Tag: Singapore stamp

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Singapore 1984, Giving a nod toward Coleman Bridge, before it is taken down

The British Colonial architectural style has been long lasting, both for it’s tradition and for the accommodations made to it to account for the alien climates of other side of the world outposts. As the independent city state of Singapore has grown into one of the great world cities, it is not often possible to preserve what came before. So why not at least a stamp to remind that what came before was pretty good too. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

One wonders about lead times for stamps in Singapore. The printing of the time was farmed out to Japan which could lengthen the lead times. This stamp came out months before it was announced that the Coleman Bridge was coming down in favor of a much larger structure with the same name. The government had been designing the new for years before. I wonder if those who put together the stamp only knew the bridge was historic and attractive and not that it was breathing it’s last.

Todays stamp is issue A112, a 10 cent stamp issued by Singapore on March 15th, 1985. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

George Drumgoole Coleman was born in Drogheda, Ireland in 1795, the son of a building supply merchant. He received some training in civil engineering before setting off at age 19 for Calcutta and once there putting out his shingle as an architect. He built several homes for merchants in the neighborhood of Fort William. Soon he signed on to travel to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, now Jakarta, Indonesia, to build a string of churches. After working on the project for two years, funding fell through and no churches were completed. In the mean time he had met Sanford Raffles who was in the early days of founding the trading post of the British East India Company at Singapore. Raffles hired Coleman to be in charge of public works. Among his  works was this brick bridge that connected Old Bridge Road and Hill Street over the Singapore river, At the time, it was just called the New Bridge.

George Drumgoole Coleman

 

Among his other projects was a surprise hilltop thatched roof bungalow built for Raffles while he was away. He had been having health issues with the tropical conditions and poor city air. There were of course a series of grand homes built for merchants including one for a Resident Magistrate that was so grand that when it was finished the outpost decided to rent it for use as a courthouse.

Living so far from home proved difficult for Coleman and he took a native Malay wife after previously fathering a daughter by an unknown women. After 20 years of work, Coleman was tired and homesick, so he returned to Ireland leaving behind his childless Malay wife in their home he had designed. Once there, he quickly married an Irish women who gave him a son. He was perhaps gone too long because soon he was taking his new family back to Singapore. Once there he was able to rent a home he had designed. It was not on a hill like the one he made for Sanford Raffles and soon Coleman contracted a tropical disease that took his life. His Irish wife remarried one of his business associates a month later. His son later died on a long sea journey at age four.

We can see that development has brought the end to most of Coleman’s work. The brick bridge on the stamp  was torn down in favor of a much larger concrete bridge with the same name. The lampposts and iron railing of the old were reused to provide continuity. His personal home with his Malay wife was torn down in 1965 to make way for the Peninsula Hotel. The thatched roof bungalow built for Raffles is long gone despite being used by many British Residents after Raffles. In 2003, a new structure, vaguely in traditional style was built on the original site as Raffles’ House. It is used as an upscale wedding venue. The house that became a Courthouse still stands and is in use as a venue for art shows, though it has been refurbished so many times that not much of Coleman’s work remains.

The new Coleman Bridge
The house that became a Courthouse.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Straits Settlements 1912, Trying to keep Singapore British, when the people are Chinese, Malay, and Indian

Singapore is today a prosperous, multiracial trading city with very few British. This was true right from the beginning, when it was founded by the British. Showing how important a one percent can be. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

A British colonial stamp with the King, in this case George V, a denomination, and the particular colonies name. These stamps were standard designs printed by De La Rue in Great Britain with a place on the stamp set aside for the colonies name. They almost always had the British Monarch, showing that they were mainly for the use of the British one percent. Now an important reminder of how such a place started.

The stamp today is issue A24, a 5 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements in 1912. It was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations with the high ones mainly to pay taxes and the lower values for postage. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used.

The settlement at Singapore, that was the crown jewel of the Straits Settlements, was founded by Stanford Raffles in 1819 at the tip of the Malay peninsula. Tribute was paid and protection promised to the local Malayans. He was in the employ of the British East India Company and the area was a division of the then Presidency of Bengal. The area was divided between the British in Malaysia and Northern Borneo and the Dutch to the south. At the time the British East India Company had a monopoly on the China trade and the Singapore trading station was central to that. From the earliest days, Chinese flooded in seeking a better life. They were over 90 percent male, China did not allow females to emigrate legally. The hope was to make it big and go back to China but most ended up staying and heavily involved with Tong Societies for female companionship and other illicit comforts. Indians also flooded in, but many were there as prisoners. It was a fairly volatile mix with only one percent of the colony British.

