National Treasure – Mace of the City of Singapore (1953)

Prominent Chinese philanthropist Loke Wan Tho (1915–64), founder of Cathay Organisation, presented this Mace to the City of Singapore. The occasion was to commemorate the granting of City status to Singapore by King George VI in 1951.

Significant Milestone – City of Singapore (1951-1965)

On this day 22 Sep 1951¹ when Singapore was then a Crown colony, the municipality was then conferred with city status by a royal charter from King George VI . The original Municipal Commission was therefore renamed as the City Council, and the Municipal Building was renamed City Hall.² Governor of Singapore Sir Franklin Gimson presented the charter as well as the Royal Seal to Municipal President T.P.F McNeice. Henceforth, Singapore was dubbed as the City of Singapore.

To commemorate the occasion, Loke funded and headed the committee for the making of a mace that would represent the authority of the City of Singapore. The final mace costed a princely sum of $15,000. There were around 400 people who attend the ceremony of the presentation of the mace on 31 Mar 1953³, which occurred at the City Hall. President of the City Council T P F McNeice (standing, right) received the Mace from Loke Wan Tho.

McNeice (who was Loke’s brother-in-law), a sombre individual with a taste for double-breasted suits, took possession of the almost-two-metre-long staff; a photo shows that he was watched over by a portrait of the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II.

He hoped, The Straits Times reported, that the treasure would come to symbolise the authority of the council and ‘inspire that enthusiasm and loyalty which is the most essential ingredient to the well-being of any city’. Loke agreed that the mace ‘is a signpost in our recorded history pointing, I hope, to a greater and nobler Singapore’.⁴

Thanks to the City Council, we still have good, clean waters in Singapore from our neighbour, Malaysia. In its final years, the City Council signed the Tebrau and Scudai Rivers Water Agreement in 1961 and the Johor River Water Agreement in 1962 with the Johore State Government of the Federation of Malaya, which remains in effect till this day.

National Treasure⁶

Mace of the City of Singapore (1953)

Silver-gilt | 1953, Messrs Hamilton & Inches, Goldsmiths of Edinburgh | Object size: 125.5 x 14 cm | National Museum of Singapore collection

The Mace was made by Messrs Hamilton & Inches, Goldsmiths of Edinburgh, and designed by British sculptor Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson⁷.

Founded by Robert Kirk Inches and his uncle James Hamilton, Hamilton & Inches opened its first jewellery store at 88 Princes Street, Edinburgh in May 1866. They have maintained their jewellery and silver workshops since their inception and have held a Royal Warrant as silversmiths for more than 120 years.⁸ They have since also do a more lucrative business of selling Rolexes.

Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson (1887-1973) studied sculpture at the Edinburgh College of Art, winning a travelling scholarship in 1910. He later taught at the school and executed architectural and public sculpture around Scotland.⁹

The design motifs were proposed by a committee comprising Loke, university professors and staff from the Raffles Museum¹⁰.

The Mace symbolises Singapore’s status as a city and the authority of the City Council. Completed in 1953, the mace combines both ornamentation and political symbolism with the aim of creating a new sense of loyalty and pride for the people of Singapore at that time. ¹¹

The silver figures of a Chinese, Malay, Indian and European, linked by a garland of flowers, symbolise Singapore’s multiethnic population. They stand atop a castle bearing the City’s Arms.

The floral designs on the handle of the Mace represents the different flowers that spawn naturally in Singapore. Such flowers are orchids, yam, nutmeg, sugar cane, pepper, areca palm, gambier and rambutan.

A ring of badminton shuttlecocks (yes, that’s right) can be seen near the base of the Mace because badminton was Malaya’s national sport.

The base of the Mace contains writings that credit the makers of the mace, with the heading “MADE AT EDINBURGH IN THE WORKSHOP.” ¹² In no particular order, the contributors written are:

• Goldsmiths- Messrs Hamilton & Inches
• Silversmith- Edward Robert Key Hamilton
• Chaser- William Samuel
• Engraver- James Anderson
• Enameler- Francis George Thomas West
• Sculptor- Charles d’Orville Pikington Jackson

Next up is the different emblems for the different coat of arms; The Straits Settlements, The East India Company, The colony of Singapore, The City of Singapore, The United Kingdom and Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.¹³

Other motifs reference Singapore’s ecology, culture and trade. Starting left to right from with aeroplane, represents the Comet aeroplane, English tea clipper, Bugis leteh-leteh, Chinese junk, Bugis schonner, and the Straits steamer.

Serjeants-at-Arms

This mace should not be confused with the Mace of Singapore Parliament that is used by the current Parliament during the ceremonies and carried by the Serjeant-at-Arms¹⁴.

During medieval times, the mace was a weapon used by warriors in close combat during war to break the chain mail or body armour of opposing knights. During this period in England, the King’s bodyguards were known as Serjeants-at-Arms and they all carried maces. The Royal Serjeants-at-Arms were mainly tasked to arrest offenders and summon subjects to appear before the King. The Serjeants were always armed with their maces whenever they carried out their royal duties, and their maces were gradually regarded as the symbol and warrant of the King’s authority.

To distinguish the King’s Serjeants from other common warriors, the butts of the Serjeants’ maces were stamped with the Royal Coat of Arms. As few people then could read or write, the royal coat of arms on the mace was sufficient for people to recognise it as a symbol of the sovereign’s power and authority. The mace bearer is also recognised as a representative of the sovereign and people had to obey them accordingly. Over time, the mace became more of a symbol of royal authority than a weapon.

