An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, Vol. 1 of 2

Download or read book An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, Vol. 1 of 2 written by Charles Burton Buckley and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-13 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, Vol. 1 of 2: With Portraits and Illustrations From the Foundation of the Settlement Under the Honourable the East India Company, on February 6th, 1819, to the Transfer to the Colonial Office as Part of the Colonial Possessions of the Crown on April 1st, 1867 This book is in great part a revision with many additions of a series of articles which appeared under the same title in the weekly Singapore Free Press newspaper, from the time I re-established that paper in 1884, until it became a daily paper in 1887, when I gave it over into other hands. There had been for several years only one newspaper in Singapore, and it was desirable to have a second. The papers about the old history of the place were written with a view to have matter always ready for the paper, to be used in case of need; but in that respect it turned out unnecessary, because it was intendedthat each issueshould consist of 8 pages, while the first number filled 24, and it never was reducedto thesize originally intended. The history papers thus printed onlyreached to the year 1856. I had the columns of the history cut out of thenewspaper, sewn into a book, and interleaved. This was sent to Mr. W. H. Read, who passed it on to Mr. James Guthrie, who died lately at an old age. Their remarks, additions, and corrections were added to others which came in from various quarters, owing to the publicity in the newspaper. The result was that by the kindness and good-nature of many of the old residents of the place, I had the loan of a great number of papers, books, documents and pamphlets, of all kinds, age, and descriptions; some coming to pieces with usage, some eaten through by white ants, and all more or less suffering from the mis-directed energy of insect life. All these papers, with much other material that came to light after the papers were first written, have been worked into this book. It has been carried down to the Transfer in 1867, as the principal mark of an epoch in the story of the place. Occasionally later events have been added, where they seemed likely to be useful, as showing the result at the present time of what was then done. This work then had been in gradual growth for over twenty years when the first chapter was put in the hands of the present printers; and has been over a year in the press, from various causes, which may explain some of the allusions to the present day, which vary from July, 1901 to September, 1902. It is unnecessary to say that it is only a compilation, but trouble has not been spared to make it as correct as the existing means of knowledge would allow. It was intended at one time to note the various sources from which the statements were derived, but it was soon found that this would cause such a number of side-notes, and such a mass of inverted commas, as to be impracticable, and was therefore abandoned. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.