John Crawfurd
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John Crawfurd (13 August 1783 – 11 May 1868) was a Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat, and author who served as the second and last Resident of Singapore.


Early life

He was born on
Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...
, in
Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, the son of Samuel Crawfurd, a physician, and Margaret Campbell; and was educated at the school in
Bowmore Bowmore ( gd, Bogh Mòr, 'Big Bend') is a small town on the Scottish island of Islay. It serves as administrative capital of the island, and gives its name to the noted Bowmore distillery producing Bowmore single malt scotch whisky. History ...
. He followed his father's footsteps in the study of medicine and completed his medical course at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
in 1803, at the age of 20. Crawfurd joined 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 Southea ...
, as a Company surgeon, and was posted to India's Northwestern Provinces (now
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
), working in the area around
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and
Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
from 1803–1808. He saw service in the campaigns of Baron Lake.


In the East Indies

Crawfurd was sent in 1808 to
Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
, where he applied himself to the study of the
Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...
and culture. In Penang, he met
Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
for the first time. In 1811, Crawfurd accompanied Raffles on
Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...
's
Java Invasion The Invasion of Java in 1811 was a successful British amphibious operation against the Dutch East Indian island of Java that took place between August and September 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally established as a colony of the Dutch R ...
, which overcame the Dutch. Raffles was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
by Minto during the 45-day operation, and Crawfurd was appointed the post of Resident Governor at the Court of
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
in November 1811. There he took a firm line against Sultan
Hamengkubuwana II Hamengkubuwono II (also spelled Hamengkubuwana II, 7 March 1750 – 3 January 1828), born Raden Mas Sundoro, was the second sultan of Yogyakarta 1792–1810, 1811–12Daendels stood down HBII in favour of his son Hamengkubuwono III and final ...
. The Sultan was encouraged by
Pakubuwono IV Pakubuwono IV (also transliterated Pakubuwana IV) (31 August 1768 – 1 October 1820) was the fourth Susuhunan (ruler of Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, ...
of
Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...
to assume he had support in resisting the British; who sided with his opponents: his son, the
Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
, and Pangeran Natsukusuma. The Sultan's palace, the Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, was besieged and taken by British-led forces in June 1812. As Resident, Crawfurd also pursued the study of the Javanese language, and cultivated personal relationships with Javanese aristocrats and literati. He was impressed by
Javanese music As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia ( id, Musik Indonesia) itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a r ...
. Crawfurd was sent on diplomatic missions to
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
and the Celebes (now
Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
). His knowledge of the local culture supported Raffles's government in Java. Raffles, however, wanted to introduce land reform in the
Cheribon Cirebon (, formerly rendered Cheribon or Chirebon in English) is a port city on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is the only coastal city of West Java, located about 40 km west of the provincial border with Central Jav ...
residency. Crawfurd, with his experience of India and the ''
zamindari A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
'', was a supporter of the "village system" of revenue collection. He opposed Raffles's attempts to introduce individual (''
ryotwari The ryotwari system was a land revenue system in British India introduced by Thomas Munro, which allowed the government to deal directly with the cultivator ('ryot') for revenue collection and gave the peasant freedom to cede or acquire new land ...
'') settlement into Java.


Diplomat

Java was returned to the Dutch in 1816, and Crawfurd went back to England that year, shortly becoming a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
, and turning to writing. Within a few years he was recalled to South-East Asia, as a diplomat; his missions were of limited obvious success.


