An important link for the Singapore River area, Ellenborough Street was laid in 1845 and named after Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, by Straits Settlements Governor Colonel William Butterworth. Likewise for the Ellenborough Market, and Ellenborough Building. There were 2 Ellenborough Markets, the first built in 1845 by Captain Charles Edward Faber, and the later extension, a second cast-iron building imported and assembled in 1899.
In 1845, while the market was being built on the left side of the street, on the right side was a plot of land bought by Tan Tock Seng for $7,000, and on which was being built a number of elegant shophouses designed by John Turnbull Thomson. This fairly large triangular block of 2-storey shophouses was bounded by Boat Quay, North Bridge Road and Ellenborough Street, and known collectively as Ellenborough Building. The shophouses here, had each unit very narrow in width, but deep lengthwise, were mostly storage facilities for all kinds of trade products awaiting transfer or re-export. An editorial comment in the Free Press dated 13 February 1845, criticised the name "Ellenborough Place" given to Tock Seng's development, "We think the Governor's good taste has deserted him in the last instance, as we cannot see what ground there is for commemorating Ellenborough here. Much better to have called it 'Butterworth's or Tock Sing's Place'". It was eventually called Ellenborough Building.
A 1968 fire badly damaged Ellenborough Market, affecting about 1,000 hawkers and stall holders. Both market buildings occupied the same spot at the left end of the street by the river. Being by the river, there was vibrant trading here from the mid-19th Century to the mid-1970s. Towards the late 1990s the area was affected by the development and construction of the Mass Rapid Transit's North-East Line.
Variant Names
Chinese name:
(1) In Hokkien, Sin Pa Sat Khau meaning "The mouth of the new market".
(2) In Hokkien, Sin Pa-sat Pi, and in Cantonese, San Pa-sat Pin meaning "Beside the New Market" (Ellenborough Market).
Malay name: Pasar Bharu in Malay means "New Market".
Author
Vernon Cornelius
References
Buckley, C. B. (1984). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: 1819-1867 (p. 25). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 BUC)
Makepeace, W., Brooke, G. E., & Braddell, R. St. J. (Eds.). (1991). One hundred years of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 ONE)
Further Readings
Tan, M. S. (1982). (Ed.). Singapore 150 years (p. 212). Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: SING 959.57 SIN)
Firmstone, H. W. (1905, February). Chinese names of streets and places in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 86.
(Call no.: RSING 959.5 FIR-[IC])
NE line: HDB to help those affected. (1996, March 7). Business Times, p. 2.
The information in this article is valid as at 1999 and correct as far as we are able to 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.
