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Visiting the ‘Liverpool of the East’: Singapore's place in tours of Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

Donna Brunero
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Abstract

This article explores the idea of Singapore's repute as the ‘Liverpool of the East’ and the depictions of Britain's maritime empire in Asia. It does so via two important cruises related to the British Empire. The first is the Royal Tour of 1901 and the second cruise was the Empire Cruise of 1923 to 1924. By examining the reception afforded to both royal and naval visitors, this article argues that we have insights into what it meant for Singapore as a port city in a British maritime and imperial network. This article explores how Singapore was depicted as a maritime hub through these tours and concludes with a reflection that similar descriptions still hold a place in modern descriptions of Singapore.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 562 - 578
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore, 2020

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References

1 For a discussion of the modern Asian port city and its emergence vis-à-vis the British maritime empire in Asia see, Brunero, Donna, ‘Maritime goes global: Britain's maritime empire in Asia’, in Empire in Asia: A new global history, vol. 2, ed. Brunero, Donna and Farrell, Brian P. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)Google Scholar.

2 For a discussion on how Singapore's early modern history has been framed in terms of imperial history and in standard histories, see: Webster, Anthony and White, Nicholas J., eds., Singapore: Two hundred years of the Lion City (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020)Google Scholar; and We, Koh Keng, ‘Gateway and Panopticon: Singapore and surviving regime change in the nineteenth-century Malay World’, in Reframing Singapore: Memory, identity, transregionalism, ed. Heng, Derek and Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), pp. 39–68Google Scholar. In this edited volume Heng and Aljunied make the case that a global approach to Singapore's history provides new potential and moves away from nation-building (linear) narratives.

3 Frost, Mark R. and Balasingamchow, Yu-Mei, Singapore: A biography (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet; National Museum of Singapore, 2009), p. 135Google Scholar.

4 Han Ming Lu, ‘From travelogues to guidebooks: Imagining colonial Singapore, 1819–1940’, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 8, 2 (2003): 259.

5 Anthony Webster and Nicholas J. White, ‘Introduction: Situating Singapore's success', in Webster and White, eds., Singapore, p. 2.

6 Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 149 (23 Feb 1858–3 May 1859); Mr Horsman and Lord Elphinstone.

7 Gregg Huff and Gillian Huff, ‘The shipping conference system, empire and local protest in Singapore 1910–1911’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 46, 1: (2018): 69–92.

8 Valeska Huber, Channeling mobilities: Migration and globalisation in the Suez Canal region and beyond, 1869–1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

9 Frost and Balasingamchow, Singapore, p. 136.

10 Ibid., pp. 136–7.

11 Han, ‘From travelogues to guidebooks’, pp. 265–7.

12 John M. MacKenzie, Propaganda and empire: The manipulation of British public opinion, 1880–1960 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), p. 2.

13 Robert Aldrich and Cindy McCreery, eds., Crowns and colonies: European monarchies and overseas empires (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), p. 1.

14 Cindy McCreery, ‘Telling the story: HMS Galatea's voyage to South Africa, 1867’, South African Historical Journal 61, 4 (2009): 817–37.

15 Ibid. In this article McCreery refers to the example of the Muslim Malay community resident in Cape Town.

16 Charles V. Reed, Royal tourists, colonial subjects and the making of a British world, 1860–1911 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), p. xix.

17 Aldrich and McCreery develop this idea further, explaining that for much of the history of colonialism there existed direct and important connections between colonial empires and the monarchy. See Aldrich and McCreery, Crowns and colonies.

18 MacKenzie, Propaganda and empire, pp. 4–5.

19 Reed, Royal tourists, colonial subjects, p. xvii.

20 Reed discusses the 1901 Royal Tour in parallel with the Tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, arguing that there was similar public interest in the tours and in both instances the monarchy was largely ceremonial.

21 Reed, Royal tourists, colonial subjects, p. 28.

22 Singapore Free Press & Mercantile Advertiser (henceforth, Singapore Free Press), 1 Nov. 1901, p. 2.

23 McCreery's work on the HMS Galatea is a useful reference here.

24 Sir Donald MacKenzie Wallace (1841–1919) had a distinguished career as a newspaper correspondent, editor and author. He was foreign correspondent of The Times and served as the private secretary to Lord Dufferin, viceroy of India in the 1880s. He was best known for his authoritative works on Russia. Wallace's education, extensive travels and reported charm meant he was welcome in diplomatic circles and became a friend to the royal princes. Wallace's papers are held at the Cambridge University Library; https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/5bb6bbe3-3f89-3ce8-90aa-6538cf85fbc3.

25 K. Wallace, Web of empire: A diary of the imperial tour of their Royal Highnesses the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall & York in 1901 (London: Macmillan and Co, 1902), Part 4, ‘From Ceylon to Australia’, 17 Apr., p. 88.

26 Ibid., 18 Apr.

27 Ibid., p. 89.

28 Ibid., p. 89.

29 Ibid., pp. 89–90.

30 Ibid., 20 Apr., pp. 88–9.

31 Ibid., p. 90.

32 Ibid.

33 Cited in Frost and Balasingamchow, Singapore, p. 146.

34 Ibid.

35 Reed details such activities in Royal tourists, colonial subjects.

36 A durbar was a ceremonial gathering of the ruler's court (hailing from a blending of Persian and Mughal traditions) which was incorporated into — and some might argue — sat at the heart of the British Raj. Durbars became the centrepiece for ceremonial gatherings of Asian elites and here the British revelled in tradition, hierarchy, honour and processions. See David Cannadine's Ornamentalism: How the British saw their empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) for a discussion of pageantry and empire.

