I’m a big believer of the significance of firsts, including as it pertains to nations. And, recently, I wrote about how crazy it is that the United States’ first consul to Singapore was the son-in-law of the American patriot Paul Revere. And so, a very unlikely connection between us and the US forged in the 1800s.
The same can be said of Canada, because there’s this crazy thing with Canada’s current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being a direct descendent of the co-founder of Singapore, William Farquhar. Trudeau’s the great-great-great-great-great (yes, five ‘greats’) grandson of Farquhar. As if that connection on its own isn’t wild enough, Trudeau’s lineage also traces back to John Henry Moor, who was the first headmaster of the Singapore Institution Free School (now Raffles Institution) from 1837 to 1843. The Singapore Institution Free School was Singapore’s first school, following our founding by the British, and also had William Wilberforce and Robert Morrison on its board. So Trudeau is linked by blood to not one but two individuals who played instrumental roles in Singapore’s establishment. What are the odds of that!
Trudeau’s great-great-great-great grandmother, Esther Bernard, who is Farquhar’s daughter, was buried here in Singapore. And her plaque can be found on the walls of Canning Green (Fort Canning Park). In 2018, Trudeau came to pay respects to her while on a work trip to Singapore.
“It was a very touching moment to see the history of my family, to appreciate all the criss-crossing, weaving links that make up each of our stories, and it’s a nice moment for me to reflect on the connections and the paths that led to Canada from the founding of Singapore.”
Justin TruDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA, DURING HIS VISIT TO SINGAPORE IN 2018
The family tree below, shared by the Raffles Institution Archives and Museum on Facebook in 2018, shows how Trudeau traces his family history back to the first headmaster of Raffles Institution.
The story of the founding of Singapore
On 29 January 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles (left) and William Farquhar (right), both employees of the British East India Company sailed into Singapore on the vessels The Indiana and Enterprise. Worried about Holland’s dominance over trade in this region, they were in search of a settlement wherein they could situate a trading post that would represent British interests. Barely a week later, on 6 February 1819, negotiations with the local rulers successfully concluded, the Singapore Treaty was signed between Raffles, Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong. The treaty allowed the British to set up a trading port in Singapore, while the Sultan and Temenggong respectively received an annual salary of 5,000 and 3,000 Spanish dollars in return.
Farquhar was appointed the first Resident and Commandant of the “newly-founded” Singapore, and was left with the task of administering it: growing the settlement, keeping law and order, and establishing a flourishing free trading port. Raffles, meanwhile, returned to his base in Bencoolen.
History records that when Raffles returned to Singapore in 1823 to see how his “baby” Singapore was getting on, he was infuriated by the sight before him. In particular, he was incensed that Farquhar had allowed vice to flourish, with the handing out of alcohol and gambling den licences. In Farquhar’s defense, how else was he to raise revenue for the government to fund public amenities? There were other areas of contention too, which created acrimony between him and Raffles. Raffles had Farquhar fired, and so, Farquhar’s stint as first Resident of Singapore lasted just four years, from 1819 to 1823. But his gravestone in Scotland named him a “founder of Singapore” and rightly so.