Outram is a planning area located within the Central Area of the Central Region of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The area is bordered by these planning areas:

Singapore River The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Planning Area, altho ...

to the north, the

Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

to the east and south, and Bukit Merah to the west. Outram is home to several key

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

buildings, such as

Singapore General Hospital Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is an academic health science centre and tertiary referral hospital in Singapore. It is located next to the Bukit Merah and Chinatown districts of the Central Region, close to the Outram Community Hospital (OC ...

(SGH) and several other specialist

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

centres operated by

Singapore Health Services Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

(SingHealth) as well as the

Central Narcotics Bureau The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the primary drug enforcement agency in Singapore. CNB is responsible for coordinating all matters pertaining to drug eradication. Its current direct ...

and the

Police Cantonment Complex The Police Cantonment Complex (PCC) is a high-rise government complex located on 391 New Bridge Road, Singapore 088762, next to Outram Park MRT station. It was officially opened in July 2001. Amenities and architecture The design of the building ...

Outram Secondary School Outram Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in Singapore. Founded in 1906 as Outram Road School, and later Outram School, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. It is also the only government school in Singapore ...

is situated in nearby York Hill. Across the Outram Road from the

Outram Park MRT station Outram Park MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the East West, North East and Thomson-East Coast lines located on the boundary of Bukit Merah and Outram planning areas, Singapore, near the junctio ...

is the

Health Sciences Authority The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Health of the Government of Singapore. It is a multi-disciplinary agency, responsible for applying medical, pharmaceutical and scientific expertise to protect and ...

building. Along the same side of the road further down towards College Road, is Block 9 where Mortuary@HSA is located. At the junction of Outram Road and College Road stands the Alumni Building which at one time housed the Department of Scientific Services (DSS) before it was relocated to its present location in HSA Building.

Etymology

Outram Road was named by the Municipality in 1858 after a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

general,

Sir James Outram Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet (29 January 1803 – 11 March 1863) was a British general who fought in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Early life James Outram was the son of Benjamin Outram of Butterley Hall, Butterley, Derbysh ...

(1803–1863), of the

Indian rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

fame. The nearby Havelock Road was named in reference to Major-General Sir

Henry Havelock Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (5 April 1795 – 24 November 1857) was a British general who is particularly associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny). E ...

. General Outram and General Havelock were two of the leaders in the British army during the Indian rebellion of 1857.

History

Known as ''si pai poh'' in

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

, it means "

Sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

plain". The Sepoy Lines and police station and parade ground are at one end of Outram Road. Both designations of Sepoy Plain and Sepoy Lines refer to the public shooting of 47 sepoys at the wall of Outram Prison in 1915. This was in the aftermath of the 1915 Singapore Mutiny which was quelled by local and British military forces.

References

*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), ''Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern Universities Press, Places in Singapore {{Singapore-geo-stub