Mission to Siam, Cochin China

In 1821, the then
Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
,
Lord Hastings Baron Hastings is a title that has been created three times. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1290, and is extant. The second creation was in the Peerage of England in 1299, and became extinct on the death of the first holder in ...
, sent Crawfurd to the courts of
Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...
(now
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
) and
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
(now
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
). Lord Hastings was especially interested in learning more about Siamese policy with regard to the northern
Malay states The monarchies of Malaysia refer to the constitutional monarchy system as practised in Malaysia. The political system of Malaysia is based on the Westminster parliamentary system in combination with features of a federation. Nine of the state ...
, and Cochinchina's policy with regard to French efforts to establish a presence in Asia. Crawfurd travelled with notes from
Horace Hayman Wilson Horace Hayman Wilson (26 September 1786 – 8 May 1860) was an English orientalist who was elected the first Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University. Life He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 as a ...
on
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, as it was understood at the time. Captain Dangerfield of the
Indian army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
, a skilful astronomer, surveyor and geologist, served as assistant; Lieutenant Rutherford commanded thirty
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 ...
s; noted naturalist
George Finlayson George Finlayson (1790–1823) was a Scottish naturalist and traveller. He was called one of the best naturalists of his day, and he was noted for his pioneering studies of the plants, animals, and people of southern Thailand and the Malay penin ...
served as
medical officer A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. Mrs. Crawfurd accompanied the Mission. 21 November 1821, the mission embarked on the '' John Adam'' for the complicated and difficult navigation of the Hoogly river, taking seven days to sail the 140 miles (225 km.) from
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 ...
to open water. Crawfurd writes that, with the assistance of a steam-boat, ships might be towed down in two days without difficulty; then adds in a footnote: "The first steam-vessel used in India, was built about three years after this passage was written...." The ''John Adam'' proceeded on what would be the first official visit to Siam since the resurgence of Siam following the 1767 Fall of Ayutthaya. Crawfurd soon found the court of King
Rama II Phra Phutthaloetla Naphalai ( th, พระพุทธเลิศหล้านภาลัย, 24 February 1767 – 21 July 1824), personal name Chim ( th, ฉิม), also styled as Rama II, was the second monarch of Siam under the Chakri ...
still embroiled in the aftermath of the Burmese–Siamese War of 1809–1812. On 8 December 1821, near Papra Strait (modern Pak Prah Strait north of Thalang District) Crawfurd finds fishermen "in a state of perpetual distrust and insecurity" due to territorial disputes between hostile Burmans and Siamese. 11 December, after entering the Straits of Malacca and arrival at
Penang Island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...
, he finds the settlements of Penang and Queda (modern
Kedah Sultanate The Kedah Sultanate (كسلطانن قدح) is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Unio ...
, founded in 1136, but then a
tributary state A tributary state is a term for a pre-modern state in a particular type of subordinate relationship to a more powerful state which involved the sending of a regular token of submission, or tribute, to the superior power (the suzerain). This to ...
of Siam) in a state of alarm.
Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II Paduka Sri Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II ibni al-Marhum Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah (died 3 January 1845) was the 22nd Sultan of Kedah. His reign was from 1803 to 1821 and 1842 to 1845. He was appointed as Heir Apparent (''Uparaja'') by t ...
, the
Rajah ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
of Quedah had fled the Rajah of Ligor (modern
Nakhon Si Thammarat Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat pro ...
) to claim
right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
at Prince of Wales's Island (modern Penang.) British claim to the island was based upon payment of a
quit-rent Quit rent, quit-rent, or quitrent is a tax or land tax imposed on occupants of freehold or leased land in lieu of services to a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns. Under feudal law, the payment of quit rent (Latin ...
accordant with European feudal law, which Crawfurd feared the Siamese would challenge. Crawfurd's journal entry for 1 April 1822, notes that the Siamese, for their part, were especially interested in the acquisition of arms. Pointedly questioned in this regard in an urgent private meeting with the Prah-klang (
Prayurawongse ''Somdet Chao Phraya'' Borom Maha Prayurawongse ( th, สมเด็จเจ้าพระยาบรมมหาประยูรวงศ์; ; 1788 - 26 April 1855) or Dit Bunnag ( th, ดิศ บุนนาค; ) was a prominent polit ...
), the reply was, "that if the Siamese were at peace with the friends and neighbours of the British nation, they would certainly be permitted to purchase fire-arms and ammunition at our ports, but not otherwise." On 19 May, a Chief of Lao ( Chao Anu, a king in what is now
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and soon-to-be rebel) met with Crawfurd, a first diplomatic contact for the UK. This visit was despite the isolation into which the mission had fallen. A Vietnamese embassy had arrived not long before, and tensions were high. Since Crawford's brief opposed the interests of court figures including the Raja of
Ligor Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat prov ...
and
Nangklao Nangklao ( th, พระบาทสมเด็จพระนั่งเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว, ; 31 March 1788 – 2 April 1851), birth name Thap ( th, ทับ), also styled Rama III, was the third king of Siam ...
, there was little prospect of success. By October relations were at a low ebb. Crawfurd moved on to
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
, but
Minh Mạng Minh Mạng () or Minh Mệnh (, vi-hantu, 明 命, lit. "the bright favour of Heaven"; 25 May 1791 – 20 January 1841; born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu) was the second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of V ...
refused to see him.


