¹ In the mid nineteenth century, the Straits Settlements consisted of Singapore, Malacca, Penang (then known as Prince of Wales Island) and Province Wellesley.

² Blundell, E. A., Governor of the Straits Settlements to Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India, 28 August 1857, cited in Moore, Donald and Joanna (1969). The first 150 years of Singapore, Donald Moore Press Ltd., Singapore, p. 307Google Scholar.

³ Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, reproduced in Jarman, Robert L. (ed.) (1998). Annual Reports of the Straits Settlements, 1855–1941, Archives Editions Ltd., London, v.1, p. 28Google Scholar.

⁴ Numerous terms have been used to describe the unrest in India that began in 1857 including ‘mutiny’, ‘war of independence’, ‘rebellion’, ‘revolt’, ‘uprising’ and ‘insurrection’. The diverse terminology is a reflection of differences both in the reading of the nature of the conflict, and also in ideological positions. For a discussion, see Andersen, Clare (2007). The Indian uprising of 1857–8: prisons, prisoners and rebellion, Anthem Press, UK, p. 1Google Scholar.

⁵ Pati, Biswamoy (2010). ‘Introduction: the Great Rebellion of 1857’ in Pati, Biswamoy (ed.), The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India: exploring transgressions, contests and diversities, Routledge, London, p. 1Google Scholar.

⁶ Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, pp. 1–2.

⁷ Metcalf, Thomas R. (1965). The aftermath of revolt: India, 1857–1870, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, p. viiCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸ Metcalf, The aftermath of revolt, p. 289.

⁹ Examples of recent works focused on the widespread manifestations of the rebellion include Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (ed.) (2007), Rethinking 1857, Orient Longman, New DelhiGoogle Scholar; Pati, Biswamoy (ed.) (2007), The 1857 Rebellion: debates in Indian history and society, Oxford University Press, New DelhiGoogle Scholar; and Pati (ed.), The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India.

¹⁰ Such works include Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8; Carter, Marina and Bates, Crispin (2010). Empire and locality: a global dimension to the 1857 Indian uprising, Journal of Global History, 5:1, 51–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Putnis, Peter (2007), The Indian insurgency of 1857 as a global media event, International Association for Media and Communication Research 25^th Conference Proceedings Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, Canberra, pp. 185–90.

¹¹ Putnis, The Indian insurgency of 1857, cited in Carter and Bates, Empire and locality, p. 53.

¹² Andersen's book suggested that the revolt was decisive in altering colonial policies towards Indian incarceration. She details colonial penal practices in northern India, and argues that these became key sites of ‘provocation and coalescence’ during the rebellion not only for ‘labour and supplies’ but also because colonial jails were viewed by the rebels as ‘principal instruments of colonial rule and the multiple cultural and religious transgressions that implied’. Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, p. 2. In studying the penal crisis that arose following the rebellion, Andersen also scrutinizes the reaction of European inhabitants in the Straits Settlements and Arakan following the initial decision to transport convict rebels there (pp. 107–117).

¹³ Carter and Bates, Empire and locality, p. 5. The article by Carter and Bates provides insight into the views of British officials to the transportation of rebel-convicts. They argue that while there was initial opposition to rebel-convict transportation due to concerns of safety, soon after, many British officials and European lobbyists in the sugar colonies posited more favourable views as the cheap labour of convicts provided an ‘opportunity to profit’ (p. 54). Suggestions for sites where convict-rebels could be used favourably included British Guiana, the Cape, the Kooria Mooria islands, the north coast of Australia, Perim and the West Indies. Carter and Bates suggest that the decision to set up a penal settlement in the Andamans for these convicts largely put paid to these attempts.

¹⁴ Carter and Bates, Empire and locality, p. 61; Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, pp. 108–114.

¹⁵ Yang, Anand A. (1987). A conversation of rumours: the language of popular ‘mentalités’ in late nineteenth-century colonial India, Journal of Social History, 20:3, 485CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶ Lefebvre, George (1973). The Great Fear of 1789: Rural panic in revolutionary France, introduced by George Rude; translated by White, Joan, Pantheon Books, New YorkGoogle Scholar. Lefebvre prodigiously followed the progress of numerous rumours that spread amongst French peasants at the time of the revolution. In the context of widespread famine, the peasants mistakenly assumed that the aristocracy had deployed armies of vagrants to destroy their property and crops during harvest. That fear, Lefebvre posits, was instrumental in underpinning the numerous peasant revolts witnessed in France in late July and early August 1789.

