Alexander Hare: Difference between revisions
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'''Alexander Hare''' (1775–1834) was an English merchant, infamous for establishing a [[harem]] and following the local custom of trading slaves in his personal state of [[Maluka]], southeast Borneo.<ref>''De man die vrouwen verzamelde; Een koloniale geschiedenis van de Kokos-eilanden'' by Joop van den Berg (‘s-Gravenhage 1998)</ref><ref>[http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=2460.15 Maluka? on World Coins forum]</ref> |
'''Alexander Hare''' (1775–1834) was an English merchant, infamous for establishing a [[harem]] and following the local custom of trading slaves in his personal state of [[Maluka]], southeast Borneo.<ref name=":1">''De man die vrouwen verzamelde; Een koloniale geschiedenis van de Kokos-eilanden'' by Joop van den Berg (‘s-Gravenhage 1998)</ref><ref>[http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=2460.15 Maluka? on World Coins forum]</ref> |
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The son of a London watchmaker of the same name and his wife Janet,<ref>[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J3M2-KGD Familysearch]</ref> Alexander joined a trading company in [[Portugal]] around 1800, moved to [[Calcutta]], and settled as a merchant in [[Malacca]] in 1807. Among the places he traded to was Banjarmasin, on the southern coast of Borneo. Hare met [[Stamford Raffles]] when the later stopped in Malacca in 1807 and 1808 on sick-leave from Penang.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=F. Andrew|date=2013|title=Borneo's first "White Rajah': new light on Alexander Hare, his family and associates|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA375949161&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00067806&p=AONE&sw=w|journal=Borneo Research Bulletin|volume=44|pages=93-131|via=Gale}}</ref> A few years later, when Dutch control briefly passed to Britain (1811–16) and |
The son of a London watchmaker of the same name and his wife Janet,<ref>[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J3M2-KGD Familysearch]</ref> Alexander joined a trading company in [[Portugal]] around 1800, moved to [[Calcutta]], and settled as a merchant in [[Malacca]] in 1807. Among the places he traded to was Banjarmasin, on the southern coast of Borneo. Banjarmasin had a Dutch trading post, but it was abandoned in 1809 due to British naval hostilities. The Sultan, seeking a replacement for the Dutch, and having developed a good relationship with Hare, asked him to establish a British trading post. But Hare was cautious and waited until his own interests converged with the rising star of Stamford Raffles of the East Indies Company (EIC) before acting.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Gibson-Hill|first=Carl|date=1952|title=Documents relating to John Clunies Ross, Alexander Hare and the establishment of the colony on the Cocos-Keeling Island|url=|journal=Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume=25 (4 & 5)|pages=|via=}}</ref> Hare had first met [[Stamford Raffles]] when the later stopped in Malacca in 1807 and 1808 on sick-leave from Penang.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=F. Andrew|date=2013|title=Borneo's first "White Rajah': new light on Alexander Hare, his family and associates|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA375949161&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00067806&p=AONE&sw=w|journal=Borneo Research Bulletin|volume=44|pages=93-131|via=Gale}}</ref> A few years later, when Dutch control briefly passed to Britain (1811–16) and the EIC, Raffles, as the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java, acting on Hare's request made him Resident of [[Banjarmasin]] and Commissioner of the Island of [[Borneo]]. |
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Eventually arriving in Banjarmasin in 1812, Hare negotiated a treaty with the Sultan on behalf of the Company. The Sultan also granted him 1,400 square miles of land for his own use. This grant stretched along the coast from the mouth of the Barito River to Tanjong Selatan and inland to the north up to the Sungei Matapura. This was mostly marshland mixed with areas of grassland and some forest. A number of villages sheltered on or near the coast.<ref name=":2" /> Although it was technically against EIC policy for its employees to accept large gifts of land, Raffles acquiesced in order to reward Hare for his services in expanding British influence in the region.<ref name=":0" /> Hare established his estate as an independent polity, [[Maluka]], which issued its own coinage, possessed its own flag and levied custom duties.<ref name=":2" /> Being mostly absent from his estate, Hare hired [[Clunies-Ross family|John Clunies Ross]] first as a ship captain in 1813 and in 1816 as overseer of the settlement. Ross was instructed to clear land for rice, sugar, coffee and pepper and build a new trading boat. He was also to build a salt works and defensive posts to ward off pirates <ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />. |
