Before 1841 Sarawak was under the Sovereignty of the Sultan of Brunei. Englishman James Brooke helped the Sultan’s Uncle Hassim quell a rebellion of Dyaks. In doing so he was granted the province of Sarawak, its revenues and its trade.
Nominally, he remained the feudal lord of the Sultan until in 1846 he became Sarawak’s absolute ruler. Sarawak continued to be privately ruled by the Brooke family for nigh on 100 years until the Japanese invaded in 1941.
It was remarkable that James Brooke actually set up a Government with a small number of men.
This presentation by Simon Martin-Redman FRPSL, to an international audience in a live meeting event held via Zoom, shows how the early Postal Service evolved, which was amazing considering the small number of administrators.
With so few Europeans, early outgoing mail from Sarawak is scarce, and with the average temperature of Sarawak at 85º Fahrenheit and humidity at 94%, incoming mail even more so.
After gaining access to the Brooke archives, much of it held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Simon’s research has added more to this romantic and fascinating story.
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