¹⁷ Kamtekar, Indivar (2002). The Shiver of 1942, Studies in History, 18:1, 81–102CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Kamtekar's article traces how news emanating from British territories in the Far East that had fallen rapidly to the Japanese army alongside horror stories of Japanese ruthlessness by Indian refugees from these locations, gave rise to a flood of rumours that circulated in northern and eastern India in 1942. Amongst these included rumours that the Japanese had captured Chittagong and Assam; that arrangements had been made ‘for British residents to flee Calcutta’; and that British troops had been replaced by Indian troops at Fort William because ‘the British don't care if Indians are killed’ (p. 86). Kamtekar shows how these rumours led many—in areas perceived to be especially susceptible to a Japanese invasion—‘to take to their heels’, and others to rebel in August 1942 (p. 100).

¹⁸ Yang, A conversation of rumours, p. 487.

¹⁹ Yang, A conversation of rumours, pp. 485–505. In his study of rumours that circulated amongst peasants in Bihar at the time of the census in 1872, 1881 and 1891, Yang posits that the most evident anxiety was that these exercises would lead to new taxes. There were also concerns that the census would result in ‘a man and woman from each house. . .be converted to Christianity’ or that the Government sought to determine the number of able-bodied men ‘to recruit them as solders and coolies’ (p. 489). Troop movements during periods of war sometimes sparked panic. For example, during the British campaign in Egypt in the 1880s, Yang posits that Kahars—a caste of potters—who witnessed the movement of troops ‘feared that they would soon be pressed into service and spirited away to foreign battlefields’ (p. 493). In similar vein, famine relief measures in 1873–1874, led to rumours ‘that people were being fattened up to be shipped off to Burma’ (p. 493).

²⁰ Turnbull, C. M. (1958). Communal Disturbances in the Straits Settlements in 1857, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 31:1, 94–144Google Scholar; Turnbull, C. M. (1972), The Straits Settlements, 1826–67: Indian Presidency to Crown Colony, Athlone Press, LondonGoogle Scholar.

²¹ Pieris, Anoma (2009). Hidden hands and divided landscapes, University of Hawaii press, HonoluluCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²² In the mid nineteenth century, there were two English language newspapers in Singapore, The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce (henceforth The Straits Times) and The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (henceforth The Singapore Free Press).

²³ Turnbull, C. M. (1969). The European Mercantile Community in Singapore, 1819–1967, Journal of Southeast Asian History, 10:1, 18Google Scholar.

²⁴ Turnbull, C. M. (1995), Dateline Singapore: 150 years of The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore, p. 32Google Scholar.

²⁵ Turnbull, Dateline Singapore, p. 10.

²⁶ Turnbull, The European Mercantile Community in Singapore, p. 16.

²⁷ The Straits Times, 6 January 1857, p. 3.

²⁸ Census returns in 1849 show that the number of inhabitants in Singapore was 52,891. This figure excluded the military and its followers, transported and local convicts, and persons ‘living on board vessels and boats in the Roads’, which if taken into account increased the number of inhabitants to over 59,000. ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Walter; Brooke, Gilbert and Braddell, Roland (eds) (1921). One hundred years of Singapore: Being some account of the capital of the Straits Settlements from its foundation by Sir Stamford Raffles on the 6^th February 1819 to the 6^th February 1919, John Murray, London, v.1, p. 357Google Scholar.

²⁹ ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds) (1921), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, p. 357.

³⁰ Turnbull, The European Mercantile Community in Singapore, p. 14.

³¹ Furnivall, J. S. (1948). Colonial policy and practice: A comparative study of Burma and Netherlands India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 304Google Scholar.

³² Braddell, Roland (1921a). ‘Crime: Its Punishment and Prevention’, in Makepeace, Brooke, and Braddell, Roland (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, pp. 244–246. According to Buckley, the total number of policemen in Singapore in 1849 was 218. Buckley, Charles Burton (1969). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: From the foundation of the settlement under the honourable the East India Company on February 6^th 1819 to the transfer of the Colonial Office as part of the colonial possessions of the Crown on April 1^st 1867, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, p. 509Google Scholar.

³³ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 102.

³⁴ Turnbull, The European Mercantile Community in Singapore, p. 34.

³⁵ Hirschman, Charles (1986). The making of race in colonial Malaya: political economy and racial ideology, Sociological Forum, 1:2, 340CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁶ Hirschman, The making of race in colonial Malaya, p. 340.

