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

In 1993, the silver epergne Lieutenant-Colonel¹ William Farquhar received from the Chinese community before his departure from Singapore on 27 December 1823, was acquired by the National Museum of Singapore from his descendant, Captain David John Farquhar Atkins, for S$52,000.²

Silver Epergne for William Farquhar

Silver, glass | 1824, Rundle, Bridge & Rundle (London) | National Museum of Singapore collection

This silver epergne was presented to Lieutenant-Colonel William Farquhar as a parting gift from Singapore’s Chinese community. It signifies his popularity with the Asian communities that he governed in Singapore.

At a farewell dinner with the principal merchants and British inhabitants on 27 December 1823, Lt Col William Farquhar was presented with a plate valued at 3000 sicca rupees as a farewell gift. The Chinese community of the settlement gifted Farquhar with an ornate silver epergne bearing crests, a Latin inscription³, and the hallmark “1824”.

The epergne was made by the London silversmiths Rundle, Bridge & Rundle. It has three branches to hold candles and a centre crystal bowl for fruit. Such ornamental centrepieces were typically displayed to decorate the dinner tables of well-to-do families in England.

A moving account of Farquhar’s departure from Singapore at the end of December 1823, which was confirmed by a report in one of Calcutta’s newspapers, which states that on that day as he left, he was accompanied to the beach by most of the European inhabitants of the settlement as well as by ‘a large concourse’ of Asians of every class.

As a compliment to him, the troops formed a guard-of-honour from his house to the landing place, and he embarked with the customary salute to his rank. Then many Asian boats accompanied him to his ship, the Alexander, and as they sailed, some of the Siamese vessels fired salutes to him. Similar welcomes and tributes also awaited him up the Straits, in Malacca and in Penang.

Chart of the Straits of Singapore (1823)

Paper | Reproduction print of martime chart by James Horsburgh (1823) | National Museum of Singapore collection

Raffles and Farquhar used this chart during their journey to Singapore in 1819, It was prepared by James Horsburgh, the hydrographer of the East India Company, and records the soundings (the depth of an area of water) in the Strait of Singapore. However, the chart has an inaccurate representation of the shape of Singapore.⁵

Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and Sultan Hussein and Temenggong Abdul Rahman

Facsimile | 6 February 1819, Reproduction | National Museum of Singapore collection

With his long Malayan experience and an intimate knowledge of Riau-Lingga politics, Major Farquhar proposed a settlement on Singapore island. He negotiated the provisional agreement of 30 January 1819 with the local chieftain Temenggong Abdul Rahman; and the more formal Singapore Treaty⁶ of 6 February 1819, which was signed by Raffles on behalf of the Crown with the Temenggong and the Sultan Hussein Mohammed Shah, confirming the right for the British to set up a trading post.

Letter from Sir Stamford Raffles to Colonel Addenbrooke⁷

Paper | 10 June 1819 | National Museum of Singapore collection

On the same day, Farquhar, accompanied by a few Malaccan Malays, had to climb up the hill, known as the Bukit Larangan (later renamed Fort Canning Hill). He drew up the first gun and set up the post to hoist the Union Jack flag on top of the hill, marking the birth of Singapore as a British settlement.⁸ On his second visit, Raffles wrote to a colleague back in UK, claiming credit for recognising Singapore as a vital trading post to break the Dutch monopoly. So it’s up to you to decide who has made the decision, chicken or the egg.

Map of Singapore (1828)⁹

Paper | 1828, Reproduction of engraving, after Captain James Franklin and Lieutenant Philip Jackson | National Museum of Singapore collection

Communication with Raffles in Bencoolen and the East India Company in Calcutta were so poor that for more than three years Singapore developed on her own with Farquhar at the helm.

On 9 May 1821, Farquhar was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Despite his many positive achievements in the formative period of Singapore’s development, he adopted measures in his administration that conflicted with Raffles’ ideas, notably in allowing the erection of houses and godowns on the Padang and on the nearby banks of the Singapore River.

The conflicts which arose during Raffles’ final stay in Singapore led to Farquhar’s dismissal on 1 May 1823, to be succeeded as Resident by Dr John Crawfurd¹⁰ without the knowledge of Farquhar himself. He remained in Singapore after that for a few months.

Government House at Melaka

Engraving | 1811, George Cooke, after E. H. Locker (1807) | National Museum of Singapore collection

Shortly after, he finally departed from Singapore for Malacca, Penang and Calcutta¹¹ en route back home to England. Farquhar’s popularity with the Asian and the European community of Singapore was attested to by Munshi Abdullah Abdul Kadir, in his Hikayat Abdullah.¹²

The William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings

While this epergne is not a National Treasure, Farquhar is attributed to one. The William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings is a collection of 477 watercolour botanical drawings of plants and animals of Malacca and Singapore by unknown Chinese (probably Cantonese) artists that were commissioned between 1819 and 1823 by William Farquhar and a National Treasure of Singapore¹³.

