John D. Greenwood: How the Scots founded Singapore

As any local or visitor to Singapore will tell you, you can’t miss the tributes to Sir Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), the Englishman who was the “founder” of modern Singapore. There is the statue of Raffles at the 1819 landing point on the Singapore River, the Raffles Hotel, Raffles Square, Raffles City, the Raffles Institution, the Raffles Girl’s School, the Raffles Town Club and the Raffles Design Institute. But there is no statue or street name or institution linked to the name of Colonel William Farquhar (1774-1839), the Scotsman from Newhall, Kincardineshire, who was the first Resident and Commandant of Singapore and who did at least as much as Raffles to make the new settlement a commercial success.