The Eastern Archipelago Company was a company incorporated by

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, ...

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

in 1847. It was active on the island of

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capita ...

off the coast of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

from its creation until its dissolution in 1858.

History

Henry Wise, an ex-officer of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

's maritime service turned London merchant acquired the rights to the coal of Labuan from the

White Rajah The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a 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 Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

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 b ...

who had in turn obtained the rights from the Sultan of

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

. Wise brought about the grant of a royal charter to incorporate this company in 1847:

"...for the purpose of purchasing and acquiring, holding, settling, improving, cultivating and planting, letting, farming, selling, granting, alienating, mortgaging, charging or otherwise dealing with and making a profit of land, tenements and heridatements, and of the produce thereof, in the Islands of Labuan and the lands adjacent, and of working therein all mines, pits and quarries, and getting and raising all coal, stones, earths, ores, minerals and metals, and of trading and trafficking therein and therewith, and also of trading and trafficking with any of the authorities or inhabitants of the said Island and the lands adjacent, and of exporting from the said island or lands adjacent the produce to arise from the premises, or any of them, and of importing therinto such articles as may by the said Company be deemed necessary or expedient for the furtherance of all or any of the purposes aforesaid, and of purchasing or hiring British or other ships for all or any of the purposes aforesaid...",

He then sold the coal rights to the company but his two initial partners resigned when its initial paid up capital had to be confirmed a year later. Operations began when

James Motley James Motley (2 May 1822 – 1 May 1859) was a Yorkshireman closely associated with South Wales and Borneo. Life Born in Leeds, the son of Thomas Motley (1781–1863) and Caroline Osburn (1795–1869), sister of noted Egyptologist William Osburn. ...

was sent to Labuan in 1849. He was to take over the rudimentary coal workings and commence supplies to Royal Navy and East India Company steamers, for which a contract with the British Admiralty was already in place. The company did not provide him with sufficient resources to develop underground works at the same time as supplying the navy and he had to apply for funds from the government. The governor, James Brooke, ruled that the price of coal should be raised temporarily, but omitted to tell the navy who refused to pay and even made deductions for transport to their ships although the contact did not require it. The company hoped to supply P&O China mail ships, but there were complaints about quality as well as quantity which were not helped by friction with the authorities. James Brooke commenced legal action in 1850 to have the charter revoked: the confirmation of the grant of the charter in 1848 was ruled fraudulent in 1852 but the company considered this a technicality. Several people were sent to enquire into Motley's work before Edmund Scott Barber arrived as Resident Director to manage him in 1853. As he appeared to be both less competent and much more highly remunerated, Motley soon left, penniless, but Barber died of fever soon afterwards. He was followed by John Radford, who died in 1856, and the company was wound up in 1858.

References

{{Authority control 19th century in Malaysia Chartered companies Companies established in 1847 Companies disestablished in 1858 Labuan 1847 in Southeast Asia 1858 in Southeast Asia 1847 establishments in the British Empire Trading companies established in the 19th century Trading companies of the United Kingdom Trading companies disestablished in the 19th century