1786 to 1830 : Troops in Penang

1786 – 1830 Troops in Penang

17 July 1786, Capt Francis Light, Sea Capt of the Honourable East India Company, arrived off Penang Island with 3 ships. The ships were Eliza, Speedwell and Prince Henry

-Capt Light took the Island from Sultan Abdullah of Kedah ( Queda), on behalf of the Company and named the Island Prince of Wales Island ( name remained on record for next 50 yrs)

-10 Aug 1786, 2 East Indiamen arrived off Penang enroute to China - The Vansitart & The Valentine.

-11 Aug 1786, Captains of the two ships landed and took part in the Flag raising Ceremony. Lta James Gray – Commandant of Marine detachment, Capt Elisha Trapaud ( Engineers) & Cpt George Howell ( Artillery) were present

-Fort was built with timbered stockade with ditch – bastions solid to hold 6 pounders from the ship. Fort was named Cornwallis, after Governor General in Calcutta, Lord Cornwallis

-size of settlement grew and the town grown next to the fort was named Georgetown, in honour of His Majesty, King George III.

-1788, 3 officers served in Penang -Lta John Glass ( artillery), Lta George Rahen & William Murray ( Fireworks), and unnamed officer of the Marines

-1790,Calcutta sent 2 companies of Native Infantry (NI) and 10x 18 pounder guns for defence of Penang Port, under commandant Capt Glass

-1791 19 March, Sultan of Kedah forces and Lanun Pirates in 90 prahus sailed and set up forts on mainland opposite Georgetown

-Bombay Castle, 1 of the East Indiaman from the squadron of ships (which sailed to Penang on Feb 1791, and left to Madras on 15 Mar) from Commodore William Cornwallis remained in harbor. Capt Glass on 12 Apr 1791 attacked the forts of the Malays & Lanun. 10,000 were defeated and 250 armed prahus dispersed.Capt Glass losses were 4 men killed.

-5 Apr 1793, Capt Glass, Commandant of Penang Garrison, died – buried at Northam Cemetery. He was succeeded by Capt Hamilton

-1794, Maj Alexander Kyd, Bengal Engineers to review defence of the Penang Garrison

Capt Light has already rebuilt Fort Cornwallis as a stone structure at costs of 7,000 without approval of his Bengal superiors

-Capt Light died 21 October 1794

-14 May 1795 Maj Forbes Ross MacDonald took command of Penang

-1800 Sir George Leith was Lta Governor of Penang and negotiated with Sultan Kedah for Province of Wellesley, 7 July 1800

- 1801, Defence establishment :

Commandant Maj Thomas Polhill, 7^th Regt Bengal NI ( Lt Col on 4 Jan 1801)

Adjutant & QM Lta Norman Macalister, Bengal Artillery

Commission of ordnance Lta Charles Sealy, Bengal Artillery

Engineer Capt Joseph Stokoe ( died 12 Jan 1801),Successor Lta John Gordon ( died 12 Nov 1804), and Bengal Engineer

Medical Surgeon James Hutton & Asst Surgeon Henry Waring, Bengal Medical Dept

Infantry Lta John Lindsay, 10^th Regt Bengal NI, Lta John Leslie 5^th Regt Bengal NI, Lta Conell Simpson 14^th Regt Bengal NI

-1805 East India Company upgraded Penang Settlements status to Presidency

-Sep 1805 Thomas Raffles arrived and was Lt Governor of Java after campaign 1811.

-1805 Local militia formed – Prince of Wales Island Local Corps; disbanded jul-aug 1806.

-1806, Capt Thomas Robinson, Engineer & Surveyor was tasked to submit plans to defend attacks by European Naval force & another second fort

- life of garrison routine was guard duties and drills, occasional range practice as ammunition was expensive

-17 Oct 1806, Garrison troops – 6^th Regt, 10^th Regt 20^th Regt, 24^th Regt of the Bengal NI, Regt of Artillery, Bengal & Medical Department.

-End of 1809, extension and new batteries of twenty feet thick mounting 17 Heavy guns was constructed at costs of over $4,500. The improvements made Fort Cornwallis the best defended fort in the Far East

- Penang was staging area for naval vessels and troops ships.

- As France overrun Holland on Jan 1795, the Dutch in Malacca was a threat to Penang. Expedition to attack Malacca was launched from Madras with 4 European Battalions under Maj Archibald Brown and Penang was the staging port

-1797 expeditions to invade Manila used harbour as rendezvous point.

-1807 – 1808, 2^nd Battalion of HM 1^st or Royal Regiment under Lt Col Gales assembled for Moluccas Campaign ( they were occupying force at Balambangan from 29 Sep 1803 to 1805)

-1811, invasion of Java force called at Penang port before assembly area in Malacca

-Penang military establishment expanded so that troops were provided for Malacca and Singapore

-1820, Local Unit, Penang Local Corps, was raised to save expense of having regiment from Madras Army. Lta James Low recruited from Upper Provinces of Bengal to be used as defence force in Province of Wellesley against piracy. Low was in command until 1827, when unit was disbanded. Majority of the soldiers returned to Bengal on the ship Flora.

-1826, Straits Settlement Presidency founded, comprising Penang, Malacca and Singapore

-Presidency was abolished by Lord Bentinck and a single residency on 1 May 1830 was formed instead with Penang as HQ of the Residency until 1832.

Extracted from British and Indian Armies in the East Indies by Alan Harfield