. A reprint from the Pinang Gazette
• An illustrated guide to the Federated Malay States edited by Cuthbert Woodville Harrison, Malayan Civil Service. 3rd edition 1920. Archive.org. Missing the Map. 1923 edition Pdf download, National Library of Malaysia
• Trapping Wild Animals in Malay Jungles by Charles Mayer 1921 Archive.org
• In Rubber Lands : an account of the work of the church in Malaya by C E Ferguson-Davie, 1921 Archive.org
• British North Borneo : an Account of its History, Resources, and Native Tribes by Owen Rutter 1922 Archive.org
• Malay Poisons and Charm Cures by John D Gimlette, Residency Surgeon of Kelantan, 2nd revised edition 1923, first edition 1915. Archive.org.
• The Empire at War edited for the Royal Colonial Institute by Sir Charles Lucas, in five volumes, with a catalogue contents description. (Volume 1 British Library Digital file) Volume 5, 1926, covers WW1 The Mediterranean colonies ; Egypt and Palestine ; Aden ; India ; Ceylon ; Malaya ; China. Volume 5, British Library Digital file, Contents. Also available as a pdf download from the Digital Library of India Vol-vth, Archive.org version.
• Diseases And Pests Of The Rubber Tree by Arnold Sharples 1936 Archive.org
• Malayan Agricultural Journal Archive.org. A limited number of editions are also available on Krishikosh Institutional Repository of Indian National Agricultural Research System, as pdf downloads. Also Malayan Agriculture 1924 Hand Book
• The following book appears to have been published under three slightly different titles: Memoirs Of A British Agent; Memoirs of a British agent : being an account of the author's early life in many lands and of his official mission to Moscow in 1918; and British Agent, by R H Bruce Lockhart 1932. The initial chapters cover his time in Malaya as a young man c 1908-1910 where his uncles were rubber planters. Two transcribed formats: gwpda.org and spyculture.com.
• R. H. Bruce Lockhart Wikipedia.

Return to Malaya R.H.Bruce Lockhart 1936 Archive.org. The author had previously left Malaya c 1910, see previous book.

• Singapore Patrol by Alec Dixon, 1935. Pdf download, National Library of Malaysia. The author who joined the Straits Settlements Police post WW1 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
• "Malaya 1938-1939" page 164 Memories of Malaya by June Meyer 2007. Description of a rubber estate in the north of Malaya. Google Books.
• Malayan Landscape 1946. The author is not as catalogued but is Katharine Sim, (with an introduction by Sir Richard Winstedt). The author was in Malaya 1938 to 1942. Includes a final chapter regarding the war situation ahead of the approaching Japanese, with the author’s eventual evacuation from Singapore, shortly before its fall. Pdf download, Digital Library of India. Also available from Repositori Digital, Digital repository of the National Library of Malaysia as a pdf download, although this may possibly be only one or more chapters, not the complete book.
• The War in Malaya by Lt-Gen A E Percival 1949. Available as a pdf download from Sejarah Melayu Library, refer above. Located under General. Scroll down the alphabetical list to T.
• 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 Malaya, A.D. 1400-1959 by J Kennedy 1962. Archive.org Lending Library. Before you can borrow this book, you must register. Only one person at a time is able to borrow the book, so you perhaps may need to wait until the book is returned..
• The Adventures of John Smith in Malaya, 1600-1605 by A Hale 1909. Archive.org. This book was classified as a novel in a review when issued, but it was stated “In the Malayan part of the book…[there] seems to be first hand knowledge of the legends, custom and intimate life of the Malayans”, and it was “written… with… learning”
• Kelly & Walsh's Handbook of the Malay Language for the use of Tourists and Residents Sixth edition 1919 Archiv.org
• An English-Malay Dictionary by Rev. W G Shellabear 1916 Archive.org
• Hilda's "Where is it?" of recipes : containing, amongst other practical and tried recipes, many old Cape, Indian, and Malay dishes and preserves: also directions for polishing furniture, cleaning silk, etc. and a collection of home remedies in case of sickness by Hildagonda J Duckitt 1908 edition Archive.org. First published 1891. The author lived at the Cape of Good Hope.