³⁷ For a detailed discussion on changes in the European outlook towards Malays in Malaya, see Hirschman, The making of race in colonial Malaya, pp. 341–346.

³⁸ van Burgst, Baron H. G. Nahuijs, ‘Extracts from the Letters of Col. Nahuijs’, translated by Miller, H. E. (1941). Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 19:2Google Scholar, cited in Bastin, John (1994). Travellers’ Singapore: An Anthology, Oxford University Press, p. 16Google Scholar.

³⁹ van Burgst, Baron H. G. Nahuijs, ‘Extracts from the Letters of Col. Nahuijs’, translated by Miller, H. E. (1941). Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 19:2Google Scholar, cited in Bastin, John (1994). Travellers’ Singapore, p. 17.

⁴⁰ ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, p. 357.

⁴¹ For a discussion on European ‘paternalism’ towards Malays in colonial Malaya, see Hirschman, The making of race in colonial Malaya, pp. 342–343.

⁴² The Singapore Free Press, 24 August 1849, p. 2.

⁴³ Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, p. 24.

⁴⁴ Letter from Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas Stamford Raffles to Captain C. E. Davis (Chairman), George Bonham and Alex L. Johnston, reproduced in Buckley, Charles Burton, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 83.

⁴⁵ Earl, George Windsor (1837), The Eastern Seas, cited in Bastin, John, Travellers’ Singapore, p. 28.

⁴⁶ Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, p. 22.

⁴⁷ By 1840 the Chinese accounted for 17,704 of Singapore's 35,389 inhabitants. ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke, and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, pp. 356–357.

⁴⁸ Although acknowledging the potential threat posed by Chinese ‘secret societies’ to colonial authority, early European accounts were more sympathetic. For example, Major Low, an officer of the Madras Army and a Magistrate in the Straits Settlements noted in 1840 that: ‘The Chinese uphold here, as they do in other places where they have settled out of China, the Kongsis or Secret Societies. . .The chief one here is the Tean Tay Hueh, which boasts. . .from five to six thousand members, who are bound by oath to support each other on all occasions, and to screen their brethren from public justice. . .Some of these societies are avowedly for good purposes, such as relieving distress within the limits of the Chinese population’. Cited in Moore, Donald and Joanna, The first 150 years of Singapore, pp. 203–204.

⁴⁹ Bonham to Governor Fullerton, 17 September 1830 in Straits Settlements Records (hereafter, ‘SSR’), R 9, cited in Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 111.

⁵⁰ McNair, J. F. A. (1899). Prisoners their own warders: A record of the convict prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements established in 1825, discontinued 1873, together with a cursory history of the convict establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca from the year 1797, Archibald Constable, London, p. 68Google Scholar.

⁵¹ The Straits Times, 13 June 1854, p. 4.

⁵² Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, p. 28.

⁵³ ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, p. 357. The census returns for that year inform that the number of ‘Military and Followers’ was 609, although it is unclear whether, and if so how many, European military personnel were included in that figure.

⁵⁴ Crawfurd's dictionary tells us that ‘[Kelinga] being the only Indian nation known to the Malays, the word [Kling] was used by them for the people of India in general and for the country itself’. Cited in Rai, Rajesh (2004a). ‘Race’ and the construction of the north-south divide amongst Indians in colonial Malaya and Singapore, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 27:2, 252CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Rai in that article explains how the term came to be specifically employed for Southern Indians in colonial Malaya and Singapore in the nineteenth century.

⁵⁵ Dobbs, Stephen (2003). The Singapore river: a social history, 1819–2002, Singapore University Press, Singapore, p. 40Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 104.

⁵⁷ Rai, Rajesh (2004b). Sepoys, convicts and the ‘bazaar’ contingent: The emergence and exclusion of ‘Hindustani’ pioneers at the Singapore frontier, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35:1, 11CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁸ The Singapore Free Press, 6 January 1848, p. 3.

⁵⁹ In the nineteenth century, the term ‘Bengalee’ in Singapore did not refer strictly to ethnic Bengalis or to Bengali-speakers. Rather ‘Bengalee’ was commonly used as a generic term for all emigrants from northern India. See Rai (2004a), Race and the construction of the North-South divide, pp. 246–247.

