This portrait is an excellent copy of the original painted in 1817, presented in 1912 to a new colony that he founded. Sir Stamford Raffles died in 1826.
Portrait of Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles
Oil on canvas | 1912, John Adamson, after George Francis Joseph (1817) | National Museum of Singapore collection
This portrait depicts Raffles as youthful, confident and knowledgeable, surrounded by symbols of his scholarly work: the manuscript paper in his hand, a writing desk with paper, ink and quill, and sculptures from Java. This well-executed copy by John Adamson was preented for display at the Victoria Memorial Hall in 1912.1
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles FRS FRAS (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British colonial official who served as the governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. Raffles was involved in the capture of the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. It was returned under the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1824. The Rafflesia flowers2 (the notoriously pungent flower in Borneo) were named after him.
In 1817, Raffles wrote and published The History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times as well as its geography, flora, and fauna. The same year, Raffles was created a Knight Bachelor by the Prince Regent George IV, whose daughter, Princess Charlotte, was particularly close to him.3
Raffles sat for the painting while in England to oversee the publication of his book The History of Java. Around the same same time he sat for the sculptor Francis Leggatt Chantrey. He is shown in the court dress he wore to Carlton House to receive his knighthood from the Prince Regent the same year. Behind him are Javanese artefacts to commemorate his interest in the history and culture of Southeast Asia.4
While Raffles was largely credited for the founding of contemporary Singapore, the early running of day-to-day operations was mostly done by William Farquhar, who served as the first Resident of Singapore from 1819 to 1823. Raffles left Singapore right after 1819 and never returned even once until 1822, when he sacked Farquhar for disobeying his instructions in 1823 just before he left Singapore forever.5 We will explore more about Bill in another post, as he was a great administrator and IMHO was instrumental in creating what we know as modern Singapore.
Raffles soon returned to England in 1824, where he died on his birthday in 1826 at the age of 45. His legacy while complex remains significant in Singapore, most notably the Raffles’s Landing Site, as well as his name being a common sight in numerous entities and institutions throughout the country.
Trivial: Raffles was the first President of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) that oversees the running of the London Zoo. ZSL Library holds a second edition of History of Java published in 1830 and a separate volume of maps and plates. 6
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
Footnotes:
- Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
- Rafflesia (Rafflesia arnoldii), or stinking corpse lily, is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flower in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia
↩︎ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_Raffles ↩︎
- Portrait of Stamford Raffles is an 1817 portrait painting by the English artist George Francis Joseph. Joseph was a prominent portraitist and Associate member of the Royal Academy, probably best known for his portrait of the Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. The painting of Raffles is today in the National Portrait Gallery in London, having been acquired in 1859 in a gift from the sitter’s nephew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Stamford_Raffles ↩︎
- However, despite his many positive achievements in the formative period of Singapore’s development, he had adopted administrative measures that conflicted with Raffles’s instructions. The instructions concerned land management in the settlement, notably permissions for the building of houses and go-downs on the Padang and the nearby banks of the Singapore River, an area which Raffles had wanted to reserve for government use. Farquhar also allowed slave trade and other vices such as gaming, which Raffles wanted to prohibit. Farquhar’s justification was that these measures were necessary to ensure the survival of the newly established trading post. He also explained that although he permitted the construction of buildings on land reserved for government use, he had made it clear to the merchants and individuals who chose to build on this land, that the land could be reclaimed by the government in future. The conflict with Raffles came to a head during Raffles’s final stay in Singapore from 1822 to 1823, and led to Farquhar’s dismissal on 1 May 1823. Farquhar was succeeded as Resident by John Crawfurd. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=0341bd61-8f21-47b8-a774-de9f72bcfa04 ↩︎
- This painting hangs in the Council Room in ZSL’s Main Offices in Regent’s Park. The subject is Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Born in 1781, Raffles had an adventurous life: he was Lieutenant-Governor of Java, is credited with founding modern Singapore (though the island was occupied discontinuously since at least the 14th century), and had the enormous, foul-smelling, rarely flowering plant Rafflesia arnoldi named after him. On his return to England, Raffles set up the Zoological Society of London in 1826, becoming its first President. Sadly he died unexpectedly the same year. https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/feature/remembering-sir-stamford-raffles-founder-and-first-president-zsl ↩︎
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