TeSt SuBjEcTs

AKA Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles
Born: 6-Jul-1781

Birthplace: Caribbean Ocean

Died: 5-Jul-1826

Location of death: London, England

Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Government
Nationality: England

Executive summary: Founder of Singapore

Father: Benjamin Raffles

Wife: Olivia Mariamne Devenish (m. 1805, d. 1814)

Wife: Sophia

English administrator, the founder of Singapore, was born on the 5th of July 1781 on board a merchantman commanded by his father.In 1824 Sir Stamford returned to England, but unfortunately the differences between him and the East India Company had resulted in an accumulation of disputes which placed a severe strain on his enfeebled constitution. The memorials and statements that he had to compile for his own vindication would fill a large volume, but at last the court passed (12th of April 1826) a formal decision in his favor. It did not omit, however, to censure him for "his precipitate and unauthorized emancipation of the Company's slaves", or after his death to make his widow pay £10,000 for various items, which included the expense of his mission to found Singapore! Harassed as he was by these personal affairs, he still found time to carry out his original scheme with regard to a zoological society in London. He took the largest part in the creation of the existing society, and his fine Sumatra collection formed its endowment. He was unanimously elected its president at the first meeting, and by a remarkable unanimity of opinion on the part of those whc helped in the work, he has been recognized as the Founder of the Zoological Society. He was contemplating entering parliamentary life when his sudden death on his birthday 1826, ended his brilliant career at the early age of forty-five. Sir Frederick Weld, lieutenant-governor at Singapore, when unveiling the statue of his predecessor at that place in 1887, crystallized the thoughts of his countrymen and anticipated the verdict of history in a single sentence: "In Raffles, England had one of her greatest sons."