William George Stirling (25 August 1887 - 11 October 1951), was an Assistant Protector of Chinese in Singapore, an artist, a sculptor, and a criminologist.

Early life

Stirling was born on 25 August 1887 in the Sysonby House in Melton Mowbray,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. He later became a boarder at the Warren Hill School in Eastbourne,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

. From 1901 to 1905, he attended

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

in London. While he was still attending school, he joined the Japan Society in London, due to his fascination with the Far East.

Career

Stirling arrived in

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...

in 1907, where he worked in a rubber plantation. He joined the Chinese Protectorate in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

in 1915. In October 1918, he was appointed to act as an Assistant Superintendent of Government Monopolies. He served as an Assistant Protector of Chinese in Singapore from 1921 to 1931. He retired in 1932 and returned to England. Somewhere in 1934, he went to study at the Lyons Criminology Institute under French criminologist Edmond Locard for three years, during which he invented the synchrisiscope.

Personal life

Stirling was married to Chan Chee Man Wan. Together, they had one daughter, Mary, who was born in 1918. His hobbies included drawing. In December 1926, he was cut several times with a man by a man while trying to resolve a conflict between the man and his wife. The man had attacked his wife after she stated that she did not want to return to him, after which Stirling interfered and was then attacked by the man. The man later attempted to commit suicide by stabbing himself. Following his retirement to London, he began to develop his talent for sculpting. In March 1936, two of his bronze sculptures, with one depicting a Chinese boy actor, and the other depicting a Malay boy, were purchased by the

Municipal Commission of Singapore The Municipal Commission of Singapore was a body created in 1887 by the British colonial government to replace the Municipal Committee that was created in June 1848. The role of the commission was to manage key services for the Town of Singapore, ...

using the money Karel Willem Van Kleef had donated. In January 1939, he presented three of the busts he sculpted, a Bust of a Chinese Gentleman, a bust of

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

, and a bust of a Chinese girl, to the National Museum of Singapore, then known as Raffles Museum. Stirling died on 11 October 1951 in St Charles' Hospital in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London. His funeral was held on 17 October. In 1956, his wife demonstrated the cooking of Chinese food to

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

. She died in Hong Kong in 1977.

Legacy

Stirling Road was named after Stirling in 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, William George 1887 births 1951 deaths People from British Singapore British people in British Malaya