Bencoolen. A History of the Honourable East India Company's Garrison on the West Coast of Sumatra 1685-1825.(Review)~(book review)
0 commentsPublication: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Publication Date: 01-MAR-00
Author: Andaya, Barbara Watson
COPYRIGHT 2000 Cambridge University Press
This rather large book is a history of the English military garrisons on the West Coast of Sumatra from the late seventeenth century until Bengkulu was ceded to the Netherlands by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. The framework for the narrative is provided by documents contained in the India Office and other collections in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Singapore, either reproduced verbatim or closely paraphrased. There are also a number of line drawing, photos and illustrations pertinent to military matters. In many ways the volume thus serves as a companion to John Bastin's The British in West Sumatra, 1685-1825 (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1965), which is more concerned with the civilian establishment.
Bencoolen: A History was intended as a reference work "mainly for use in schools, libraries and such like in Indonesia" (p. xv), and the author's commitment to the project is overwhelmingly evident. A number of subscribers (and presumably by the author as well) met the expenses involved in producing the limited edition of two hundred copies. There is little doubt that Bengkulu authorities will be delighted with a monograph that concentrates on local history and historical buildings. They will not be concerned at its length, its lack of any sustained argument, the tendency to repetition, or even the archaic language that renders the meaning of several documents obscure. Given that the book was intended to provide information rather than attempt a historical analysis, and remembering the arduous work involved in transcribing sources, it would be churlish to submit it to the kind of scrutiny normally applied to academic studies.
Because the book is about the English garrison and their concerns, not a great deal can be gleaned about indigenous society. For example, in comparison to the documents supplied by Bastin, the material here gives very little about the relationship between the coastal authorities and the "hill rajas". In his introduction, however, the author comments that he has provided only a selection of relevant documents. "There is", he notes, "ample scope for further research." Since the English sources are infinitely less revealing than the Dutch East India Company material generated at the same time, it might have been helpful for students to be given some indication of where possible lines of inquiry might lie.
Like so many "migrant" groups in Southeast Asia, the garrison at Benkulen was made up of young men, whose unmarried status was specified in a 1685 source calling for new recruits. The restrictions placed on them meant that for many their existence became a kind of dull banishment. A social history might try and track the reasons "able young men" decided to take up a soldiering career, and the ways in which they made sense of their lives. Presumably one of their preoccupations was financial gains, and indeed complaints of venality and corruption are constant. The presence of so many young males should also hold out some potential for research into gender history. There were few single European women in Benkulen, and one sent back to England for being "turbulent and incorrigible" was probably typical. They were considered undesirable helpmates, and the lack of marriageable white females resulted in considerable interaction between the garrison and local women, despite efforts to maintain a correct moral tone. There is certainly evidence of miscegenation in West Sumatran sources, and a few men born of these liaisons gained positions in the civil and military establishments. However, these relationships worked on other levels as well; for example, uniforms were made up locally according to specific designs, with cloth and materials sent from England. Though the gender of local tailors is unmentioned, presumably women would have been among those introduced to new techniques of design such as fitted sleeves, darts, and turned lapels. A historian of disease will also find much of interest here in what must have been a quite depressing rate of debilitation and death. It is sobering to think of the small tragedies which must lie behind the brief comment that "our men ... drop off fast" (p. 100). Those interested in ethnic relations will also find intriguing titbits, and the history of local forces like the "Sumatra Hill Rangers" formed under the British might also be an intriguing avenue of research. References through t he volume affirm that the ethnic categories we often accept unquestioningly are highly fallible. For example, in 1742 the garrison commander comments that no Bugis had been recruited for "many years" and that the soldiers then classed as "Bugis" were mostly Malay (p. 100). By 1808 it was said that the officers of the "Bugis Corps" were "men of the first consideration and influence in Bencoolen", and were used as agents with the "aboriginal inhabitants" (p. 401). The provenance of the "Arab" troops who were initially at least preferred to "Bugguesses" is unclear, but it is likely that they had connections with Muslim India, possibly Malabar. A related field of inquiry concerns the convicts brought to Sumatra from Madras and Bengal. But perhaps the real goldmine awaits those working on the history of architecture in Southeast Asia, since it is known from other sources that local societies were quick to adopt aspects of European military fortifications. The plans of fortifications and detailed descriptions of bu ildings that employed local materials such as resins and red ochre provide intriguing insights into the way in which the English themselves were subject to the localization process.
The arduous work involved in preparing historical documents for publication is insufficiently appreciated, but it is always a service. At the very least, books like this help the researcher know what he or she will not find. Although the documents provided here are not rich in details about indigenous society, the careful reader will be able to winkle out small pieces of useful material. For those working on the social history of Europeans the volume will have a much greater value, and it is in this area that I expect to find the volume cited.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-670029_ITM?
email=taneakjang@gmail.com&library=Buffalo
Saturday June 4th at sea. Wind from the South, we passed on our right this morning an immense large East Indiaman, supposed to be the Bencoolen, by exchange of signals, which is returning from India's spicy lands, richly laden with the products of that oppressed land.