37 Wallace, Web of empire, p. 93.

38 ‘Guests had to share gloves to meet Duke in 1901’, Straits Times, 7 Feb. 1959, p. 11. To avoid embarrassment, guests lined up to greet the Royal Highnesses and then, when out of sight, deftly handed their gloves to those in the queue so that no one went without the requisite gloves!

39 C.M. Turnbull, A modern history of Singapore, 1819–1996, p. 109.

40 Reed, Royal tourists, colonial subjects. Reed's main examples are from Africa and also New Zealand, but there are parallels when we consider the way that local chiefs or rulers were ‘paraded’ as part of the visit.

41 David Cannadine, Ornamentalism.

42 Wallace, Web of empire, p. 95.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid., p. 91.

45 ‘Last year's Royal Tour’, Singapore Free Press, 18 Sept. 1902.

46 Wallace, Web of empire, pp. 91–2.

47 Ibid., p. 92.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid. Donna J. Amoroso's work on the British treatment of the Malay ruling class (and notions of the rituals of rule) are also of relevance here. D.J. Amoroso, Traditionalism and the ascendancy of the Malay ruling class (Singapore: NUS Press, 2014).

51 Retrospective feature article, Straits Times, 7 Feb. 1959.

52 Wallace, Web of empire, p. 93.

53 In the National Archives UK, this image is dated 1882. This is corrected in the image which is reproduced by the National Archives of Singapore and captioned: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York passing by the General Post Office (right, back) and the Exchange Building (right) on their way to Johnston's Pier after their visit to Singapore. 1901.’

54 Straits Times, ‘Federated Malaya’, 29 Aug. 1902.

55 Ibid.

56 Wallace, Web of empire, p. 110.

57 ‘How King George saw his empire’, Singapore Free Press, 28 July 1910, p. 8.

58 Ralph Harrington, ‘The mighty Hood’: Navy, empire, war at sea and the British national imagination, 1920–60’, Journal of Contemporary History 38, 2 (2003): 171–85. Also, ‘Empire warship cruise’, Straits Times, 27 Nov. 1923, p. 8.

59 Vincent Clarence Scott O'Connor (1869–1945) can best be described as a child of empire. Born in West Bengal, O'Connor's parents had long connections with India. O'Connor made a career for himself in the Indian Civil Service and travelled extensively. He wrote a number of well-received literary works on India and Burma, partly as a result of his early upbringing in the region and the time he spent working in these countries. This includes An Eastern Library (1920). The Isles of the Aegean was his last published work; http://isles-of-the-aegean.click-book.online/about-the-author/ (accessed May 2018).

60 V.C. Scott O'Connor, The Empire Cruise (London: Riddle, Smith and Duffus, 1925), p. 13.

61 Harrington, ‘The mighty Hood’, pp. 176–7. The empire cruise stopped at (among other places) Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and both coasts of Canada.

62 ‘Admiral's dinner on H.M.S. Hood: The King's message to Singapore’, Singapore Free Press, 20 Feb. 1924, p. 121.

63 Harrington, ‘The mighty Hood’, p. 176.

64 Singapore Free Press, 20 Feb. 1924, p. 117.

65 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise, p. 14.

66 Ibid., pp. 18–19. Also see, ‘Empire squadron at the Cape’, Singapore Free Press, 26 Dec. 1923, p. 4.

67 Empire Marketing Board documentary, Britain's birthright (1924), Imperial War Museum; https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/462 (accessed 20 May 2018).

68 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise, p. 111.

69 For scholarship on the navy and masculinity see Conley, Mary A., From Jack Tar to Union Jack: Representing naval manhood in the British Empire (1870–1918) (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009)Google Scholar.

70 Britain's birthright.

71 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise.

72 McCreery, ‘Telling the story’, pp. 817–18.

73 ‘Admiral's dinner on H.M.S. Hood’, Singapore Free Press, 20 Feb 1924.

74 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise, pp. 112–13.

75 ‘Singapore and the Navy’, Straits Times, 16 Feb. 1924, p. 8.

76 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise, pp. 112–13.

77 ‘Our visitors’, Malaya Tribune, 11 Feb. 1924.

78 O'Connor, The Empire Cruise, p. 115.

79 Ibid. p. 114.

80 Ibid., p. 113.

81 Britain's Birthright.

82 ‘Empire Cruise completed’, Straits Times, 18 Sept. 1924, p. 8. Crew members were also all given an album of images as mementoes to commemorate their involvement in this voyage, further evidence that this cruise was part-demonstration of power and a public relations exercise. See website dedicated to the Empire Cruise, featuring the album given to crew members of the HMS Repulse Albert Scott; https://sites.google.com/site/worldcruise19231924/ (accessed July 2019).

83 Yew, Leong, ‘A brief history of the hub: Navigating between ‘global’ and ‘Asian’ in Singapore's knowledge economy discourse’, in Singapore in global history, ed. Heng, Derek and Aljunied, Syed Muhd Khairudin (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011), pp. 271–5Google Scholar.

84 Tommy Koh, Ambassador at Large, ‘The Sixth SGH Lecture. Singapore: A new Venice of the 21st century’, speech, 9th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Singapore General Hospital, 26 Apr. 1998; http://annals.edu.sg/pdf/tkoh.pdf.

85 Haggerty, Sheryllyne, Webster, Anthony and White, Nicholas J., eds. The empire in one city? Liverpool's inconvenient imperial past (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009)Google Scholar as an example of scholarship that examines the role of UK ports in relation to not only national narratives, but with a deliberate attempt to link these ports to their imperial past/s. See also, Tim Bunnell, ‘Liverpool in the relational remaking of Singapore: Global city routes and Malay seafaring mobilities’, in Webster and White, Singapore, pp. 152–68.