The colony grew rapidly but was garrisoned mostly by units of the British Indian Army. After an Indian mutiny in 1867 spread to Singapore, the area petitioned to the British parliament to become a formal British colony. The currency was changed from the official Rupee to a dollar tied to the value of the Spanish dollar that was already the currency of commerce. The British kept the ethnicities in separate neighborhoods and tried to ban the Chinese Tongs to get a handle on the worst of the Chinese coolie trade and the rampant sex trafficking. This was less than successful but the city was still growing fast.

It still had the problem of being manly garrisoned by Indians. A local volunteer force was tiny and only one third coming from the majority Chinese population. The Indians mutinied again in 1916 and were put down. When the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941 the British commanded forces greatly outnumbered the Japanese. Most of the troops were Indians who for the most part did not fight. The same was true of the local volunteer forces. The few British and Australians were relying greatly on their Navy and Air Force but the Japanese Air Force sank several British ships and shot down most of their airplanes. Churchill ordered Singapore defended till the end but while the final perimeter in Singapore was holding there was not enough food and water to feed the vast mostly Chinese population that was present, mostly male but taking no part of the defense. The local British General surrendered citing their welfare and Churchill described the fall as Britain’s greatest military calamity. The horrid treatment of British prisoners meant many still paid with their lives for Singapore after surrender. Asian captives were given the opportunity to serve Japan.

After the war the Straits Settlements Colony was disbanded with Singapore becoming it’s own colony. With little loyalty to Britain or Malaya, self government was allowed. Independence saw the new Malaysia attempt to claim Singapore but it broke away a year later. Many of the structures of the British were retained and the place as never stopped growing. Today the still majority Chinese country has a GNP per capita 40% higher than Great Britain. It is over 6 times that of China, 5 times that of Malaysia, and 30 times that of India. This year is the bicentennial of the founding of Singapore by Stanford Raffles. We will see if his memory receives it’s due.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the one percent of Singapore that made possible the great success of the other 99 percent. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Singapore 1969, Recognizing South Indians in Singapore via the Mridangam drum

Multi racial city states have a wealth of choices of cultural influences to explore. Here you get to explore it in regards to traditional music instruments, So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp issue consisted of two Indian instuements, two Chinese, and one Malayan. You have to cut it off somewhere I suppose, but a certain colonial power might feel left out.

Todays stamp is issue A22, a 1 cent stamp issued by independant Singapore on November 10th, 1969. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

The origin of the Mridangam drum in ancient south India. The name comes from an amalgamation of the Sanscrit wods for clay and limb. The early drums had bodies made of clay. On modern versions this material has been replaced by wood from the jackfruit tree. Before use, a creamy gum is applied to the leather to enhance the bass sound of the drum.

A relief from an Indian Temple showing how the drum was played. Modern doctors sugest instead mounting the instuement on a stand because this way can cause a serious form of scoliosis.

The instument is most often played in the performance of Carnatic music. A small band of a singer, a violin, a mridangam drum, and a guitar like instument called a tampura. The melodies performed are called ragas, The have both composed and improvisation sections. Listen here. https://youtu.be/S_frNc_CHho.

The world center of this type of music is Madras in India which hosts annual weeks long festivals of Carnatic music. I can find no evidence of such festivels in Singapore, though it is taught in local music schools, but there is a farely large one in Cleveland, Ohio.

Well my drink is empty, Come again next Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Singapore 1947, Getting toward self rule

After Singapore did not stand with the Empire when under Japanese attack, there was little possibility of staying a colony long term post war. The complicated part was transferring to self rule without acquiring a new master in the form of China or Malaysia. The Chinese majority city can thank David Marshall, a Sephardic Jew from Baghdad and Lim Yew Hock a Chinese Muslim convert, for getting them down that path. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Notice that this fairly standard King George VI issue is now labeled Singapore rather than Straits Settlements. Singapore was now realized to be a quite important city distinct from the Malayan majority area around it. It had also proved to be disloyal, so a Monarch stamp issue is appropriate to remind British still there that the home country is looking out for them.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Singapore in 1947. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Singapore was founded on previously unoccupied land acquired by George Raffles from a Malayan Sultan. Raffles was in the employ of the privately owned British East India Company. The site was intended as a trading post but also housed an Indian penal colony. This was after slavery and when the work habits of Malayans were found wanting, large numbers of Chinese were brought in as contract workers. The Chinese were overwhelmingly male and sometimes called coolies. Many stayed on after their contracts expired. British were never more than 2 percent of Singapore residents. At the time of the Japanese attack in 1942, the British Indian Army deserted leaving only a few British and Australian defenders. The mostly male Chinese population did not join the cities defense. Worrying about the water supply being cut meant the British gave up without much of a fight. Churchill described it as their worse defeat in the war and even Hitler said it was a sad day in the cause of white supremacy. Singapore was only returned to Britain post war.

