biography
| name: |
Raffles, Sir (Thomas) Stamford
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1781–1826)
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| biography:
| Colonial adminstrator, born at sea, off Port Morant, Jamaica. He had limited formal schooling, became a clerk in the East India Company, and after studying by himself gained a position as assistant secretary in Penang. He quickly rose to become Lieutenant-Governor of Java (1811–16), where he completely reformed the administration. In 1815 he visited the Borobudur Temple and ordered the excavation, surveying, and restoration of the site. He also undertook a study of the natural history of Indonesia; the genus of flowering plants Rafflesia is named after him. In 1816 ill health brought him home to England, where he was knighted, and in 1817 he published A History of Java. As Lieutenant-Governor of Bengkulu (1818–23), he established a settlement at Singapore (1819), and was thus largely responsible for the development of the British empire in the Far East. He helped found the Zoological Society of London and was its first president. |
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