Patrick Comerford
I arrived at Kuala Lumpur from Kuching early this afternoon today, hoping to catch a seven-hour flight to Muscat in Oman tonight and then a third, eight-hour flight in the early hours tomorrow to London. But the Trump regime’s decision to wage war on Iran has created mayhem in the Gulf, and all my travel plans are now shrouded in great uncertainty.
I am in Kuala Lumpur with no idea when I am going to get home, or how to get home at this stage. With all this uncertainty, I decided to spend the day in the airport and to forego any ideas of spending a few hours in Kuala Lumpur. Those postponed hopes have have become the least of my woes at the moment.
When I was in Singapore on a previous journey to and from Kuching, I had taken the opportunity to learn a little more about colonial administrators there who had Irish connections, including Major General Sir William Orfeur Cavenagh (1820-1891), who was the Governor of the Straits Settlements in 1859-1867 and who had strong family connections with Co Wexford, and Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson (1834-1897) from Co Westmeath, who was the Governor in 1877-1879.
This time, I was hoping to learn a little more about three Governors of the Straits Settlements who had strong family connection with Lichfield: Major General Sir Edward Archibald Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was the last Governor of Penang and as the acting governor of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: in 1871-1872, for one day in 1873, for four months in 1877, and for a fourth time in 1879-1880; Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916) was the governor in 1887-1893; and his nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), was governor in 1930-1934.
Anson was related to the Earls of Lichfield, while Clementi Smith and Clementi were direct descendant of the composer Muzio Clementi who lived in his later years at Lyncroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn.
Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (1826-1925) was a member of the Anson family of Shughborough Hall and of Lichfield. He was born at 32 Devonshire Place, London, on 16 April 1826, the youngest son of Major-General Sir William Anson, the first baronet, who grew up in Shugborough Hall, and he was also a first cousin of Thomas Anson (1795-1854), who became the first Earl of Lichfield in 1831.
Archibald Anson’s military career began in 1844, and he had postings in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Crimea. After the Crimean War, Anson returned to Ireland where was married Limerick on 9 January 1851 to Elizabeth Mary Bourchier, daughter of Richard Bourchier. One of the best-known members of her family was the journalist James David Bourchier (1850-1920), from Baggotstown, near Bruff, Co Limerick, an advocate of both Crete’s unification with Greece and Bulgarian interests in early 20thc century European political diplomacy.
After his marriage in Limerick, Anson had a career in colonial administration that brought him to Mauritius, Madagascar and India before he was appointed the last Lieutenant Governor of Penang, a post he held from 1867 to 1882.
In his memoirs, About Others and Myself (1920), Anson describes the feeling of depression upon his appointment as Penang’s Resident Councillor. His time there was marked by the Penang Riots. When the riots ended, Anson negotiated a peace agreement between the contending parties: Red Flag and Tua Pek Kong members against the White Flag and the Ghee Hin.
While Anson was in Penang, he was also the acting Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements on four occasions: 4 March 1871 to 22 March 1872; 3 November 1873 to 4 November 1873; 3 April 1877 to 29 October 1877; and 10 February 1879 to 16 May 1880. When he retired from the army, he was appointed as an honorary major-general. He was knighted (KCMG) in 1882 when he retired from Penang and returned to England.
Elizabeth (Bouchier) and Archibald Anson retired to Hastings. There he was a magistrate and they gave the name Penang to their house on Markwick Gardens. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter, and Elizabeth Mary (Bourchier) Anson died on 23 September 1891. Anson married again on 15 May 1906; his second wife Isabelle Jane Armistead was from Dunscar, Lancashire. Isabel Anson died on died 11 May 1923; Sir Archibald Anson died at the of 98 on 26 February 1925 and is buried in Hastings.
Anson gives his name to Anson Road or Jalan Anson (安顺路), Anson Bridge and Anson Bay in Penang and Anson Road in Singapore. The Chinese call these road it ann-soon-lor (安顺路), derived from the English name. To the local Chinese, the name Anson is a good name, because Anson, pronounced as An-soon in Chinese, means peace (安) and stability with smooth sailing (顺).
Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), who was the governor of the Straits Settlements in 1887-1893, was a grandson of the composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), who had lived at Lyncroft House in Lichfield, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn. Muzio Clementi rented the house from the Earl of Lichfield’s Estate from 1828.
Cecil Clementi Smith’s father, the Revd John Smith, was an Essex rector, while his mother, Cecilia Susanna Clementi, was a daughter of Muzio Clementi. Smith was educated at Saint Paul’s School, London, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
He began his civil service career as an interpreter in Hong Kong in 1864, learning about Chinese culture and becoming the Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong. He moved to Singapore in 1878 as a Colonial Secretary in the Straits Settlements. There his knowledge of Chinese culture and language proved useful and he was involved in quelling Chinese secret societies in Singapore.
Clementi Smith was knighted (KCMG) in 1886 and was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner to Malaya in 1887. He was a popular governor, and the local Chinese community petitioned for a continuation of his appointment when he left Singapore in 1893.
Clementi Smith married Teresa Alice Newcomen; they were the parents of three sons and four daughters. He died in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, on 6 February 1916, at the age of 75.
Clementi Smith’s nephew Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947), who was also Governor of the Straits Settlements and held other colonial postings in Hong Kong and Singapore, was a great-grandson of the musician Muzio Clementi.
Clementi, who was the Governor of Hong Kong in 1925-1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements in 1930-1934, was born in Cawnpore (Kanpur), where his father, Colonel Montagu Clementi, was Judge Advocate General in India. He was educated at Saint Paul’s School and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Clementi joined the civil service in 1889, and was sent to Hong Kong and Canton at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. He was seconded to India in 1902, but he returned to China a year later to join famine relief work in Kwangsi (Guangxi). A year after that, Clementi was appointed a member of the Land Court, an Assistant Land Officer and a Police Magistrate in the New Territories, Hong Kong, a position he served in until 1906.
Clementi was promoted to Assistant Colonial Secretary and Clerk of Council in 1907. He represented the Hong Kong government at the International Opium Conference in Shanghai in 1909. A year later, he became the Private Secretary to the Administrator, Sir Francis Henry May. Clementi eventually became Acting Colonial Secretary and Member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong, and remained there until 1912. He also played a part in the founding of the University of Hong Kong.
From 1913, Clementi had colonial postings to British Guiana(Guyana) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but returned to Hong Kong as Governor in 1925, and held that post until 1930. He organised the opening of Kai Tak Airport which continued to operate as the main airport in 1998, and is remembered for ending Mui Tsai, the traditional Chinese ‘female maid servitude’ that meant the abuse of young servant girls.
To counter the growing radicalisation of the Chinese intelligentsia against colonialism and imperialism after the May Fourth Movement, he proposed a revised school curriculum in Chinese language that stressed loyalty and traditional Chinese values, and he advocated training more teachers in the Chinese language and setting up a Chinese Department at the University of Hong Kong.
From Hong Kong, Clementi went on to become the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, which included Singapore, and High Commissioner for the Malay States, from 5 February 1930 to 17 February 1934, when he left for England due to illness. Clementi married Marie Penelope Rose Eyres, daughter of Admiral Cresswell John Eyres (1862-1949), in 1912, and they were the parents of one son and three daughters. Clementi died in High Wycombe on 5 April 1947.
I have no idea of how or when I am going to get from Kuala Lumpur to Oman later this evening. Searching for Anson, the Clementis and links between Lichfield with this part of the world are going to have to wait for another visit to Malaysia and Singapore on my way to and from Kuching.
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