Francis Light
Encyclopedia : F : FR : FRA : Francis Light
Captain Francis Light (1740-1794) was the founder of the British colony of Penang (in modern-day Malaysia) and its capital George Town in 1786.
He was born in Suffolk, England and was a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763. From 1765, he worked as a trader for the British East India Company and secured the island of Penang from the sultan of Kedah, adding the mainland Province Wellesley to his domain in 1791. Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.
In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an eminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defense and subsequently repel the Burmese invasion.
Light died from malaria on October 21 1794 and was buried at the Penang graveyard in Queen's Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah). His statue now stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.
Light fathered children by Martina Rozells, but never legally married her. His illegitimate son, Colonel William Light, was the founder of Adelaide in Australia.
References
- Kernial Singh Sandhu, (1969). Indians in Malaya-immigration and settlement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
- Sinnappah, Anasanatnam, (1979). Indians in Malaysia and Singapore. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur.
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.