Ships going from England to India go by Madeira and near the African coast, and have a regular Northeast trade wind to aid them at their back, but on their return home to avoid this very wind they make a track of 1000 miles west of the outward bound track, and their homeward track, is a great deal west of the Friendly Islands or the Azores.
What reason have we to be grateful and return thanks to the most High for his kind protection to all who sail in this ship so far. - Men fear the Lord in storms, but forget him in calms. - This the poet says:
"When lightnings flash and thunders roar,
"And storms and tempests rend the sky,
"The Sinner dreads the Thunderer's power,
"And fears some awful vengeance nigh."If now he calls his sins to mind,
"And conscience stares him in the face,
"This trembling soul is half inclined,
"To own his need of pardoning grace."But when the burning blase is o'er,
"And the tremendous tempests cease,
"The Thundering voice he fears no more,
"Hushed with the boisterous storm to peace."Lord! I would fear thee while 'tis calm,
"And the horizon bright and clear,
"When no dark clouds portend a storm,
"And no apparent danger's near.
http://scholar.library.miami.edu/stewart/diary1.html
Printed on coated cartridge paper, 210mm x 148 mm, casebound. A limited, numbered, edition of 200 copies. This reference book has 8 colour plates, 75 pages of black and white illustrations and 624 pages of text plus 21 preliminary pages. The book deals in depth with a remote garrison which has not previously been the subject of such extensive research. There is much material that will be of interest to genealogists as well as those who are interested in the army of the Honourable East India Company.
Garrison on the West Coast of Sumatra
1685-1825
The book tells the story of officers and men of the Honourable East India Company's army who served at the settlements on the west coast of Sumatra. The growing market for spices in Europe led the Company to expand its activities in the east and as a result a trading post was established at Bencoolen in 1685 for the acquisition of pepper. With the establishment of a trading factory it became necessary to provide a small military force to protect the Company's property and civil servants.
The British remained at Bencoolen for one hundred and forty years and during that time hundreds of soldiers died of cholera, malaria and dysentery. Living conditions were extremely poor compared with service life in India and food was not only scarce and monotonous but also expensive. There were only a few diversions, taken for granted in the 18th century India, available for those serving on the west coast of Sumatra, and living in a close community, there were frequent clashes between the civil administrators and military officers.
The book tells the story of constant battle between the authorities in London and India and those attempting to defend the settlements in order to develop the pepper trade in Sumatra. The numerous changes in the composition of the Bencoolen garrison, also known as the Fort Marlborough establishment, are dealt with in detail. The fortifications built by the Company: York Fort and Fort Marlborough at Bencoolen and Fort Anne (sometimes referred to as Fort Anna) at Moco Moco, are all dealt with giving accounts of the building and re-building programmes.
The numerous minor skirmishes with hostile local inhabitants at the outstations are recorded. The ignominious evacuation of Bencoolen and Fort Marlborough in 1719, which was entirely brought about by the inept handling by the Company's senior civil officers of the local rulers and their subjects in the desire to acquire more pepper for the European market, is covered from contemporary documents.
The shameful capitulation of the Fort Marlborough garrison to a French expeditionary force in 1760 is dealt with, as are the subsequent attacks on the British trading posts by both the French and Dutch. The list of casualties during the French occupation is given in detail.
Discipline was harsh in this remote garrison from which there was no escape; England being about eight months' sailing time away. Punishment for military crimes was severe, ranging from execution to receiving '1000 lashes in the usual matter' and this part of the story on the military garrison has been extracted from the records written at Bencoolen at the time of the offence and punishment.
The murder of Resident Thomas Parr at Bencoolen is recorded, as are the effects that his death had on the relationship between the local rulers and the Company's servants. The story continues with the enlighted Governorship of Sir Stamford Raffles and his attempts to bring harmony between the Rajahs and their subjects and the East India Company's servants.
The book concludes when the British settlements on the west coast of Sumatra were handled over to the Dutch which brought about the withdrawal of the East India Company's troops from Bencoolen.
This book has been written after four years of research in archives in the United Kingdom and Singapore, the Dutch archives in Leiden and the French archives in Paris and makes available for the first time a complete picture of life in this remote garrison. There is a wide coverage in black and white illustrations, the majority of which have been photographed during two visits to Bencoolen, and includes the site of the 'change of air' barracks at Mount Argyll. The colour plates include a rare illustration of a French soldier in the type of dress that would have been worn at Bencoolen.
Source:
http://wftw.nl/bencoolen/bencoolen.html
