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By Cornelius-Takahama, Vernon written on 19-Jul-1999
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk

Governors of the Straits Settlements, chief administrators of territorial acquisitions of the English East India Company, and initially were controlled by the British India headquarters of the fourth Bengal Presidency in Calcutta. In a Royal Charter of 1826, Singapore, Malacca and Penang were combined to form the Straits Settlements. The Straits Settlements, with its capital in Singapore, remained an Indian dependancy for the next 41 years until 1867.

The Governors of the Straits Settlements then had little formal power, but were able to influence the Calcutta authorities who relied largely on the recommendations of these representatives on legislation and policy in each settlement. The Governor of the Settlements and his council were answerable to the Governor-General in Calcutta. Robert Fullerton became the first Governor of the united Straits Settlements. On 1 April 1867, control of the Straits Settlements was transferred from Bengal to the Colonial Office in London. The Sraits Settlements then became a Crown Colony but was still called the Straits Settlements until the outbreak of World War II in Singapore in 1942. It was the British Military Administration from 1945-1946 after which the Chief Administrators were known as Governors of Singapore.

List of Straits Settlements Governors (1826 - 1867) administered by British India
1826 - 1830 : Robert Fullerton
1830 - 1833 : Robert Ibbetson
1833 - 1836 : Kenneth Murchison
1836 - 1843 : Sir Samuel George Bonham
1843 - 1855 : Col. William John Butterworth
1855 - 1859 : Edmund Augustus Blundell
1859 - 1867 : Col. Orfeur Cavenagh

List of Straits Settlements Governors (1867 - 1942) adminstered by Colonial Office, London
1867 - 1873 : Col. Harry St. George Ord, R.E., C.B.
1873 - 1875 : Col. Sir Andrew Clarke, R.E., K.C.M.G., C.B.
1875 - 1877 : Col. Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, R.E., K.C.M.G., C.B. (Maj.-General, G.C.M.G.)
1877 - 1879 : Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson, K.C.M.G.
1880 - 1887 : Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, K.C.M.G.
1887 - 1893 : Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, K.C.M.G.
1893 - 1894 : Sir William Edward Maxwell
1894 - 1899 : Lt-Col. Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell, G.C.M.G.
1901 - 1903 : Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham, K.C.M.G.,
1904 - 1911 : Sir John Anderson, K.C.M.G.
1911 - 1919 : Sir Arthur Henderson Young
1920 - 1927 : Sir Laurence Nunns Guillemard
1927 - 1929 : Sir Hugh Charles Clifford
1930 - 1934 : Sir Cecil Clementi
1934 - 1946 : Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas (Japanese prisoner-of-war in World War 2, 15 February 1942 - 15 August 1945)



Author
Vernon Cornelius-Takahama



References
Makepeace, W., Brooke, G.E., & Braddell, R. St. J. (Eds). (1991). One hundred years of Singapore (Vol. 1, pp. 12-13). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 ONE) 

Turnbull, C. M. (1972). The Straits Settlements, 1826-67: Indian presidency to crown colony (University of London historical studies: 32) (pp. 54-73). London: Athlone Press.
(Call no.: RCLOS 959.57 TUR) 


Further Readings
Mulliner, K. (1991). Historical dictionary of Singapore (pp. 165-166). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57003 MUL) 



The information in this article is valid as at 2001 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the library for further reading materials on the topic.