Singapore celebrates the wars end showing their loyalties

Well if the two percent of Singapore that was British was no longer supreme who would take their place. Neighboring Malaya was in a civil war with local communists and Chinese were looking more toward the Motherland also facing a civil war. The British put a lot of faith in David Marshall, born Mashal. He was a Jewish lawyer  that had immigrated to Singapore from Iraq and had volunteered for the defense of Singapore and was a POW. What they didn’t realize is how much he resented being labeled Asian and how far left he really was. Sensing a potential ally, Chinese Foreign Minister Chou Enlai invited Marshall to China. That didn’t go well because once there he took up the cause of White Russians of Jewish heritage not faring well in Shanghai. Not what the Chinese wanted to talk about. Back in Singapore he was appointed chief minister but then angered the British by demanding instant self rule while also refusing to crack down on the many leftists in his party.

Chief Minister David Marshall

Frustrated the British turned to Lim Yew Hock, a labor organizer who was more willing to crack down on communists and have a more staged process to self rule under the old system. The process worked but Lim Yew Hock became very unpopular in Singapore. So much so that he moved to Malaysia and became a diplomat for them in Australia.

Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock

Here there was a strange incident. He disappeared from Canberra to chase after a 19 year old stripper named Sandra at The Paradise Club in Sydney. He was lost for nine days and returned disoriented, disheveled, and unable to explain what happened. He was sent back to Malaysia and given retirement. His marriage broken down, he then made the strange decision to convert to the Muslim religion and move to Saudi Arabia. Sort of a strange cast of characters with which to get such a good result in Singapore.

Well my drink is empty and I don’t think this was much of a story of white, Jewish, or Chinese supremacy, rather the story of a city state getting lucky. Perhaps despite itself. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Singapore discovers itself as an Asian country

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of a new nation discovering who it is.

What I find so interesting about todays stamp is how different it if from a stamp issued in the same place 20 or 30 years before. Today we are learning together about a stamp from the Asian city state of Singapore.

The stamp today is issue A113, a 5 cent stamp issued on April 24th 1985. The stamp depicts a brightly colored damselfly. The stamp was part of a sixteen stamp issue in various denominations up to $10 Singapore dollars. It has a current value of 25 cents cancelled.

Singapore was founded as a trading post for the British East India company in 1819 by Stanford Raffles. Intrigue and payments to who we would now describe as Malaysians and Indonesians allowed Singapore to get going in a natural harbor at the end of the Malaysian peninsula. Ownership passed to Great Britain in 1826 and except for about 3 years under Japanese occupation during World War II, Singapore remained in British hands until the late 1950s.  In fact the British Military remained until 1971.

Independence was also a gradual process. It was the initial intention of Singapore to unite in federation with Malaya and the old Straits Settlements that Great Britain also controlled. This just did not work out. Singapore at it’s heart was still a multi-ethnic multi-language trading post. This created many tensions with the more ethnically uniform Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1965 Singapore became a sovereign city state within the British Commonwealth.

One might expect this history to result in a strong British influence on the post independence stamp offerings. There is some influence. Singapore is spelled out in English script as it is the governmental and most commonly spoken home language in Singapore.

When one looks at the stamp, one sees a color palate that gives away Singapore’s location in Asia and the fact that a majority of its people are ethnically Chinese Mandarin. Yet at the same time the stamp is not Chinese. Instead the influences of the different people and the climate of Singapore are well depicted in this simple only at first glance stamp. I also sense some of the optimism that stamps from newly independent states often have.

The Damselfly exists all over the world on every continent except Antarctica. The bight colors indicate that the depiction on the stamp is of a male. The fly is most common in jungle areas where it eats smaller insects around grass. The damselfly is threatened by deforestation and the aspect of climate change that sees ecosystems drying out. One might wonder how the damselfly is doing in a thriving crowded city state such as Singapore. Perhaps there is an element to this insect stamp issue of lets enjoy them while we still have them.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

Authors note: When I was entering this offering, news had just come in on the death of Hugh Hefner at 91. While this website does not feature nudity, it does at it’s most basic sell the lifestyle of the connoiseaur. Intellectual pursuits were always a part of that in the early Playboy and are front and center at what I am trying to do at the-philatelist.com. When Hugh Hefner started, male magazines were just about hunting, fishing, and war stories. Mr. Hefner as Mr. Mincus and Mr. Harris realized that the best parts of the lifestyle of a British Duke were now available to masses of newly educated and prosperous people. They prospered in bringing out how to get into that. RIP