Victoria Glendinning's biography of Raffles presents a fuller and rounder picture of a man sometimes consigned to the marginalia of history. The book presents a very interesting account of the opeations of the East India Company during the Regency, and of Raffles as a maverick inclned to take advantage of his remoteness from headquarters to push his authority past the limits in pursuit of his vision.

The book probably pays too much attention to Raffles' home life and that of his relatives at the expense of more detail on the early days of Singapore. Aside from that it's still an interesting and informative read about a highly influential man whose deeds helped shape the modern world. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this account and learned a lot about Raffles and the British in SE Asia. ( )

Very slow start; could have done less with Raffles' family background but the book takes off one-third through when Raffles departs for Asia, and is an absolute page-turner upon his return to Southeast Asia with his appointment in Bencoolen (on the west coast of Sumatra) and subsequent claiming of Singapore for Great Britain. Well researched, but I personally found the language a little formal and stiff. The author's dry remarks are sparse but welcoming insights and I wish there had been more. ( )

'Singapore...this, my almost only child', April 29, 2014

I knew absolutely nothing about Raffles when I started this - had a vague image of an English colonial striding about Singapore's Raffles Hotel. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Can't say this was a hugely gripping read, but it certainly is informative, following our hero from his youth in London (his father died in the workhouse), and years as a lowly clerk for the East India Company before finally getting sent out east...
There's an awful lot of jealousy and sniping, he and his fellow officials firing off letters of criticism about one another to the slow-moving bureaucratic Company.
But action too - war in Java and finally arriving in Singapore which he foresaw would make an excellent trading post for Britain, though at the time it had only around 150 occupants including the Malay sea-gypsies 'whose activities were evident from the human skulls bobbing around in the shallow waters.'
With two devoted wives, a large family, and a senior role in local rule, Raffles' star seems in the ascendant...
Feel I've learned a great deal. ( )

A thoughtful biography of Sir Stamford Raffles: English adventurer, employee of the East India Company and famed founder of Singapore. It is an extremely well researched study that in many ways gets us closer to the real life Raffles that many previous biographers have tried yet slightly failed to do. This book is definitely not hero worship – in fact it is just the opposite - a very sobering warts-and-all expose of a man who in many eyes is regarded as an inspirational leader and visionary. Raffles in the end comes away as a man dogedly pushing a very imperialistic vision for South East Asia (with Britain acting as protective benevolent administrator) who continually came into conflict with his own government, employer, colleagues, local inhabitants and ultimately the local environment. The later leading to the death of those he held dear and eventually taking its toll on his own frail body. ( )