The British in South-East Asia During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 0859585778

A volume in memory of the late Dr. David Kenneth Bassett Occasional Papers No. 18

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The British in South-East Asia During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
 0859585778

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THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL CENTRE FOR SOUTH-EAST ASIAN STUDIES

Occasional Papers No. 18

THE BRITISH IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES by

D. K Bassett I

(A volume in memory of the late Dr. David Kenneth Bassett)

© Centre for South-East Asian Studies, 1990 ISBN 0-85958-577-8 ISSN 0269-1779

CONTENTS page

i

Contents

Preface Victor T. King

ii

Memorial Service Address

1.

The Reverend Geoffrey Marrison

v

The British "Country" Trader and Mariner in South-East Asia C. 1660-r715

1

2.

Anglo~Kedah Relations c. 17354765

33

3.

The British Missions to Kcdah and Acheh in 1772: Some Belated Reflections

62

i

Preface

Following the death of Dr. David Bassett in early August 1989, the Centre for South~East Asian Studies decided that it would be fitting to publish something in his memory.

This memorial volume consists of three pieces of unpublished work

left among David Bassett's papers, which were donated by hint in his will, to the Bryinntior Jones Library, University of Hull.

Just before his death David Bassett had embarked on a major research

project based on materials in the British Library and the India Office Library and Records, London. David had taken study leave in March-September 1987 to consult East India Company records and private papers extending from 1670 to 1774.

His

original purpose had been to investigate British "country" or private trade contacts with the Malay States, Thailand and Acheh in north Sumatra behlveen 1720 and 1765

as revealed in the records of Fort St. George, Madras. However, as his studies progressed, Dawld extended his search chronologically to any materials which might cast light on the operations of the "country" trade and into the Bengal Consultations

when reports were passed to Calcutta. David also examined the private papers of governors

of

Madras

and

of

British merchants

trading

from there

to

Malay/Indonesian and Thai ports, and the logs of ships visiting those ports at given limes.

During 1988 and 1989 David had been engaged in writing up his Endings. He

had placed two articles with journals before his death.

His British "Country" Trade

and Local' Trade Networks in :be 771ai and Malay States,

C.

1680-1770 has recently

appeared in Modem Asian Studies, 1989, 23(4), 625-43, and Anglo-Kedah Relations

1688-1765 has been published in the .formal

of the Malaysian

Branch

of the Royal

Asiatic Society, 1989, LXH (part II), 1-17.

David also left two complete unpublished typescripts with full references, which appear in the present volume as Chapters 2 and 3.

ii

He had also been

engaged in writing a monograph on British trade and contacts with South-East Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Chapter I of this special Occasional Paper.

Part of this monograph forms

Originally David had intended to write

a lengthy Occasional Paper for the Hull series on the British "country" trader and mariner in South-East Asia rora about 1660 to 1772.

never finished.

Unfortunately this paper was

Instead DaiNd began to expand it into a full-length monograph

leaving several uncompleted draft chapters without notes and references. It was decided by my colleague, Dr. Jan Christie, and myself that the two completed typescripts on Anglo-Kedah relations and the British missions to Kedab and Acheh

spanning the years from 1735 to 1'772 would benefit from some chronologically earlier introductory and background information.

Happily David had supplied much of

what we wanted in his unfinished drafts covering the years 1660 to 1715, which we have put together as Chapter 1.

Our main problem is that these drafts are not

referenced. It proved impossible for us, given the fact that we lacked the required knowledge and that David Bassett's voluminous hand-written notes have yet to be

sorted, to trace the relevant sources. Instead, at the end of Chapter 1, we have listed

the materials which David had consulted in London during 1987 to provide at least some guide to the literature. We recognise the shortcomings of recording sources in

this form, but the unfinished drafts are valuable and well worth publishing, and it is hoped that interested scholars with the appropriate expertise, will be able to consult David Bassett's papers and notes in the future to help complete the work which he had started .

To this end the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey Marrison has begun to sort and catalogue David Bassett's materials in the Archives of the Bryn nor Jones Library to enable scholars to use them profitably and with more ease.

Dr. Marrison has

completed a summary and preliminary catalogue entitled The South-East Asian History Collection offer. D.K Bassett in the Bryrzmor Jones Library, University of Hull, 1989: First Provisional List for internal use and circulation.

He hopes to provide a

more detailed listing later. As a tn'bute to David Ba_