The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under British Raj control in 1858 and then under direct British control as a Crown colony on 1 April 1867. In 1946, following the end of the Second World War and the Japanese occupation, the colony was dissolved as part of Britain's reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies in the area.
The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganised as the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
The Federation of Malaya was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states that existed from 1 February 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957, and in 1963, Malaysia was formed when the federation united with the Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak Crown Colonies.
The legal system of Singapore is based on the English common law system. Major areas of law – particularly administrative law, contract law, equity and trust law, property law and tort law – are largely judge-made, though certain aspects have now been modified to some extent by statutes. However, other areas of law, such as criminal law, company law and family law, are almost completely statutory in nature.
The Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements was a legislature formed on 1 April 1867, when the Straits Settlements was made a Crown colony. This allowed laws to be made swiftly and efficiently, as it was directly responsible to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, instead of being placed under a legislative hierarchy and answering to the Calcutta government based in India.
The term "British Malaya" loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the term "British India", which excludes the Indian princely states, British Malaya is often used to refer to the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, which were British protectorates with their own local rulers, as well as the Straits Settlements, which were under the sovereignty and direct rule of the British Crown, after a period of control by the East India Company.
The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the Island of Singapore in the 14th century. The last ruler of the Kingdom of Singapura, Parameswara, was expelled by the Majapahit or the Siamese and he then founded Malacca. Singapore then came under the Malacca Sultanate and then the Johor Sultanate. In 1819, British statesman Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty whereby Johor allowed the British to locate a trading port on the island, ultimately leading to the establishment of the crown colony of Singapore in 1867. Important reasons for the rise of Singapore were its nodal position at the tip of the Malay Peninsula flanked by the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the presence of a natural sheltered harbour, as well as its status as a free port.
Sir Percy Alexander McElwaine KC was a lawyer and judge who served, inter alia, as Attorney General of Fiji and Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements.
Singapore in the Straits Settlements refers to a period in the history of Singapore between 1826 and 1942, during which Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements together with Penang and Malacca. Singapore was the capital and the seat of government of the Straits Settlement after it was moved from George Town in 1832.
Singapore was a British colony for 144 years, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945 during the Pacific War.
The Federal Court of Malaysia is the highest court and the final appellate court in Malaysia. It is housed in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. The court was established during Malaya's independence in 1957 and received its current name in 1994.
The chief secretary of Singapore, known as the colonial secretary of Singapore before 1955, and the colonial secretary of the Straits Settlements before 1946, was a high ranking government official position in the Straits Settlements before 1946 and the Colony of Singapore after 1946, between 1867 and 1959. It was second only to the governor of Singapore, formerly the governor of the Straits Settlements in the colonial government.
The Queen Victoria Memorial in George Town, Penang is a monument to Queen Victoria, begun after her death, located at the Penang Chinese Recreation Club. Penang's Victoria Memorial takes the form of a large piece of land known as "Victoria Green," and a statue at the edge of Victoria Green at the junction of Burmah Road and Pangkor Road, the establishment of each being years apart from the other. The grounds were purchased and set up in 1903 and the statue unveiled in 1930, nearly three decades later.
Robert Norman Bland (1859–1948), or "R. N. Bland," as he was more commonly known then in The Straits, was Resident Councillor of Penang and a career civil servant in the Colonial Administration of the Straits Settlements.
The Crown Colony of Penang was a British crown colony from 1946 to 1957. It came under British sovereignty after being ceded by the Sultanate of Kedah in 1786, and had been part of the Straits Settlements from 1826 to 1946. Together with Singapore, it became a crown colony under the direct control of the British Colonial Office in London until it was incorporated into the Malayan Union.
George Town, the capital city of the State of Penang, is the second largest city in Malaysia and the economic centre of the country's northern region. The history of George Town began with its establishment by Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company in 1786. Founded as a free port, George Town became the first British settlement in Southeast Asia and prospered in the 19th century as one of the vital British entrepôts within the region. It briefly became the capital of the Straits Settlements, a British crown colony which also consisted of Singapore and Malacca.
Charles Walter Sneyd-Kynnersley, was a British colonial administrator. He joined the Straits Settlements Civil Service in 1872 and was the acting Colonial Secretary of Straits Settlements.
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