⁶⁰ According to Deputy Superintendent of Police, George Wahab, in 1856, of the 280-strong police force in Singapore, six were Europeans, while the rest were made up mainly of ‘Bengalees, Klings and Malays’. Letter from George Wahab, Deputy Superintendent of Police to T. Church, The Resident Councillor and Chairman of the Municipal Committee of Singapore, 25 Feb. 1856, reproduced in The Straits Times, 11 March 1856, p. 5.

⁶¹ The Singapore Free Press, 24 August 1849, p. 2.

⁶² Minutes of meeting, Legislative Council for the Straits Settlements, 20 June 1872, NL6384, NAS, cited in Kaur, Arunajeet (2009). Sikhs in the policing of British Malaya and Straits Settlements, 1874–1957, VDM Verlag Dr Muller, Saarbrucken, p. 19Google Scholar.

⁶³ McNair, Prisoners their own warders, p. 38.

⁶⁴ Census returns in 1849 inform that there were 1,426 ‘continental convicts’ in Singapore. ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell, (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, p. 357.

⁶⁵ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 104.

⁶⁶ Blundell suggested that ‘the comparatively few escapes are to be attributed as to the difficulties offered by the nature of the country to which the run-a-ways must resort, which is generally a dense jungle, where, if they escape from tigers, they are pretty sure of falling into the hands of the Malays, who, for the reward always paid, are ready to make a seizure of them’. Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, p. 26. Superintendent McNair informs that there were a total of 30 ‘defaults’ committed by Indian convicts in 1846 and 132 in 1856, but nearly all of these were for minor offences. McNair, Prisoners their own warders, pp. 176–177. In Singapore, possibly the most serious report of criminal activity by Indian transported convicts dates to 1841, when Captain Suffield, chief mate and a seacunny on board the Brig Freak were murdered. Eight convicts were convicted of the offence and executed. The Singapore Free Press, 8 July 1941, p. 3.

⁶⁷ Braddell, Roland (1921a), ‘Crime: Its punishment and prevention’, in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, p. 284.

⁶⁸ McNair, Prisoners their own warders, pp. 43, 52, 68.

⁶⁹ Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 101.

⁷⁰ Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1856–57’, reproduced in Jarman, Robert L. (ed.), Annual Reports of the Straits Settlements, 1855–1941, v.1, p. 121.

⁷¹ Price, H. (1921). ‘Planting in Singapore’ in Makepeace, Brooke, and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.2, p. 80.

⁷² Chanderbali, David (2008). Indian Indenture in the Straits Settlements, 1872–1910, Peepal Tree, England, p. 57Google Scholar.

⁷³ Tschacher, Torsten (2006). The impact of being Tamil on religious life among Tamil Muslims in Singapore, Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, South Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore, Singapore, pp. 45–46.

⁷⁴ Dobbs, The Singapore river, p. 41.

⁷⁵ Cameron, John (1865). Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India: Being a descriptive account of Singapore, Penang, Province Wellesley and Malacca; their peoples, products, commerce and government, Smith, Elder and Co., p. 147Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ Blundell, Edmund Augustus, ‘Report on the Administration of the Straits Settlements during the year 1855–56’, p. 22.

⁷⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁸ Moore, The first 150 years of Singapore, p. 298.

⁷⁹ Blundell's letter to the Secretary to the Government of Bengal, 10 November 1855, cited in Moore, The first 150 years of Singapore, pp. 298–299.

⁸⁰ Sinha, Vineeta (2008). ‘Gods on the move: Hindu chariot processions in Singapore’ in Jacobsen, Knut A. (ed.) South Asian religions on display: Religious processions in South Asia and in the diaspora, Routledge, London, p. 161Google Scholar.

⁸¹ Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 165.

⁸² Ibid, p. 157.

⁸³ On occasion these processions did witness outbreaks of violence as in April 1833, when a Hindu procession passing a Tamil-Muslim Mosque was attacked ‘with all descriptions of missiles. . .[and] In the heat of the affray the Hindus affected the entrance into the Mahometan temple and destroyed a goodly assortment of glass-ware’. Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register, 30 April 1836, p. 2.

⁸⁴ Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register, 29 August 1833, p. 3.

⁸⁵ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 375.

⁸⁶ Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, pp. 166–167.

⁸⁷ The Straits Times, 14 October 1856, p. 5.

⁸⁸ The Straits Times, 6 January 1857, p. 2. The Straits Times published its first report of the Arrow War on 28 October 1856, p. 5.