Resident of Singapore

Crawfurd was appointed British Resident of Singapore in March 1823. He was under orders to reduce the expenditure on the existing
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
there, but instead responded to local commercial representations, and spent money on reclamation work on the river. He also concluded the final agreement between the East India Company, and Sultan
Hussein Shah of Johor Sultan Hussein Mua'zzam Shah ibni Mahmud Shah Alam (1776 – 5 September 1835) was the 18th ruler of Johor-Riau. He signed two treaties with Britain which culminated in the founding of modern Singapore; during which he was nominally given reco ...
with the
Temenggong Temenggong or Tumenggung ( Jawi: تمڠݢوڠ; ''Temenggung'', Hanacaraka: ꦠꦸꦩꦼꦁ​ꦒꦸꦁ​; ''Tumenggung'') is an old Malay and Javanese title of nobility, usually given to the chief of public security. Responsibilities The Tem ...
, on the status of Singapore on 2 August 1824. It was the culmination of negotiations started by Raffles in 1819, and the agreement is now sometimes called the Crawfurd Treaty. He also had input into the
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, also known as the Treaty of London, was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in London on 17 March 1824. The treaty was to resolve disputes arising from the execution of the Anglo-D ...
dealing with spheres of influence in the East Indies. Crawfurd was on familiar terms with
Munshi Abdullah Abdullah bin Abdul al Kadir (1796–1854) ( ar, عبد الله بن عبد القادر ') also known as Munshi Abdullah, was a Malayan writer of mixed ancestry. He was a famous Malacca-born munshi of Singapore and died in Jeddah, a part of t ...
. He edited and contributed to the ''
Singapore Chronicle 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 ...
'' of Francis James Bernard, the first local newspaper that initially appeared dated 1 January 1824. Crawford Street and Crawford Bridge in Singapore are named after him.


