Raffles

Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford (1781-1826), English administrator and naturalist, was in early life a clerk at the East India House, whence he was promoted to an important official post in Prince of Wales Island. He made a close study of the Hindu and Malay peoples. In 1811 at his suggestion Java was annexed, and he became governor. He was recalled in 1816, and in 1817 published his History of Java. He was knighted and sent to Sumatra in a gubernatorial capacity, and aided in the abolition of slavery. He established Singapore as a British shipping station, and collected a vast quantity of natural history specimens. He helped to found, and was first President of, the Royal Zoological Society.