⁸⁹ The Government of India Acts XII and XIV of 1856, slated to be enforced in the Straits Settlements in 1857, sought to organize police forces more efficiently and ‘to secure for the public the uninterrupted enjoyment of easements and rights of way’. Cited in Turnbull, Communal Disturbances in the Straits Settlements, pp. 94–96.

⁹⁰ The Straits Times, 6 January 1857, p. 2.

⁹¹ The public meeting was the key institution where a coterie of non-official European inhabitants, articulated their views on the administration of the settlement. Where necessary these Europeans, occasionally joined by the most prominent non-European merchants, passed resolutions and petitioned the Governor of the Straits, failing which, they went higher up the chain of command to the Governor General of India or even to the British parliament. In the mid nineteenth century, these meetings were often held in the news room at the offices of the Straits Times in Commercial Square. Braddell, Roland (1921b) ‘The merry past’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.2, p. 500.

⁹² Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 644; The Straits Times, 6 January 1857, p. 2; Turnbull, Communal Disturbances in the Straits Settlements, p. 97.

⁹³ Turnbull, Communal Disturbances in the Straits Settlements, p. 97.

⁹⁴ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 645.

⁹⁵ Concerns over the Chinese natives stemmed not only from developments in China and Singapore but also from nearby Sarawak where a Chinese rebellion had broken out on 17 February 1857 in which a number of European officials had been killed. Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, pp. 340–341; The Straits Times, 17 March 1857, p. 3.

⁹⁶ Owen, G. P. (1921). ‘A mid-century diary’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell, Roland (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.2, p. 550; Wise, Michael (Compiler) (1985). Travellers’ Tales of Old Singapore, Times Books International, Singapore, p. 64Google Scholar.

⁹⁷ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 645; The Straits Times, 10 February 1857, p. 2.

⁹⁸ The statement from Pennefather's deposition is cited in SSR, W 24, Item No. 172, Christian Baumgartern to Captain Church, Secretary to Governor of the Straits Settlements, 31 March 1857.

⁹⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰⁰ Owen G. P., ‘A mid-century diary’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.2, pp. 551–552.

¹⁰¹ The Straits Times, 10 February 1857, p. 2.

¹⁰² The Straits Times, 17 February 1857, p. 2.

¹⁰³ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 646; The Straits Times, 17 February 1857, p. 2.

¹⁰⁴ The Straits Times, 24 February 1857, p. 7.

¹⁰⁵ Excerpt from the Police Order Book cited in The Straits Times, 24 February 1857, p. 7.

¹⁰⁶ SSR V22, p. 119, Captain Church, Secretary to the Governor of the Straits Settlements to Christian Baumgarten, 7 February, 1857 cited in Turnbull, Communal disturbances in the Straits Settlements, p. 102. His letter specified that ‘The Governor wishes you distinctly to understand that his sole object is that the real merits of this melancholy occurrence should be elicited. He has no desire to screen the Police from the consequence of their acts nor has he any wish to strengthen the case against them’.

¹⁰⁷ SSR, W24, Item No. 172, Christian Baumgartern to Captain Church, Secretary to the Governor of the Straits Settlements, 31 March 1857. Baumgarten reported that ‘the Klings had not entertained any desire to resist the police in the intention of their legitimate duty. . .the unfortunate collision might have been averted had Pennefather and Hallman acted with due discretion. . .nothing I think was more calculated to incense indignation of the Mohammedans than having their religious ceremonies interfered with in the manner they were and by Hindoos particularly in the seizing upon and taking down of their flag. . .as also the book which was kicked about, these insults being greatly aggravated by the violent manner in which the people were pushed and jostled about by the police. . .it appears to me that when the Inspector found his rash and violent conduct had so irritated the people, and matters were assuming a serious aspect, he thought of intimidating the crowd by firing over their head and with that view he and his party retired a short distance and took their positions opposite the Chinese well from whence they fired in the direction of the Mosque. The result of this wanton and dangerous experiment was that an unfortunate old Fakier and another person were wounded and who were then supposed to be killed, which excited the people to such a degree that the police were obliged to make a hasty retreat to the adjoining Thana followed by the outraged crowd who then, not until then. . .committed any positive act of aggression, i.e. by throwing bricks and other missiles at the retreating police, none of whom however received any serious injury. . .after the Inspector and his party had got into the Thana they commenced firing indiscriminately on the crowd outside. . .In conclusion, I beg respectfully to express my firm belief that if these men, particularly Inspector Pennefather and Sergeant Hallman were not brought to Justice for the grave offence committed by them on the night in question, it would shake the confidence that the natives have in the British Government and its impartial administration of justice.’