Burma mission

Crawfurd was sent on another envoy mission to
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
in 1826, by Hastings's successor
Lord Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaig ...
, in the aftermath of the
First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...
. It was to be his last political service for the Company. The party included
Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) was an American Congregationalist and later Particular Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Judson was sent from North America to preach in B ...
as interpreter and
Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...
as botanist. Crawfurd's journey to Ava up the River Irrawaddy was by
paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...
, the ''Diana'': it had been hired by the East India Company for the war, where it had seen action and travelled 400 miles up the Irrawaddy. There were five local boats, and soldiers making up a party of over 50. Crawfurd at the court found
Bagyidaw Bagyidaw ( my, ဘကြီးတော်, ; also known as Sagaing Min, ; 23 July 1784 – 15 October 1846) was the seventh king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1819 until his abdication in 1837. Prince of Sagaing, as he was commonly known ...
temporising despite a weak position with the British forces in
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
and Tenasserim. The king conceded only a trade agreement, in return for a delay in indemnity payments; and sent his own mission to
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 ...
. The expedition fortuitously was delayed on the return journey for repairs. Crawfurd collected significant fossils, north of Magwe on the left bank of the river, in seven chests. Back in London,
William Clift William Clift FRS (14 February 1775 – 20 June 1849) was a British illustrator and conservator. Early life Clift was born in Burcombe near Bodmin in Cornwall. He was the youngest of seven children and grew up in poverty following his fat ...
identified a new species of mastodon (more accurately
Stegolophodon ''Stegolophodon'' is an extinct genus of stegodontid proboscideans, with two tusks and a trunk. It lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, and may have evolved into ''Stegodon ''Stegodon'' ("roofed tooth" from the Ancient Greek words ...
) from them;
Hugh Falconer Hugh Falconer MD FRS (29 February 1808 – 31 January 1865) was a Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist, and paleoanthropologist. He studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam,Burma,and most of the Mediterranean islands a ...
also worked on the collection. The finds, of fossil bones and wood, were discussed further in a paper by
William Buckland William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist. Buckland wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named ' ...
, giving details; and they brought Crawfurd the friendship of Roderick Murchison, Foreign Secretary of the Geological Society. There were also collected 18,000 botanical specimens, many of which went to the
Calcutta Botanic Garden The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, previously known as Indian Botanic Garden and the Calcutta Botanic Garden, is situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. They are commonly known as the Calcutta Botanical Garden and previ ...
.


Later life

In the United Kingdom, Crawfurd spent around 40 years in varied activities. He wrote as an orientalist, geographer and ethnologist. He tried parliamentary politics, without success; he agitated for
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
; and he was a publicist for and against colonisation schemes, in line with his views. He also represented the interests of British traders based in Singapore and Calcutta.


Radical parliamentary candidate

Crawfurd made several unsuccessful attempts to enter the British Parliament in the 1830s. His campaign literature featured
universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
and the
secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...
,
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
and opposition to monopolies, public education and reduction of military spending, and opposition to regressive taxation and the taxation of Dissenters for a state church, with nationalisation of Church of England properties. He joined the Parliamentary Candidate Society, founded by Thomas Erskine Perry (his brother-in-law), to promote "fit and proper" Members of Parliament. He also joined the Radical Club, a breakaway from the National Political Union (UK), National Political Union founded in 1833 by William Wallis (weaver), William Wallis. Crawfurd unsuccessfully contested, as an advanced radical, Glasgow (UK Parliament constituency), Glasgow in 1832, Paisley (UK Parliament constituency), Paisley in 1834, Stirling Burghs (UK Parliament constituency), Stirling Burghs in 1835, and Preston (UK Parliament constituency), Preston in 1837.Douglas, Robert Kennaway (1888) s:Crawfurd, John (DNB00), "Crawfurd, John (1783–1868), orientalist" in ''Dictionary of National Biography''. At Glasgow he polled fourth (there were two MPs for the borough), with Daniel Sandford (scholar), Sir Daniel Sandford third. In March 1834 it was Sandford who was elected at Paisley. ''Alexander's East India and Colonial Magazine'' struck a note of regret after his defeat at Stirling Burghs. On 31 January 1834 Crawfurd supported Thomas Perronet Thompson in a meeting agitating against the Corn Laws. Thomas Carlyle alluded, in notes on one of Jane Welsh Carlyle's letters, to Crawfurd speaking at a radical meeting at the London Tavern set up by Charles Buller on 21 November 1834; in which he showed much more originality than John Arthur Roebuck, but lost his thread. In Preston in the 1837 United Kingdom general election, 1837 general election Crawfurd had the Liberal nomination in a three-cornered fight for two seats, as Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood was regarded as a waverer by the Conservatives who ran Robert Townley Parker against him; but he polled third. He also supported John Temple Leader's candidacy at Westminster against Sir Francis Burdett, being deputy chairman on his election committee (with Thomas Prout, chairman Sir Ronald Craufurd Ferguson). Crawfurd spoke with George Grote at a meeting for Leader at the Belgrave Hotel.


