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Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
1781 - 1826
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Thomas Stamford Raffles was born at sea on board a
ship Ann on the 6th of July, 1781 off the coast of
Jamaica. In 1795, the young man accepted his first
job in the East India Company as a clerk. But he
studied hard in his spare time and in 1804, was
posted to Penang (then Prince of Wales Island) and
promoted to Assistant Secretary to the Presidency
of that Malaysian island. His mastery over the
Malay language made him indispensable to the
British Government, and he was later appointed
Malay translator to the Government of India. In
1811, he returned as the Lieutenant Governor of
Java, and was soon promoted to Governor of
Bencoolen (now Sumatra). On 19th January, 1819,
Raffles founded modern Singapore and first mooted
the idea which led to the establishment of the
Raffles Museum on the island.
Stamford Raffles was deeply fascinated by the
immense diversity of strange animals and plants of
the East Indies during his tenure there. He soon
employed zoologists and botanists to discover all
they can about the animals and plants of the region
and would pay his assistants out of his own pockets
to collect specimens. He also revived and became
the president of the Batavian Society which was
actively engaged in the study of natural history of
Java and adjacent areas.
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In her memoirs of him, his wife Lady Sophia
Raffles, also mentions his zoological collection,
among which were beautiful specimens of tapirs,
rhinoceros and barking deer. She mentions that
these were sent to England. Raffles also kept some
animals as pets. A Sun Bear cub he reared with his
children reportedly often joined him for dinner,
eating mangoes and drinking champagne.
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 Raffles'
principal assistant Abdullah, also his Malay tutor,
was engaged in packing all the stuffed skins and
skeletons which numbered some one-thousand
specimens. Earlier, throughout his time in Java and
Sumatra, Raffles had sent home many consignments of
creatures preserved in spirit. Lady Raffles recalls
that Raffles' interest in biology was great as
evidenced by references to plants and animals in
most of his letters. He had compiled a long list of
animals of which, he believed nothing is yet known
beyond the name and native descriptions.
On his return journey to England in 1824 on the
ship Fame, he lost a huge consignment of plant and
animal specimens, notes, papers and even certain
drawings to a fire aboard. Upon his return, he
founded the now world famous Zoological Society of
London of which he was its first president, and the
London Zoo.
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Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles passed away a day
before his 45th birthday in 1826. A few years
earlier, in 1821 and 1822, he contributed two
papers in the Transactions of the Zoological
Society, London, with descriptions of some 34
species of birds and 13 species of mammals, chiefly
from Sumatra. Most of the new species he named are
valid today, and these animals will continue to
remind us of the contributions he has made. Animals
named by Raffles himself include:
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MAMMALS:
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Echinosorex
gymnurus Moonrat
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Tupaia
tana Large Treeshrew
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Macaca
fascicularis Crab-eating Macaque
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Presbytis
melalophos Mitred Leaf Monkey
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Semnopithecus
cristatus Silvered Leaf Monkey
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Hylobates
syndactylus Siamang
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Ursus
malayanus Sun Bear
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Arctictis
binturong Binturong or Bear-cat
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Ratufa
affinis Cream-coloured Giant
Squirrel
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Rhizomys
sumatrensis Large Bamboo
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RatRhizomys
sumatrensis Large Bamboo Rat
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Cream-coloured
Giant Squirrel
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Milky Stork
from
West Java
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BIRDS
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Ardea sumatrana
Great-billed Heron
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Gorsachius
melanolophus Malayan Night Heron
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Mycteria cinerea
Milky Stork
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Lophura
erythrophthalma Crestless Fireback Pheasant
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Rallina fasciata
Red-legged Crake
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Sterna sumatrana
Black-naped Tern
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Ducula badia
Mountain Imperial Pigeon
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Phaenicophaeus
sumatranus Chestnut-bellied Malkoha
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Phaenicophaeus
chlorophaeus Raffles' Malkoha
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Bubo sumatranus
Barred Eagle Owl
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Ninox scutulata
Brown Hawk Owl
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Harpactes kasumba
Red-naped Trogon
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Berenicornis
comatus White-crowned Hornbill
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Anthracoceros
malayanus Black Hornbill
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Corydon sumatranus
Dusky Broadbill
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Eurylaimus
ochromalus Black-&-Yellow Broadbill
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Calyptomena
viridis Green Broadbill
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Pitta caerulea
Giant Pitta
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Tephrodornis
gularis Large Wood Shrike
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Pericrocotus
divaricatus Ashy Minivet
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Muscicapa
latirostris Brown Flycatcher
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Cyornis rufigastra
Mangrove Blue Flycatcher
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Aethopyga siparaja
Crimson Sunbird
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Stamford Raffles was well-known in natural history
circles, a number of animals and plants have been
named in his honour. They include Megalaima
rafflesi (Red-crowned Barbet), Dinopium
rafflesii (Olive-backed Woodpecker) and
Chaetodon rafflesi (Latticed Butterflyfish).
Perhaps the most distinctive organism named after
him would be Rafflesia, a genus of
plants parasitic on palm trees which he discovered
on an expedition to a jungle in Sumatra. These are
endemic to Southeast Asia and produce the world's
largest and possibly the most spectacular (abeit
evil-smelling) flowers.
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Copyright
© 2000 Raffles Museum of Biodiversity
Research
Department of Biological Sciences, The National
University of Singapore
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