Pearl's Hill, briefly Mount Stamford, is a small hill in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Located in the vicinity of

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, it is one of the few surviving hills in the city area.

History

The hill was the location of gambier plantations owned by the Chinese who had occupied and settled there before

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

' arrival in 1819. Captain James Pearl, the captain of ship ''Indiana'' which took Sir Stamford Raffles to Singapore in 1819, liked the look of the hill, and began acquiring plot after plot on the hill from the Chinese gambier planters until he owned the entire hill in May 1822. Pearl had the Chinese and Malay workmen built his house on top of the hill and cleared the slopes to plant pepper vines for him. The hill was briefly named Mount Stamford by Pearl as a compliment to Raffles. When Raffles, having returned from Bencoolen,

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

in October 1822, heard how the hill had been acquired without his approval, he ordered its repossession by the

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. Raffles immediately relented and accorded the ownership of the hill back to Pearl. Captain Pearl, disgruntled by Raffles' actions, renamed the hill after himself. In 1828, Captain Pearl retired back to England and his agents had the hill sold to the British Government for Rs 10,000. His name had remained associated with the hill since then. An eastern foot of Pearl's Hill was well known for once being the site of the former multiple notable institutional buildings such as the Chinese Pauper Hospital (present day

Tan Tock Seng Hospital Tan Tock Seng Hospital (abbreviation: TTSH) is a tertiary referral hospital in Singapore, located in Novena. Named after Tan Tock Seng, the hospital has 45 clinical and allied health departments, 16 specialist centres and is powered by more ...

) and Seaman's hospital, both designed and built by John Turnbull Thomson from 1844 to 1846. Pearl's Hill Prison was once built in 1847 by

Charles Edward Faber Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

on the western slope of the hill based on plans by Thomson. It was built there because of the close proximity to Sepoy Lines as it was thought to provide protection and security for the prison. The prison had since demolished in 1968. Pearl's Hill used to be higher than

Fort Canning Hill Fort Canning Hill, or simply known as Fort Canning, is a prominent hill, about high, in the southeast portion of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Singapore's central business district. The hill has a long history intertwined wi ...

, thus in 1861 the British colonial engineers decided to have the

coolies Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th century by Europ ...

shave off the top of Pearl's Hill, therefore lowering its peak to ensure their enemies would not be able to use the hill as an attacking position against the newly built

Fort Canning Fort Canning Hill, or simply known as Fort Canning, is a prominent hill, about high, in the southeast portion of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Singapore's central business district. The hill has a long history intertwined wi ...

.Chris, T. (1997, December 04). Pearl's Hill. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_116_2004-12-14.html

References

{{Places in Singapore Hills of Singapore

History

See also

References