-
1 of 253523 objects
A Short account of the settlement, produce and commerce, of Prince of Wales Island, in the Straits of Malacca / Sir George Leith. 1805
RCIN 1074411
-
Sir George Leith served as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales Island (now Penang) between 1800 and 1804. This book is his report on the progress of the colony on his relinquishing the post.
Penang was leased from the Sultan of Kedah by Francis Light for the East India Company in 1786. Light had been trading out of Phuket for many years and had developed a good relationship with successive sultans of Kedah, then a tributary state of Siam (now Thailand). He had a long-term relationship with a woman known as Martina Rozells, rumoured to be one of the daughters of Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II (1699-1778), and it was believed by some contemporaries that Light received Penang as part of a dowry on his marriage to her. Light’s relationship with Rozells was never recognised by British authorities so her identity remains a subject of debate.
In July 1786, Light established a trading post on Penang, which he named George Town after George III. On 12 August, the birthday of the Prince of Wales, the future George IV, Light officially declared the founding of a new colony and renamed the island Prince of Wales Island after the prince.
George Town quickly became prosperous as an important harbour in Southeast Asia and on his assuming the post of Lieutenant-Governor in 1800, Sir George Leith negotiated a treaty with the Sultan of Kedah to confirm British claims to the territory (but still maintaining the annual payment of the lease) as well as acquiring a strip of land on the mainland to help defend the port.
Leigh’s account was first published in 1804 and remarks on the situation of George Town, its inhabitants, governance and increasing prosperity (see RCIN 1096904). This copy of the 1805 reissue was in the Prince of Wales's library at Carlton House. The content of this book is the same as the 1804 edition and simply bears an updated title page.Provenance
From George IV's library at Carlton House. Sold as a duplicate at the Royal Library Duplicate sale, 1837 for 5 shillings. Reacquired for the Royal Library c. 1854.
-
Creator(s)
(publisher)Acquirer(s)
-
Category