Raffles coup for the city

Aug 9 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

A MAJOR national exhibition featuring the Briton who founded Singapore opens in Liverpool today – the only place in the UK outside London to stage it.

Liverpool Central Library is hosting the Spice of Life: Raffles and the Malay World, chronicling the life and work of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, a passionate scholar of the Malay world in the early 19th Century.

Liverpool was chosen to hold the prestigious exhibit- ion of manuscripts and drawings from the Raffles Family Collection, recently acquired by the British Library, because of his family connections to the city and the support of the city’s Malaysian population – one of the longest standing in the country.

Working with the British Library, the community has been instrumental in securing the collection for the UK.

Raffles, best known as the founder of Singapore, spent nearly 20 years in Southeast Asia in the service of the British East India Company.

He threw himself into the study of Malay language, literature, history and law, his most special affection being for natural history.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see a range of natural history drawings, books and letters collected by Raffles and they will be given a rare chance to see a first edition of Raffles’ monumen- tal work, The History of Java, published in 1817, which made his name and earned him a knighthood.

Also on display will be previously unpublished documents which reveal that Raffles sent a specimen of Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world discovered by him, to eminent Liverpool writer and botanist William Roscoe, described as “Liverpool’s greatest citizen and founder of Liverpool culture.”

Raffles had close family connections with Liverpool through his cousin, the Rev Dr Thomas Raffles, minister of Great George Street Chapel for 50 years, and one of the most influential non-conformist ministers in the country at that time. Their long correspondence is an important source on Raffles’ life and intimate thoughts

Liverpool’s executive member for leisure, Cllr Colin Eldridge said: “I’m very proud that Liverpool has been able to secure such an important and prestigious exhibition. It’s a wonderful 800th birthday gift from the British Library as well as our Malaysian community.”

Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, head of the south and southeast Asia section of The British Library, said: “The manuscripts and drawings in the exhibition reflect Raffles’ deep love of the Malay world and pursuit of knowledge.

“Liverpool was our first choice of venue for the exhibition because of the unique Malay community in Merseyside, and because of Raffles’ close family connections with Liverpool.”

Raffles’ private collection was secured for the UK by The British Library after a successful £1m fundraising campaign with substantial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund and other donors. The bid was also supported by the Merseyside Malaysian and Singapore Association and Liverpool Libraries and Information Services.

Wan Mohamed Rosidi Hj Wan Hussain, the chairman of the Merseyside Malaysian & Singapore Community, said: “This exhibition means so much to the Malaysian & Singapore Community.”

The collection will be on display from today until October 28. Community workshops, public talks and school visits will be also held at Central Library to complement the exhibition.

lizawilliams