Robert Ibbetson, second Governor of the Straits Settlements

Introduction

Robert Ibbetson was a notable colonial administrator who rose through the ranks to become the second Governor of the Straits Settlements. So much did he love Penang, where he spent most of his years in service, that after he retired he returned as a private citizen living on the island for a further twenty years cultivating his nutmeg farm until returning to England for the last time at nearly ninety years of age.

Early employment in Prince of Wales Island (Penang)

Born on 4th May, 1789, Robert Ibbetson was granted a cadetship by the East India Company in London at age 15 and arrived in Penang in September 1805 as part of the initial batch of civil servants from England accompanying the new and first Governor of Penang, Philip Dundas, after Penang was converted into a Presidency.

His first job was in the Secretary’s Office in George Town working under Mr. Stamford Raffles who was Under Secretary at the time and after three years he was sent on his first mission to Rangoon in 1808 to learn all about the teak trade as the government in Penang led by Robert Farquhar had proposed to establish a shipbuilding industry on Jerejak Island using teak from Siam. However, the project was abandoned as being uneconomic due to the high cost of freight and other expenses, and in 1809 Ibbetson was back in Penang.

For the next fifteen years he worked in various departments, including that of Paymaster, Collector of Debts, and Storekeeper, gradually rising up the ranks within the administration. During his employment in Penang he became a keen cultivator of spices becoming one of the first to take advantage of the special permission granted by the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1820 to civil servants allowing them to cultivate spices for sale and export, a passion of his which would last a lifetime.

Promotion to higher office

His first big break came in 1824 when he was appointed Secretary to the Government followed soon after by his appointment as member of the Governing Council of the Straits Settlements based in Malacca. However, his absence from Penang was short lived and he soon returned to George Town, this time to the senior position of Resident Councillor of Prince of Wales Island, effectively governor of Penang.

This position he enjoyed for four years until Robert Fullerton, first Governor of the Straits Settlements 1826-30, first in Penang and then in Singapore when it became the official seat of Government, resigned on the grounds of ill health, and he was appointed Resident Governor of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and Malacca, effectively becoming the Second Governor of the Straits Settlements.

Achievements in office

Some commentators have argued that Ibbetson failed to tackle any of the major problems which beset Penang in the early years, including the chaotic system of land registration, and lack of financial record-keeping at at a time when revenues in the Straits Settlements were not increasing in proportion to expenditure.

However, the record shows that whilst he may not have been a notable reformer at home he made a number of valuable interventions in several major disputes which occurred during his administration which led to their peaceful resolution for which he deservedly was given credit.

First, in 1828 he was sent by Governor Fullerton to proceed on a special mission to Bencoolen, previously a British territory situated on the coast of Sumatra. As part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 the British ceded the territory to the Dutch who proceeded to occupy it and enslaved a number of its inhabitants in breach of the terms of the treaty. Ibbetson met with the Dutch there and requested the release of the slaves and as a result they were freed and he sailed back to Penang to much acclaim.

Then in 1829 he received more plaudits for his successful intervention in the dispute between the Siamese and Malays in Kedah. Under instructions from the East India Company he managed to bring peace to the province by acting as mediator, persuading the Malays to disperse their fleet assembled off the Kedah river, at the same time removing the Rajah of Kedah from Penang to Malacca, which pleased the Siamese because he had refused to help them to defend against a Burmese invasion. When he proceeded to pay a visit to the Phya of Ligor, the Siamese commander in Kedah, he was rewarded for his efforts by the Siamese with a grant to the government of lands situated in the area of Province Wellesley.

Most crucially was his role in the settlement of Naning War 1831-32 which was the first major intervention by the British administration outside the confines of the Straits Settlements into the Malay States. Details of the conflict can be read elsewhere in another post, but essentially it was a revolt began by a local chieftain, Dol Said, near Malacca against what was perceived as unjustified taxation by the British. The first attempt to suppress the rebellion by force of arms was unsuccessful but after the efforts of Ibbetson in persuading the Rumbow chiefs to cease their support for Dol Said and agree to remain neutral in the conflict, a second expedition was successful.

After the Naning Revolt was crushed Ibbetson is credited with concluding a treaty with the state of Johore in August 1833 which settled the extent of the southern and eastern boundaries of Malacca.

Retirement and life as a plantation owner in Penang

Ibbetson’s involvement in the settlement of the Naning War was his last act of public service and now in his early fifties he decided to retire and he returned to England to live in London.

However, that was by no means the end of his connection with Malaya for in his early sixties, perhaps tired of the climate in England and missing the good old days in Penang, he decided to return to the island where he lived happily for the next twenty years as a private plantation owner cultivating first nutmeg, just as he had done thirty years before, and then, when the price fell, cocoa.

Approaching his ninetieth year he retired to England for the last time settling in Portsmouth where he died within a year and fittingly was buried in the Highland Road cemetery where many army, navy and servants of the crown have been laid to rest. His memory is kept alive in George Town where a street is named after him, Jalan Ibbetson.