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The signing of the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]], part of the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, was the beginning of the end for Hare's dream of an independent state.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oats|first=David|date=1999|title=Alexander Hare in the East Indies: a reappraisal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41563025?seq=1|journal=The Great Circle|volume=21 (1)|pages=1-15|via=JSTOR}}</ref> Although both Raffles and his successor as Lieutenant General, John Fendall, resisted Dutch requests for the Borneo colonies to be returned as they considered them deserted by the Dutch rather than conquered by the British and hence not falling under the terms of the treaty this was not the position of the EIC as a whole. In January of 1817 a Dutch representative signed a treaty giving them control of much territory around Banjarmasin in return for supporting the Sultan against his local and regional enemies. And in 1818 the new Dutch government declared that Hare had no legal right to his estate (the Sultan having conveniently lost the earlier treaty he had signed with Hare), ordering the local Dutch contingent to take control of the land, by force if necessary. This was done in July 1818.<ref name=":0" /> |
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Hare's activity in Banjarmasin came under great scrutiny with the EIC concerned about his use of company funds for the development of his personal estate. There were also allegations that people had been forcibly relocated to the colony as a source of labour. A Commission of Inquiry, formed in 1816, investigated both charges, finding a great deal to complain about in terms of Hare's accounting. The Inquiry also faulted him with being aware that a number of females had been kidnapped and brought to the colony. However, the more series charge, alleged by William Boggie, that he had enslaved over three thousand people was found to be unsupportable. William Boggie had his own grievances with Raffles and likely raised the issue as a means to discredit him -- Raffles was widely known to desist the practice of slavery and if one of his appointees was found to be engaging in the practice on a massive scale it would have been extremely embarrassing.<ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":0" /> Boggie's allegations were recorded in a letter written much later by the advocate James SImpson.<ref name=":1" /> |
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What is certain is that Hare faced a labour shortage that unless overcome would have made the development of his colony impossible. To overcome this obstacle, in 1812 he asked Raffles to have convicts from Java transported to Banjarmasin as part of their sentences as well as to encourage destitute individuals to migrate. The latter group was to be provided with assistance. Both could take their families, if they wished. However, the majority of both groups were single males and so, in order to rectify the imbalance, the authorities were enjoined to encourage female migration by offering a sum of money or release from debt.<ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":0" /> |
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Hare left the colony two years before the Dutch takeover, moving first to Batavia with his family and followers until declared undesirable in 1819, and then to South Africa until forced to leave in 1826, whence he went to settle the [[Cocos (Keeling) Islands]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5Az1lGCJwQC&pg=PA145|title=Far East and Australasia 2003|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=1-85743-133-2|page=145}}</ref> Conflict with a disapproving [[John Clunies-Ross]] led to him leaving the Cocos Islands in 1831, some say for [[Singapore]],<ref>{{cite web|date=16 November 2004|title=John Clunies Ross (1786-1854)|url=http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s1229016.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509002000/http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s1229016.htm|archive-date=9 May 2015|accessdate=18 February 2011|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref> others say Batavia, but Hare died in [[Bengkulu (city)|Bencoolen]] (modern day Bengkulu on the southwest coast of Sumatra) on 2 November 1834.<ref>Morning Post (London) 20/3/1835</ref> |