¹⁰⁸ The Straits Times, 24 February 1857, p. 7.

¹⁰⁹ Excerpts from the public meeting held on 26 February 1857 cited in The Straits Times, 3 March 1857, p. 3.

¹¹⁰ The resolutions of the public meeting held on 26 February 1857 were reproduced in The Straits Times, 3 March 1857, p. 3; The Straits Times, 10 March 1857, p. 3.

¹¹¹ SSR, W 24, Item No. 125, Memorial of the Kling Inhabitants of Singapore to Governor E. A. Blundell, 2 March 1857.

¹¹² The Governor's response to the resolutions of the public meeting on 26 February 1857 was published in The Straits Times, 10 March 1857, p. 3.

¹¹³ The Straits Times, 10 March 1857, p. 3.

¹¹⁴ Ibid.

¹¹⁵ Excerpts of the discussion at the public meeting held on 3 March 1857 published in The Straits Times, 10 March 1857, p. 3.

¹¹⁶ Ibid.

¹¹⁷ Ibid.

¹¹⁸ In the case of the Chinese in Penang however, a number of Europeans were reported to have been sympathetic to the Chinese position arguing that the authorities had taken too hard a position in that instance. This posture was possibly informed by their growing opposition to the Governor (the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Pinang being his son-in-law) and the fact that the Chinese in Pinang had appointed the influential British Law Agent and Editor of the Penang Gazette, J. R. Logan to represent them. Turnbull, Communal Disturbances in the Straits Settlements, p. 112. See also pp. 111–130.

¹¹⁹ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 342.

¹²⁰ The Straits Times, 12 May 1857, p. 3; The Singapore Free Press, 14 May 1857, p. 2. It should be noted that the remarks of the Recorder were summarized by the press. Given that a verbatim report of the court proceedings for the trial has not been traced, it is unclear if this was a fair representation of his views at the trial.

¹²¹ The Straits Times, 12 May 1857, p. 3; The Singapore Free Press, 14 May 1857, p. 2.

¹²² SSR, S25, Item No. 697, Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 18 May 1857.

¹²³ The Straits Times, 10 March 1857, p. 2.

¹²⁴ Ibid.

¹²⁵ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 651.

¹²⁶ Ibid

¹²⁷ The Straits Times Extra, 31 May 1857, p. 1.

¹²⁸ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 651; Laurence Oliphant states that ‘An expeditionary force of 5000 men, with a staff equipment calculated for a much larger army, and in every respect thoroughly complete, was on its way to the probable theatre of war’. Oliphant, Laurence (1970). Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, Reprint, Oxford University Press, London, 1970, v.1, p. 15Google Scholar.

¹²⁹ Oliphant, Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, v.1, p. 15; John Cameron notes that on learning of the news in India ‘all that night Lord Elgin remained pacing up and down his room in the Government bungalow that stood where Fort Canning stands now, holding various interviews with the naval and military officers of the expedition, and next morning at daylight a steamer was despatched to the Straits of Sunda with the order which, it is believed by many, saved the British empire in India’, Cameron, Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India, p. 24. The order by Elgin is confirmed in the records of the 90^th Regiment, Perthshire Light Infantry that on 4 July, the Himalaya, carrying 700 troops of the 90^th Light infantry, in the Straits of Sunda was ‘met by a vessel bearing despatches for the regiment to proceed to Calcutta’. Delvoye, Alex M. (1880), Records of the 90^th Regiment (Perthshire Light Infantry) with roll of officers from 1795 to 1880, Richardson and Co., pp. 128–130Google Scholar; see also SSR W25, Letter from Colonel H. Campbell, the Commandant of the 90^th Light Infantry to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 10 July 1857.

¹³⁰ The Straits Times Extra, 30 June 1857, p. 2.

¹³¹ Ibid.

¹³² Harfield, Alan G. (1984). British and Indian Armies in the East Indies 1685–1935, Picton Publishing, Chippenham, p. 387Google Scholar. Harfield notes that the numbers of the 29^th regiment were reduced because a number of companies of the regiment had been sent to aid the war-effort in China.

¹³³ SSR, W25. British Consulate, Marseille to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 11 July 1857. A similar order to Blundell was also sent the next day by the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty, SSR W25, 12 July 1857.

¹³⁴ Oliphant, Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, v.1, pp. 52–53; The Straits Times, 4 August 1857, p. 2. According to Oliphant, by this time Elgin had already decided to make his way to Calcutta.

