Borneo Company Limited, formed in 1856, was one of the oldest companies based in East Malaysia (

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

History

Brooke era

The Borneo Company Limited (BCL) was registered in London in June 1856 with a capital of £60,000 and office at 25 Mincing Lane. Its directors, including some close associates of White Rajah

James Brooke Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was bor ...

, were Robert Henderson (of R.& J.Henderson, Glasgow merchants),

John Charles Templer John Charles Templer (1814–1874) was an English barrister. Life Born in Bridport, he was the son of James Templer (1787–1858), a lawyer, and his wife Catharine Lethbridge. He was educated at Westminster School, and entered Trinity College, C ...

(friend of

James Dyce Nicol James Dyce Nicol (13 August 1805 – 16 November 1872) was a Scottish businessman, and then a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1872. Nicol was the son of W. Nicol M.D. of Stonehaven and his wife Margaret Dyce daughte ...

, John Smith, Francis Richardson, and John Harvey (the latter two of MacEwan & Co. in Singapore). The Hendersons had been early backers of the

Eastern Archipelago Company The Eastern Archipelago Company was a company incorporated by British royal charter in 1847. It was active on the island of Labuan off the coast of Borneo from its creation until its dissolution in 1858. History Henry Wise, an ex-officer of the ...

but pulled out before its incorporation. The commercial hub of the company was, however, in Singapore, and businesses were soon also opened in Thailand, and then Indonesia and Hong Kong., not to mention a

jute mill A jute mill is a factory for processing jute. The first jute mill was established in Dundee, Scotland. The world's largest jute mill was the Adamjee Jute Mills at Narayanganj in Bangladesh. It closed all operations during 2002. Jack London worked ...

Baranagore ("City of hogs") , settlement_type = City , image_seal = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , pushpin_map = India West Bengal#India3#Asia , pushpin_label_ ...

near

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

which was very profitable until spun off as Baranagore Jute Factories Limited in 1872. In Sarawak, its first manager was a Dane,

Ludvig Verner Helms Ludvig Verner Helms (April 14, 1825 – July 26, 1918) was an adventurer, merchant, emissary, and author associated with the Far East, especially the Borneo Company in Sarawak. As a manager for the Borneo Company, Helms developed and expanded ...

, who had been trading there on his own account since 1852. The company was given the mandate to "take over and work Mines, Ores, Veins or Seams of all descriptions of Minerals in the Island of Borneo, and to barter or sell the produce of such workings" at the cost of royalty payments to the Sarawak government treasury in a 1857 agreement. Sago was an early staple of its trade (with a factory in Kuching), but mining, initially of antimony around Bau, then coal at Simunjan, mercury at Tegora and later of gold in Bau, took priority. The Rajahs had an ambivalent relationship with the Company, but often relied on it to assist them - not least when its ship helped relieve the town from the Chinese uprising of 1857 - and it printed government currency, while expanded its business to insurance, brokerage, travel, and shipping. In 1923, there was no longer any economic benefit of extracting minerals in Sarawak. The Borneo Company in London was then forced to relinquish its 1857 agreement. Initially, all the BCL managers and senior employees were European. Only in the 1950s, were local Sarawakians appointed as executives and managers. The company also had branches throughout Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei.

British Crown Colony

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

ended in 1945, the company was the only agent to distribute oil from

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...

, operating the first Shell petrol kiosk in Kuching. The Sarawak colonial government also mandated the company to import and distribute consumer goods throughout Sarawak. The Borneo Company offices in Kuching were on the spot now occupied by the Hilton hotel, with the manager's house, 'Aneberg', on the hill above. It also had warehouses located where Grand Margherita and Wisma Bukit Mata today.

Federation of Malaysia

In 1967, the company merged with the Inchcape Group headquartered in Singapore. In 1974, the Borneo Company initiated a joint venture with Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) to form Sarawak Sebor Sdn Bhd. In 2007, Sarawak Sebor sold all its shareholdings to a company known as IDS/LF Asia. LF (Lee & Fung) Asia was a global supply chain company headquartered in Hong Kong. In 2016, LF Asia sold its interests to another China based company known as DCH (Dah Chong Hong Holdings Ltd). On 28 September 2018, DCH decided to cease all remaining operations of the Borneo Company.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies established in 1856 Defunct companies of Malaysia 1967 disestablishments in Malaysia Companies disestablished in 1967