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Alexander had three brothers: David (b.1777), became a jeweller in Batavia, while John (b.1782) and Joseph (b.1784) <ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Ahare~%20%2Bfather_givenname%3Aalexander~%20%2Bfather_surname%3Ahare~%20%2Bmother_givenname%3Ajanet~ Familysearch]</ref> were traders in colonial goods in [[London]]. The English censuses of 1851 and 1861 show Fatimah, Joseph's niece born in the East Indies, living in his London house: as she appears to have been born in 1837 she was presumably David's daughter.<ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3Afatima~%20%2Bsurname%3Ahare~ Census via Familysearch]</ref> She married James Graham at St Peter's, Pimlico 22 May 1862 and died at London 1874. |
Alexander had three brothers: David (b.1777), became a jeweller in Batavia, while John (b.1782) and Joseph (b.1784) <ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Ahare~%20%2Bfather_givenname%3Aalexander~%20%2Bfather_surname%3Ahare~%20%2Bmother_givenname%3Ajanet~ Familysearch]</ref> were traders in colonial goods in [[London]]. The English censuses of 1851 and 1861 show Fatimah, Joseph's niece born in the East Indies, living in his London house: as she appears to have been born in 1837 she was presumably David's daughter.<ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3Afatima~%20%2Bsurname%3Ahare~ Census via Familysearch]</ref> She married James Graham at St Peter's, Pimlico 22 May 1862 and died at London 1874. |
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Revision as of 07:59, 30 August 2020
Alexander Hare | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1775 |
| Died | 2 November 1834 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Merchant |
| Known for | Establishing a harem and following the local custom of trading slaves in his personal state of Maluka |
Alexander Hare (1775–1834) was an English merchant, infamous for establishing a harem and following the local custom of trading slaves in his personal state of Maluka, southeast Borneo.[1][2]
The son of a London watchmaker of the same name and his wife Janet,[3] Alexander joined a trading company in Portugal around 1800, moved to Calcutta, and settled as a merchant in Malacca in 1807. Among the places he traded to was Banjarmasin, on the southern coast of Borneo. Banjarmasin had a Dutch trading post, but it was abandoned in 1809 due to British naval hostilities. The Sultan, seeking a replacement for the Dutch, and having developed a good relationship with Hare, asked him to establish a British trading post. But Hare was cautious and waited until his own interests converged with the rising star of Stamford Raffles of the East Indies Company (EIC) before acting.[4] Hare had first met Stamford Raffles when the later stopped in Malacca in 1807 and 1808 on sick-leave from Penang.[5] A few years later, when Dutch control briefly passed to Britain (1811–16) and the EIC, Raffles, as the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java, acting on Hare's request made him Resident of Banjarmasin and Commissioner of the Island of Borneo.
Eventually arriving in Banjarmasin in 1812, Hare negotiated a treaty with the Sultan on behalf of the Company. The Sultan also granted him 1,400 square miles of land for his own use. This grant stretched along the coast from the mouth of the Barito River to Tanjong Selatan and inland to the north up to the Sungei Matapura. This was mostly marshland mixed with areas of grassland and some forest. A number of villages sheltered on or near the coast.[4] Although it was technically against EIC policy for its employees to accept large gifts of land, Raffles acquiesced in order to reward Hare for his services in expanding British influence in the region.[5] Hare established his estate as an independent polity, Maluka, which issued its own coinage, possessed its own flag and levied custom duties.[4] Being mostly absent from his estate, Hare hired John Clunies Ross first as a ship captain in 1813 and in 1816 as overseer of the settlement. Ross was instructed to clear land for rice, sugar, coffee and pepper and build a new trading boat. He was also to build a salt works and defensive posts to ward off pirates [4][5].
The signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, part of the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, was the beginning of the end for Hare's dream of an independent state.[6] Although both Raffles and his successor as Lieutenant General, John Fendall, resisted Dutch requests for the Borneo colonies to be returned as they considered them deserted by the Dutch rather than conquered by the British and hence not falling under the terms of the treaty this was not the position of the EIC as a whole. In January of 1817 a Dutch representative signed a treaty giving them control of much territory around Banjarmasin in return for supporting the Sultan against his local and regional enemies. And in 1818 the new Dutch government declared that Hare had no legal right to his estate (the Sultan having conveniently lost the earlier treaty he had signed with Hare), ordering the local Dutch contingent to take control of the land, by force if necessary. This was done in July 1818.[5]
Hare's activity in Banjarmasin came under great scrutiny with the EIC concerned about his use of company funds for the development of his personal estate. There were also allegations that people had been forcibly relocated to the colony as a source of labour. A Commission of Inquiry, formed in 1816, investigated both charges, finding a great deal to complain about in terms of Hare's accounting. The Inquiry also faulted him with being aware that a number of females had been kidnapped and brought to the colony. However, the more series charge, alleged by William Boggie, that he had enslaved over three thousand people was found to be unsupportable. William Boggie had his own grievances with Raffles and likely raised the issue as a means to discredit him -- Raffles was widely known to desist the practice of slavery and if one of his appointees was found to be engaging in the practice on a massive scale it would have been extremely embarrassing.[4] [5] Boggie's allegations were recorded in a letter written much later by the advocate James SImpson.[1]
What is certain is that Hare faced a labour shortage that unless overcome would have made the development of his colony impossible. To overcome this obstacle, in 1812 he asked Raffles to have convicts from Java transported to Banjarmasin as part of their sentences as well as to encourage destitute individuals to migrate. The latter group was to be provided with assistance. Both could take their families, if they wished. However, the majority of both groups were single males and so, in order to rectify the imbalance, the authorities were enjoined to encourage female migration by offering a sum of money or release from debt.[4] [5]
Hare left the colony two years before the Dutch takeover, moving first to Batavia with his family and followers until declared undesirable in 1819, and then to South Africa until forced to leave in 1826, whence he went to settle the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.[7] Conflict with a disapproving John Clunies-Ross led to him leaving the Cocos Islands in 1831, some say for Singapore,[8] others say Batavia, but Hare died in Bencoolen (modern day Bengkulu on the southwest coast of Sumatra) on 2 November 1834.[9]
Alexander had three brothers: David (b.1777), became a jeweller in Batavia, while John (b.1782) and Joseph (b.1784) [10] were traders in colonial goods in London. The English censuses of 1851 and 1861 show Fatimah, Joseph's niece born in the East Indies, living in his London house: as she appears to have been born in 1837 she was presumably David's daughter.[11] She married James Graham at St Peter's, Pimlico 22 May 1862 and died at London 1874.
Hare's story features in the novel The Daughter of the Pangaran by David Divine, published in 1963.[12]
References
- ^ a b De man die vrouwen verzamelde; Een koloniale geschiedenis van de Kokos-eilanden by Joop van den Berg (‘s-Gravenhage 1998)
- ^ Maluka? on World Coins forum
- ^ Familysearch
- ^ a b c d e f Gibson-Hill, Carl (1952). "Documents relating to John Clunies Ross, Alexander Hare and the establishment of the colony on the Cocos-Keeling Island". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 25 (4 & 5).
- ^ a b c d e f Smith, F. Andrew (2013). "Borneo's first "White Rajah': new light on Alexander Hare, his family and associates". Borneo Research Bulletin. 44: 93–131 – via Gale.
- ^ Oats, David (1999). "Alexander Hare in the East Indies: a reappraisal". The Great Circle. 21 (1): 1–15 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Far East and Australasia 2003. Routledge. 2002. p. 145. ISBN 1-85743-133-2.
- ^ "John Clunies Ross (1786-1854)". ABC News. 16 November 2004. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
- ^ Morning Post (London) 20/3/1835
- ^ Familysearch
- ^ Census via Familysearch
- ^ Divine, David (1963). The Daughter of the Pangaran. Little Brown & Company.
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