Free trader

A lifelong advocate of free trade policies, in ''A View of the Present State and Future Prospects of the Free Trade and Colonization of India'' (1829), Crawfurd made an extended case against the East India Company's approach, in particular in excluding British entrepreneurs, and in failing to develop Indian cotton. He had had experience in Java of the export possibilities for cotton textiles. He then gave evidence in March 1830 to a parliamentary committee, on the East India Company's monopoly of trade with China. Robert Montgomery Martin criticised Crawfurd, and the evidence of Robert Rickards, an ex-employee of the Company, for exaggerating the financial burden of the monopoly on tea. Crawfurd put out a pamphlet, ''Chinese Monopoly Examined''. Ross Donnelly Mangles defended the East India Company in 1830, in an answer addressed to Rickards and Crawfurd. When the Company's charter came up for renewal in 1833, the China trade monopoly was broken. Crawfurd's part as parliamentary agent for interests in Calcutta had been paid (at £1500 per year); his publicity work had included facts for an ''Edinburgh Review'' article written by another author.


Colonisation of Australia

In reviewing Edward Gibbon Wakefield's ''New British Province of South Australia'', and subsequent writing in the ''Westminster Review'', Crawfurd gave an opinion against systematic colonisation. He considered that abundant land and individual enterprise were the necessary elements. Robert Torrens (economist), Robert Torrens, who floated the South Australian Land Company, replied to the ''Westminster Review'' line in ''Colonization of South Australia'' (1835). Part I of the book is a ''Letter'' to Crawfurd. In 1843 Crawfurd gave evidence to the Colonial Office on Port Essington, on the north coast of Australia, to the effect that its climate made it unsuitable for settlement. He returned to the topic in a debate in 1858 on settlements on the Victoria River (Northern Territory), Victoria River, as had been suggested by Sir George Everest. He generally opposed Sir Roderick Murchison's promotion of European colonisation of Australia, as far as it applied to the north coast.


Lobbyist for South and South-East Asia

When the Stamp Act 1827 was passed, meaning that all public documents in India would have to pay a stamp tax (including newspapers as well as legal documents), Crawfurd was hired as London agent for a group of British merchants in Calcutta opposing the legislation. Crawfurd involved Joseph Hume, and he obtained newspaper coverage for his cause, including in ''The Examiner (1808–86), The Examiner'' where the precedents from America were cited. He also wrote pamphlets himself, in which he advocated an end to the East India Company monopoly, and European colonisation. These moves occurred in 1828–9; in 1830 Crawfurd approached William Huskisson directly. His lobbying continued with the free trade issues mentioned above. ''Inquiry into the System of Taxation in India, Letters on the Interior of India, an attack on the newspaper stamp-tax and the duty on paper entitled Taxes on Knowledge'' (1836) is a related work. In 1855 Crawfurd went with a delegation to the President of the Board of Control, Board of Control of the East India Company, with representations on behalf of the Straits dollar as an independent currency. Crawfurd lobbied in both Houses of Parliament, with George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle acting to bring a petition to the Lords, and William Ewart Gladstone putting the case in the Commons. Among the arguments put was that the dollar was a decimal currency, while the rupee used by traders, and legal tender in East India Company territories since it was coined in 1835, was not. In 1856 a Bill to change the status quo on coins minted and issued from India was defeated. In 1868 Crawfurd with James Guthrie and William Paterson formed the Straits Settlements Association, to protect the colony's interests. Crawfurd was its first President.


Last years

He was elected President of the Ethnological Society in 1861. He died at his home in Elvaston Place, South Kensington, London on 11 May 1868 at the age of 85.


Works

Crawfurd wrote prolifically. His views have been seen as inconsistent: a recent author wrote that "[...] Crawfurd seemed to embody a complex mixture of elements of coexisting but ultimately contradictory value systems".#Ellingson, Ellingson, p. 310. A comment about "hasty general opinions from a few instances", by George Bennett (naturalist), George Bennett on the topic of Papuan people, has been taken to be aimed at Crawfurd. His 1822 work ''"Malay of Champa"'' contains a vocabulary of the Cham language.