Useless trivial about Farquhar – through his eldest daughter Esther Asther Bernard, née Farquhar, Farquhar is a fifth great-grandfather of Justin Trudeau, the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada, and fourth great-grandfather of Margaret Trudeau, onetime wife of Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.¹⁴ My dad met Pierre Trudeau on a flight to Hong Kong back in 70s and was give a lapel pin of the maple leaf flag by the man himself.

Footnotes:

1. This was his rank when he left Singapore in 1823; he would be finally be promoted to Major General by the time he died in 1836. He started his military career with the East India Company as an ensign in the Corps of Madras Engineers in 1791, promoted to lieutenant in 1793, promoted to captain in 1803, major in 1805, and lieutenant-colonel in 1821. ↩︎
2. Tuminah Sapawi, “A National Treasure Comes Home,” Straits Times, 27 November 1993, 8. (From NewspaperSG) ↩︎
3. Below one of the crests is a Latin motto, “Sto Cado Fide et Armis”, meaning “I stand, I fall, with my faith and my arms”. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19931127-1.2.71.3.2 ↩︎
4. Below one of the crests is a Latin motto, “Sto Cado Fide et Armis”, meaning “I stand, I fall, with my faith and my arms”. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19931127-1.2.71.3.2 ↩︎
5. Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
6. This is a facsimile of the treaty which marks the birth of colonial Singapore, It gave the British East India Company the right to set up a trading settlement, in exchange for installing Sultan Hussein in Singapore and granting the Sultan and the Temenggong a share of trade. An original copy of the treaty is believed to be in Johor.
   The treaty led to a dispute between the British and the Dutch over its legality. It was resolved with the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, which divided the Malay Archipelago into British and Dutch spheres of influence. Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
7. This letter to Colonel John Peter Addenbrooke, equerry to the late Princess Charlotte of Wales, was written on Raffles’s second visit to Singapore. On the page displayed, Raffles describes Singapore as “a child of my own”, and comments that “it is impossible to conceive of a place combining more advantages”, referring to its location at the heart of the Malay Archipelago and in proximity to China.
   On the reverse page, Raffles insists that his objective was “not territory but trade” and expresses his hope that this “one free port” would “eventually destroy the spell of Dutch monopoly”. Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Farquhar ↩︎
9. This map was based on a survey by Captain James Franklin and Lieutenant Philip Jackson from the Bengal Artillery It may be the first map to accurately depict the shape of the island of Singapore. Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
10. John Crawfurd
    Making Singapore work
    Like his predecessor Lieutenant-Colonel William Farquhar, Dr John Crawfurd had been an East India Company official for many years before he became the Resident of Singapore in 1823. To finance the settlement while maintaining a free port, Crawfurd introduced licenses for pawn-broking, gunpowder sales, opium and spirits, and legalised public gambling. He also directed the building of roads and bridges, and started the first newspaper, the Singapore Chronicle.
    Most importantly, after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, in which the Dutch recognised the British presence in Singapore, Crawfurd pressed Sultan Hussein and Temenggong Abdul Rahman to sign a new treaty to cede Singapore “in full sovereignty and property to the East India Company, its heirs and successors”. This effectively made Singapore a British possession and ended Malay control.
    Crawfurd’s term as Resident ended in 1826. After he returned to England, he was politically active and campaigned for Singapore to become a Crown colony.
    Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
11. Before coming to Singapore, William Farquhar was Commandant and Resident of Melaka (1803-18).
    These paintings show the fortress of Melaka, which was built by the Portuguese after they conquered the city in 1511. It became a symbol of European domination over the Strait of Malacca.
    The fortress was improved by the Dutch after they took Melaka in 1641. British troops entered through its southeastern gate (see the coloured aquatint) to accept the Dutch surrender in 1795. In 1807, the British ordered that the fortress be destroyed, so it could not be used by rival powers to threaten the British settlement of Penang.
    Museum Information Card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
12. In his autobiography, Hikayat Abdullah, Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir attested to Farquhar’s popularity with the Asian and European communities with his account of Farquhar’s departure from Singapore at the end of December 1823. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=0341bd61-8f21-47b8-a774-de9f72bcfa04 ↩︎
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Treasures_of_Singapore
    ↩︎
14. “Mystery of Margaret Trudeau’s family tree resolved”. Ottawa Citizen. 24 January 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015. ↩︎