About the Book

·  Previously unpublished private letters between Stamford Raffles and Lord Hastings (the Governor-General of India)
·  Fresh perspective on the founding of Singapore
·  Reveals insights into Raffles’s personality
·  Redresses Hastings’s overlooked role in Singapore’s success
·  Full transcription of the letters – invaluable as primary documents
·  Colour illustrations and maps
A co-publication with the National Library Board, Singapore
Previously published as a limited-edition hardback, The Founding of Singapore 1819 / Raffles and Hastings:
Private Exchanges Behind the Founding of Singapore
John Bastin
ISBN / 978 981 4561 44 0
Publication date / September 2014
Retail Price / S$42.00 before GST
Format / 185 mm x 245 mm / 256 pp / paperback
Category/BIC / History
Territories & Rights / World / All languages
Imprint / Marshall Cavendish Editions

About the Book

The founding of Singapore has typically been attributed to the strategic genius of one man, Stamford Raffles. Frequently overlooked is the part played by his superior in the East India Company, the Marquess of Hastings. It was Hastings who, as Governor-General of India, made the fateful decision to establish a British trading post at the southern entrance of the Malacca Straits, and once this was executed with great daring by Raffles in early 1819, it was Hastings again who supported the retention of Singapore against opposition from all quarters.
This book provides an intimate account of Singapore’s founding by drawing on the personal correspondence between these two men, which they maintained separately from their official exchanges. Published here for the first time, these private letters reveal at first-hand the challenges that Raffles and Hastings faced in manoeuvring within the Dutch-dominated East Indies. Just as significantly, they reveal the complex relationship between the two men – evolving from mutual suspicion at the outset to cooperation and admiration, but nonetheless peppered throughout with backbiting, hidden agendas and the clash of personal ambitions.
Historian John Bastin brings rigorous scholarship to bear on this work, at the same time presenting it in a clear, readable style that will engage specialist and general readers alike.

About the Author

John Bastin is the leading authority on Stamford Raffles, and currently Emeritus Reader in the modern history of Southeast Asia at the University of London. He has written and edited numerous books and articles on the history of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, including most recently the Letters and Books of Sir Stamford Raffles and Lady Raffles (2009).

Target Audience

General readers, historians, researchers, schools, libraries.
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