History of Singapore

Singapore’s history is a journey from ancient settlement to modern metropolis. Initially known as Temasek, it was a 14th-century trading post, later falling under the influence of various empires. Sir Stamford Raffles established a British trading post in 1819, transforming the island into a thriving port. Post-World War II, Singapore gained self-governance and eventually independence, first as part of Malaysia and then as a sovereign nation in 1965. 

The Singapore Treasures series focuses on the artefacts, relics and key monuments and moments that shaped this young nation. It is divided into four main parts.

• Pre-colonial before 1819
• British Colonial Rule (1819-1942), Japanese Occupation (1942-1945) and Post-War (1945-1955)
• Self government (1955-1963) and merger with Malaysia (1963-1965)
• Independence since 1965

Treasures – Revere Bell (1843)

National Treasure – Daguerreotype of Boat Quay and Singapore River from Government Hill (1844)

Treasures – Artefacts of Lee Kuan Yew (c. 1950s)

Singapore’s First Airport – Kallang Airport (1937-1955)

Lest We Forget – Sook Ching Massacre (18 Feb – 4 Mar 1942)

Lest We Forget – Fall of Singapore (15 Feb 1942)

Treasures – Presentation Cup to William Farquhar (1823)

Treasures – National Day Rally Rostrum from National Theatre (c. 1970s)

Chasing Dragons (c. 1900s)

Coolies that Moved the Nation (c. 1900s)

Treasures – Straits Chinese Panel Belt (c. mid 20th century)

National Treasure – Portrait of Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham (1904)

Treasures – Silver Epergne for William Farquhar (c. 1823)

Treasures – Portrait of Sir Stamford Raffles (1912)

Malaysia Day 1963

National Treasure – Majapahit Armlet and Earrings (c. 14th century)

National Treasure – Singapore Stone (c. 14th century)

Treasures – Javanese Gold Jewellery (c. 14th Century)

Declaration of Independence

Footnotes:

1. Declaration of the Royal Charter raising Singapore to a City of the Crown Colony by King George VI. The Straits Times, 22 September 1951, Page 1 https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19510922-1.2.7 ↩︎
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Singapore_(historical_entity), accessed 2 Sep 2025 ↩︎
3. Newspaper paper article about the presentation of the mace at City Hall by Loke Wan Tho. The Straits Budget, 8 April 1954, Page 10 https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitsbudget19540408-1.2.38 ↩︎
4. https://artreview.com/ara-spring-2019-tales-of-the-unexpected-the-singaporean-mace/ ArtReview, “Tales of the Unexpected”, 02 July 2019, ArtReview Asia ↩︎
5. https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1268855 ↩︎
6. The full list of national treasures is as follows: (1) The Singapore Stone (2)
   a 1904 portrait of Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham, the first Resident General
   of the Federated Malay States, by John Singer Sargent; (3) the last will and
   testament of Munshi Abdullah, the father of modern Malay literature; (4)
   the mace of the City of Singapore (1953) that was presented by Chinese
   philanthropist Loke Wan Tho in conjunction with King George VI granting
   Singapore a Royal Charter in 1951, raising its status to a city; (5) an 1844
   daguerreotype of the view from Fort Canning Hill by French customs service
   officer Alphonse-Eugene Jules, one of the earliest photographic images of
   Singapore; (6) fourteenth-century gold armlets and rings in East Javanese
   style, found at Fort Canning Hill in 1928; (7) a 1939 portrait of Sir Shenton
   Thomas, the last Governor of the Straits Settlements, by painter Xu Beihong;
   (8) a collection of 477 natural history drawings of flora and fauna in Melaka
   commissioned by Resident of Singapore William Farquhar in the 19th century;
   (9) a wooden hearse used for the funeral of Chinese philanthropist
   Tan Jiak Kim in 1917; (10) an early twentieth-century embroidered Chinese
   coffin cover, one of the largest of its kind in existence in Singapore; and (11)
   a glove puppet stage belonging to the Fujian puppet troupe, Xin Sai Le, which
   came to Singapore in the 1930s. See: Wei Chean Lim, “Singapore’s Treasures”
   in The Straits Times (31 January 2006). ↩︎
7. Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson RSA, FRBS, FRSA (11 October 1887 – 20 September 1973) was a British sculptor prominent in Scotland in the 20th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilkington_Jackson, 2 Sep 2205 ↩︎
8. https://hamiltonandinches.com/our-history, 2 Sep 2025 ↩︎
9. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07159/charles-dorville-pilkington-jackson, 2 Sep 2025 ↩︎
10. Raffles Museum is the former name of the National Museum of Singapore. ↩︎
11. Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
12. In no particular order, the contributors written are:
    Goldsmiths- Messrs Hamilton & Inches
    Silversmith- Edward Robert Key Hamilton
    Chaser- William Samuel
    Engraver- James Anderson
    Enameler- Francis George Thomas West
    Sculptor- Charles d’Orville Pikington Jackson
    http://gabrielaecblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/heritage-trail-blog-mace-of-city-of.html ↩︎
13. http://gabrielaecblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/heritage-trail-blog-mace-of-city-of.html ↩︎
14. A Serjeant-at-Arms is a senior parliamentary officer responsible for maintaining order, performing ceremonial duties, and executing the Speaker’s commands, notably by bearing the Mace, a symbol of parliamentary authority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-arms ↩︎