¹³⁵ See for example SSR W25, Adjutant General of the Madras Army to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 18 July 1857, in which the Adjutant called for the immediate dispatch of European troops to India.

¹³⁶ The Straits Times Extra, 30 July 1857, p. 1.

¹³⁷ The Straits Times, 28 July 1857, p. 3. The Straits Times, 4 August 1857, p. 2.

¹³⁸ SSR W25, Letter from Davidson, Spottiswoode, and others to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 4 August 1857.

¹³⁹ Ibid. Author's emphasis.

¹⁴⁰ SSR W25, Captain Purvis, Officiating Executive Engineer and Superintendent of Convicts to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 20 July 1857; Murfett, H. Malcolm, Miksic, John N., Farrell, Brian P., Chiang, M. S. (1999), Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore From First Settlement to Final British Withdrawal, Oxford University Press, Singapore, p. 63Google Scholar.

¹⁴¹ The Straits Times, 11 August 1857, p. 3.

¹⁴² Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 138.

¹⁴³ India Office Records (hereafter, IOR) F/4/2570, 151.779, collection no. 1 (1854, no. 42), Letter from the Governor General in Council, 13 May 1854, paragraph 75 to 77 cited in Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 140. Pieris translates Sloakumnamah as ‘send us your good word’ (p. 292).

¹⁴⁴ Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 140.

¹⁴⁵ Ibid., p. 141.

¹⁴⁶ NL 268 R32, 24 August 1857, cited in Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 141.

¹⁴⁷ The Straits Times, 11 August 1857, p. 3.

¹⁴⁸ Owen, G. P., ‘A mid-century diary’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One Hundred Years of Singapore, v.2, p. 553. According to McNair, there were some 2,139 transported convicts from India, Burma and Ceylon in 1857. McNair, Prisoners their own warders, p. 89.

¹⁴⁹ The Straits Times, 11 August 1857, p. 3; The Straits Times Extra 13 August 1857, p. 1; The Straits Times Extra 14 August 1857, p. 1; The Straits Times, 18 August 1857, pp. 2, 4; The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 3.

¹⁵⁰ Ibid.

¹⁵¹ Ibid., p. 2.

¹⁵² The Singapore Free Press, 3 September 1857, cited in Pieris, Anoma, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 177.

¹⁵³ Ibid.

¹⁵⁴ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 631; The Straits Times, 11 August 1857, p. 3.

¹⁵⁵ The measure however was not carried out immediately, the Municipal Commissioners pointing out that although they were ‘thoroughly convinced of the manifold advantages’, the measure was not financially feasible as ‘the expense would exceed the present charges by upwards of $1000 annually which would have been a very heavy addition to our expenditure even during the most prosperous conditions of the Municipal Fund and quite impossible during the last half year’. SSR W25, Captain Marshall, Chairman of the Municipal Commissioners to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 29 August 1857; The Straits Times, ‘Municipal Commissioners’, 8 September 1857, p. 4.

¹⁵⁶ Governor Blundell's response on 19 August 1857 to the query raised by Purvis, Spottiswoode and 14 others on 18 August 1857, was published in The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 2.

¹⁵⁷ Cited in The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 2.

¹⁵⁸ E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements to Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India, 28 August 1857, cited in Moore, The First 150 years of Singapore, p. 308.

¹⁵⁹ Governor Blundell's response on 19 August 1857, to the query raised by Purvis, Spottiswoode and 14 others on 18 August 1857, was published in The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 2.

¹⁶⁰ SSR W25, Protest of Purvis, Spottiswoode, Jarvie and 31 others to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 19 August 1857.

¹⁶¹ SSR W25, Memorial of the Christian Inhabitants of Campong Bencoolen and the adjoining Campongs to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 21 August 1857.

¹⁶² Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, p. 109; The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 2.

¹⁶³ Ibid.

¹⁶⁴ Ibid.

¹⁶⁵ E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements to Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India, 28 August 1857, cited in Moore, The First 150 years of Singapore, p. 308.

¹⁶⁶ Andersen, The Indian Uprising of 1857–8, p. 109.

¹⁶⁷ Ibid.

¹⁶⁸ See list of departures of European residents in The Straits Times, 25 August 1857, p. 2.

