Vice-Admiral Basil Charles Barrington Brooke CB, CBE

Sir James Brooke, (1803-1868) entered the army of the East India Company in 1819 but was severely wounded in the first Burmese war and invalided home in 1825. On his return voyage to Bengal on the Castle Huntley in 1830 he befriended John Keith Jolly, one of the ship's officer's, starting a correspondence with him which continued to 1857. Resigning his commission, he sailed on in the Castle Huntley, visiting China, Panang, Malacca and Singapore before returning to England. A second voyage to the East in 1834, however, proved a financial failure.

In 1835 his father died, leaving him a legacy of 30,000 and the means to explore the East Indies. In 1838 he sailed for Borneo with the object of promoting trade and British ascendancy. On his arrival at Singapore the following year, he was asked by the colony's governor to convey thanks and gifts to Rajah Muda Hassim, governor of Sarawak. Brooke accomplished his task and friendly relations were established. On a second visit about a year later, he gave assistance in subduing insurrection. In return he was offered the government and trade of Sarawak, to be held under the sovereignty of Brunei, in return for a small annual payment to its Sultan. In 1841, therefore, he was proclaimed Rajah of Sarawak.

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