RAFFLES, Sir THOMAS STAMFORD (1781 A British colonial administrator, born at sea off the island of Jamaica, on board the ship commanded by his father. At the age of fourteen lie got employment in the East India House as an extra clerk. He soon attracted attention, and in 1805 received an assistant secretaryship in Penang, mastered the Malay language on the voyage out. and in 1807 became secretary and registrar of the Recorder's Court. He visited Malacca and studied its resources and proceeded to Calcutta in 1810, where lie came to the notice of Lord 51 into, the Governor-General, through his contributions to the Asiatic Society. He accom panied Lord Tinto in the following year to Java, which, having been taken from the Dutch, became a British possession under Raffles as Lieutenant Governor, and for five years he administered the affairs of the island with marked vigor, wisdom, and success. He abolished forced labor, regu lated taxation. and remodeled the administra tion of justice, while retaining the Dutch colonial laws. On the restoration of the island to the Dutch in 1316 lie returned to England and published his great work on the history of Java in 1817. He was knighted, and by request
visited Holland to advise with the King in regard to the policy to be pursued in Java. In 1818 lie became Governor of Benckulen in Sumatra, reor ganized the colony, abolished slavery, established schools, and explored the interior on foot in company with Dr. Joseph Arnold, discovering, among other things, the great fungus, measuring three feet across and weighing fifteen pounds, which is known by their names, Rafflesia Arnold). Compelled by ill health to return home, he set sail in 1824, but the ship having caught fire. he lost everything, including his great natural his tory collection. his manuscripts, drawings, and notes, valued at $100,000. He reached Plymouth later in the same year, and died suddenly near London. His portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. See his Memoir by Lady Raffles, his second wife (London. 1830).