Diplomat and traveller

In retirement after the Burmese mission, Crawfurd wrote books and papers on Eastern subjects. His envoy experiences from missions were written up in ''Journals'' in 1828 and 1829. This documentation was reprinted nearly 140 years later by Oxford University Press. *''Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Ava in 1827'' (1829) *''Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China, exhibiting a view of the actual State of these Kingdoms'' (1830) *''Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries'' (1856) *


Historian

According to Jane Rendall's concept of "Scottish orientalism", Crawfurd is a historian of the second generation. His ''History of the Indian Archipelago'' (1820), in three volumes, was his major work. Crawfurd was a critic of much of what the European nations had done in the area of Asia he covered. ''An Historical and Descriptive Account of China'' (1836) was a joint work in three volumes from the ''Edinburgh Cabinet Library'', with Hugh Murray (geographer), Hugh Murray, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace (mathematician), William Wallace, and Gilbert Thomas Burnett.


Orientalist

*''Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language'' (1852) Crawfurd and Colin Mackenzie collected manuscripts from the capture of Yogyakarta, and some of these are now in the British Library. Crawfurd claimed Cham language, Cham for the Austronesian languages. His suggestion met no favour at the time, but scholars from around 1950 onwards came to agree.


Economist

Crawfurd held strong views on what he saw as the backwardness of the economy of India of his time. He attributed it to the weakness of Indian financial institutions, compared to Europe. His opinions were in an anonymous pamphlet ''A Sketch of the Commercial Resources and Monetary and Mercantile System of British India'' (1837) now attributed to him. Like Robert Montgomery Martin, he saw India primarily as a source of raw materials, and advocated investment based on that direction. A harsh critic of the existing Calcutta agencies, he noted the absence of bill broking in India and suggested that an exchange bank should be set up. His view that an economy dominated by agriculture was inevitably an absolute government was cited by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his ''On the Constitution of the Church and State''.


Ethnologist

While Crawfurd produced work that was ethnological in nature over a period of half a century, the term "ethnology" had not even been coined when he began to write. Attention has been drawn to his latest work, from the 1860s, which was copious, much criticised at the time, and which has also been scrutinised in the 21st century, as detailed below.


Polygenist

Crawfurd held polygenist views, based on multiple origins of human groups; and these earned him, according to Sir John Bowring, the nickname "the inventor of forty Adams". In ''The Descent of Man'' by Charles Darwin, Crawfurd is cited as believing in 60 races. He expressed these views to the Ethnological Society of London (ESL), a traditional stronghold of monogenism (belief in a unified origin of humankind) where he had come in 1861 to hold office as President. Crawfurd believed in different races as separate creations by God in specific regional zones, with separate origins for languages, and possibly as different species. With Robert Gordon Latham of the ESL, he also opposed strongly the ideas of Max Müller on an original Aryan race.


Papers of the 1860s

Crawfurd wrote in 1861 in the ''Transactions'' of the ESL a paper ''On the Conditions Which Favour, Retard, and Obstruct the Early Civilization of Man'', in which he argued for deficiencies in the science and technology of Asia. In ''On the Numerals as Evidence of the Progress of Civilization'' (1863) he argued that the social condition of a people correlates with the numeral words of their language. Crawfurd used domestication frequently as a metaphor. His racist views on black people were laughed at, during the British Association meeting at Birmingham in 1865. A paper by Crawfurd, ''On the Physical and Mental Characteristics of European and Asian Races of Man'', given 13 February 1866, argued for the superiority of Europeans. It particularly laid emphasis on European military dominance as evidence. Its thesis was directly contradicted at a meeting of the Society some weeks later, by Dadabhai Naoroji.


