Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) began working for the East India House as a clerk and was eventually appointed secretary to the office in Penang, Sumatra, in 1805. He became fluent in Malay and in 1807 became secretary to the governor. He served as lieutenant governor of Java in 1811 and director of Sumatra from 1813 to 1816. Due to poor health, he returned to England in 1816 and published his History of Java, for which he was knighted in 1817. He returned to Sumatra as governor in 1818, establishing schools and importing missionaries. The directors in England, however, became disenchanted with Raffles over his reformist ideas. On his return to England in 1824, his ship caught fire and all his papers and belongings, valued between £20,000-30,000, were lost. His difficulties with the Directors increased as well, and he died shortly thereafter of apoplexy in 1826.