ABSTRACT
Stamford Raffles, who has written his name for all time in the book of great English Empire builders, was the son of the master of a West Indiaman, and the boy was born on board ship on 5 July, 1781. About 1807 Raffles visited Calcutta, where he was received with great kindness by the Governor-General, and returned to the Straits with the title of Governor-General's Agent in the Eastern Seas. Raffles was also entrusted with a mission to Achin, and his instructions were to deal first with that question and then proceed to the selection of the new Settlement, Raffles determined to let the Achin matter wait and immediately sailed down the Straits, picking up Colonel Farquhar somewhere on the way. Raffles, the most enthusiastic collector of everything which could advance the cause of knowledge and of science.