Analyses of Crawfurd's Racial Views

Recent analyses have sought to clarify Crawfurd's agenda in his writings on race and, at this time, when he had become prominent in a young and still fluid field and discipline. Ellingson demonstrates Crawfurd's role in promoting the idea of the noble savage in service of racial ideology. Trosper has taken Ellingson's analysis a step further, attributing to Crawfurd a conscious "spin" put on the idea of primitive culture, a rhetorically sophisticated use of a "straw man" fallacy, achieved by bringing in, irrelevantly but for the sake of incongruity, the figure of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Crawfurd dedicated considerable effort to a critique of Darwin's theories of human evolution; as a proponent of polygenism, who believed that human races did not share common ancestors, Crawfurd was an early and prominent critic of Darwin's ideas.#Ellingson, Ellingson, p. 318. Right at the end of his life, in 1868, Crawfurd was using a "transitional fossil#Missing links, missing link" argument against Sir John Lubbock, in what Ellingson describes as a misrepresentation of a Darwinist viewpoint based on the idea that a precursor of humans must still be extant. Ellingson points to a 1781 work of William Falconer (physician), William Falconer, ''On the Influence of Climate'', with an attack on Rousseau, as a possible source of Crawfurd's thinking; while also pointing out some differences. Ellingson also places Crawfurd in a British group among those of his period whose anthropological views not only turned on race (classification of humans), race, but who also drew conclusions of superiority from those views, others being Luke Burke, James Hunt (speech therapist), James Hunt, Robert Knox, and Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie. Crawfurd's attitudes were not, however, based on human skin colour; and he was an opponent of slavery, having written an article "Sugar without Slavery" with Thomas Perronet Thompson in 1833 in the ''Westminster Review''. In dismissing Crawfurd's notes and suggestions on his work as "quite unimportant", Charles Darwin identified Crawfurd's racial views as "Pallasian", i.e. the analogue for humankind of the theories of Peter Simon Pallas. The predominant approach in the ESL went back to James Cowles Prichard. In the view of Thomas Trautmann, in Crawfurd's attack on the Aryan theory there is a final rejection of the "languages and nations" approach, which was Prichard's, and a consequent freeing of (polygenist) racial theory.


Family

Crawfurd married Horatia Ann, daughter of James Perry (journalist), James Perry. From 1821 to 1822, Mrs. Crawfurd had accompanied the #Mission to Siam and Cochin China, Mission to Siam and Cochin China aboard the ''John Adam''. As the ship made way from Bangkok to Hué, Mrs. Crawfurd went ashore on an island in the Gulf of Siam, where she made a considerable impression upon the natives. The writer Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd, born in 1834, was their son. The couple knew John Sterling (author), John Sterling, and the Carlyles. Thomas Carlyle met Henry Crabb Robinson at dinner at the Crawfurds (25 November 1837, at 27 Wilton Crescent), making a poor impression. Note 14.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *Knapman, Gareth (2017)
Race and British Colonialism in South-East Asia: John Crawfurd and the politics of equality
Routledge.


Further reading

*Ernest C. T. Chew (2002), "Dr John Crawfurd (1783–1868): The Scotsman Who Made Singapore British", ''Raffles Town Club'', vol. 8 (July–Sept). Singapore : Raffles Town Club. *Knapman, Gareth (2017)
Race and British Colonialism in South-East Asia: John Crawfurd and the politics of equality
Routledge.


External links

* *
Royal Geographical Society ObituaryObituary
from the ''Sydney Herald''
Infopedia page
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawfurd, John 1783 births 1868 deaths 19th-century Scottish medical doctors People from Islay Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Historians of India British East India Company civil servants Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Ethnological Society of London Scottish politicians Scottish diplomats Scottish economics writers British ethnologists Scottish geographers 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish linguists Scottish orientalists Scottish colonial officials Scottish surgeons Scottish travel writers Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Administrators in British Malaya Administrators in British Singapore Governors of the Straits Settlements