¹⁶⁹ The Straits Times, 1 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁷⁰ E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements to Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India, 28 August 1857, cited in Moore, The First 150 years of Singapore, p. 308. Concerns of humiliation were clearly evident in the wake of the news of the Kanpur slaughter in SSR W25, Letter from Davidson, Spottiswoode, and others to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, on 4 August 1857.

¹⁷¹ SSR W25 John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 22 December 1857.

¹⁷² SSR W25 Benson Maxwell, Recorder of Penang to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 25 August 1857.

¹⁷³ SSR W25 Benson Maxwell, Recorder of Penang to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 25 August 1857; The Straits Times, 1 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁷⁴ SSR W25 Benson Maxwell, Recorder of Penang to E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 25 August 1857.

¹⁷⁵ Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 348.

¹⁷⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷⁷ SSR, DD26, Item 194, cited in Turnbull, The Straits Settlements, p. 348.

¹⁷⁸ The Straits Times, 1 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁷⁹ E. A. Blundell, Governor of the Straits Settlements to Cecil Beadon, Secretary to the Government of India, 28 August 1857, cited in Moore, The First 150 years of Singapore, p. 308; The Straits Times, 1 September 1857.

¹⁸⁰ McNair, Prisoners their own warders, p. 68.

¹⁸¹ The Straits Times, 1 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁸² This explanation was offered by Dr Little based on information from a ‘trustworthy source’, at the public meeting of European inhabitants on 15 September 1857. Excerpts of the public meeting on 15 September 1857 were published in The Straits Times, 22 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁸³ Ibid.

¹⁸⁴ Ibid.

¹⁸⁵ OIOC P.188.48 (IPC 2 October 1857): Blundell to Beadon, 11 September 1857, cited in Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, p. 110.

¹⁸⁶ The Straits Times, 15 September 1857, p. 2.

¹⁸⁷ The Straits Times, 22 September 1857, p. 3.

¹⁸⁸ Ibid.

¹⁸⁹ The Straits Times, 20 October 1857, p. 2.

¹⁹⁰ The news of Delhi being retaken was published in The Straits Times on 1 November 1857, p. 1.

¹⁹¹ The Straits Times, 3 November 1857, p. 3; The Straits Times, 17 November 1857, p. 3. Ironically the prisoners Rambag Khan and Rohoman Khan, who had been incarcerated for having engaged in the rebellion, had actually detained Juddoonath Day following the murder and were the key prosecution witnesses at the trial.

¹⁹² Excerpts of the discussion at the public meeting held on 17 November 1857 were published in The Straits Times, 24 November 1857, p. 3.

¹⁹³ The Straits Times, 24 November 1857, p. 3.

¹⁹⁴ OIOC P.188.49 (IJP 8 January 1858): Blundell to Beadon, 26 November 1857, enc. Memorial of Merchants F. M. Davidson, A. Logan, R. Bain, C. H. H. Wilson and Other Inhabitants of Singapore, n.d. cited in Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, p. 114.

¹⁹⁵ IOR E/4/852, Minute by the Governor, Straits Settlements, 6 October 1857, cited in Carter and Bates, Empire and locality, p. 62.

¹⁹⁶ OIOC P.188.49 (IJC 8 January 1858): Beadon to Blundell, 23 December 1857 cited in Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, p. 114.

¹⁹⁷ Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore, p. 657.

¹⁹⁸ Das, Veena (1998), Specificities: Official Narratives, Rumour and the Social Production of Hate, Social Identities, 4:1, 109.

¹⁹⁹ Carter and Bates, Empire and locality, pp. 61–62; Andersen, The Indian uprising of 1857–8, pp. 108–114.

²⁰⁰ National Archives of India, NAB 1671, No. 28, Minute by His Excellency the Right Honourable Governor General of India, 25 November 1859. Author emphasis.

²⁰¹ Transportation of convicts from India to Singapore ceased in 1860 although the movement of convicts from Ceylon continued until 1867. The penal settlement for transported convicts in Singapore was dismantled in 1873. Pieris, Hidden hands and divided landscapes, p. 192.

²⁰² ‘Census Returns’ in Makepeace, Brooke and Braddell (eds), One hundred years of Singapore, v.1, pp. 357–358. Between 1860 and 1871 the Chinese population had grown from 50,043 to 54,572, while the number of Malay inhabitants increased from 11,888 to 19,270.

²⁰³ Cameron, John, Our tropical possessions in Malayan India, p. 147.

²⁰⁴ National Archives of India, NAB 1671, No. 28, Minute by His Excellency the Right Honourable Governor General of India, 25 November 1859.