The Duke of Puddle Dock – In the Footsteps of Stamford Raffles –

“Born on a ship in 1781 and brought up in genteel poverty, stamford Raffles rose from humble beginnings as an East India Company clerk to become Lieutenant-Governor of Java and founder of Singapore

Dommemorated in Westminster Abbey for his ‘wisdom, vigour and philanthropy’ in raising Java ‘to happiness and p=rosperity unknown under former rulers’, he died in his forties in near-poverty in a north London suburg, amid endless money squabbles with his former employer.

In an engaging voyage of discover, Nigel Barley travels from Penang to Singapore in seach of the various faces of Sir Stamfor Raffles – adventurere, reforming colonialist and man of empire – and the vibrant melting-pot of the peoples that po;ulate the East Indies of today.”