Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/167

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  1. tures on … Doctrines of the Gospel,’ &c., Liverpool, 1822, 12mo.
  2. ‘Hear the Church! a Word for All. By a Doctor of Divinity but not of Oxford,’ &c., 1839, 8vo (anon.), ascribed to Raffles.
  3. ‘Internal Evidences of the … Inspiration of Scripture,’ &c., 1849, 16mo; 1864, 8vo.
  4. ‘Independency at St. Helen's,’ &c., Liverpool, 1856, 12mo. Posthumous was
  5. ‘Hymns … for the New Year's Morning Prayer Meeting,’ &c., Liverpool, 1868, 4to (edited by James Baldwin Brown the younger [q. v.]). Raffles edited an enlarged edition, 1815, 4to, 2 vols. (reprinted 1825, 4to), of the ‘Self-interpreting Bible,’ by John Brown (1722–1787) [q. v.]; and was one of the editors of the ‘Investigator,’ a London quarterly, started in 1820, but of no long existence. He contributed eight hymns to his friend Collyer's ‘Hymns,’ 1812; these, with thirty-eight others, were included in his own ‘Supplement to Dr. Watts,’ 1853. Julian annotates sixteen of his hymns in common use. They are mostly of very small merit.

[Sketch by Baldwin Brown, 1863; Memoirs by his son, 1864 (portrait); Thom's Liverpool Churches and Chapels, 1854, pp. 58 sq.; Halley's Lancashire, 1869, ii. 299 sq.; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. x. 211; Julian's Dict. of Hymnology, 1892, pp. 948 sq.; Nightingale's Lancashire Nonconformity [1893], vi. 156 sq. (portrait).]

A. G.

RAFFLES, Sir THOMAS STAMFORD (1781–1826), colonial governor, only surviving son of Benjamin Raffles, long a captain in the English West India trade, was born at sea on board the Ann, off Port Morant, Jamaica, 5 July 1781. His family, originally of Yorkshire, had been settled for some generations in London, where his paternal grandfather held a post in the prerogative office in Doctors' Commons. His mother's maiden name was Lindeman. He was an intelligent child, and went to school for about two years at Dr. Anderson's at Hammersmith, but, owing to family poverty, he was placed at the age of fourteen in the East India House as an extra clerk. In leisure moments after office hours he managed to master French and to study natural science. His diligence in the office attracted the attention of Ramsay, secretary to the court of directors, on whose recommendation he was appointed by Sir Hugh Inglis assistant secretary to the establishment sent by the East India Company to Penang in 1805.

He landed at Penang in September. His natural faculty for languages enabled him to become fluent in Malay in a few months, and, on the strength of this and of his industry, the governor and council of the island promoted him to be secretary in 1807, and registrar of the recorder's court. But the combined effects of administrative work, hard study, and an unhealthy climate brought on an almost fatal illness in 1808. He then visited Malacca, where he studied the resources of the place, and by his representations prevented its intended cession. He returned to Penang; but his health broke down again in 1809, and in 1810 he proceeded to Calcutta, to obtain, if possible, the governorship of the Moluccas. This he found already promised elsewhere. Meanwhile his correspondence with Dr. Leyden, the orientalist, and various communications to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta on the languages and manners of the Malay peoples, had brought him to the notice of Lord Minto. Relying largely upon Raffles's local knowledge, Lord Minto undertook the reduction of Java when Holland had been annexed by the French. Raffles was accordingly sent as the governor-general's agent to Malacca, to collect information and supplies in furtherance of the enterprise, and Lord Minto joined him in Malacca on 9 May 1811. Raffles recommended the adoption of the route along the south-west coast of Borneo from Malacca to Java, and after some opposition his advice was acted upon, and the entire fleet was brought safely to Batavia by the end of July. He took no part in the military operations, but Lord Minto's promise of the lieutenant-governorship of Java, made before the expedition started, was fulfilled when the island capitulated on 11 Sept. His task was a difficult one, for the population numbered six millions, many of the independent chiefs were fierce and powerful, and the part of the island which had been conquered by the Dutch was much less than half. The government was none the easier for being made subordinate to the governor-general in council in Bengal, and for the fact that it was upon Bengal the governor had to draw for money, drafts which eventually exhausted the patience of the superior administration. He set to work with an energy surprising in a man of already impaired health. He appointed English residents at the different native courts, and, ‘intrepid innovator as he was’ (Crawfurd, Dictionary of the Indian Islands, p. 363), took measures to abolish the Dutch system of exacting forced labour from the natives, regulated the mode of raising the revenue, re-established the finances, and remodelled the administration of justice while retaining the Dutch colonial law. He visited the whole of the island, and with great industry collected information about the pro-