Why is Sir James Brooke famous?
The Rajah of Sarawak, Sir James Brooke (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868) was born in Coombe Grove, near Bath, to an English father and a Scottish mother. He was educated at Norwich School, England and became the first White Rajah of Sarawak. Brooke travelled to Burma with the army of the British East India Company in 1825, was wounded, and sent to England for recovery. In 1830, he arrived back in Madras too late to rejoin the service. He attempted to trade in the Far East, but was not successful. In 1835, his father died and left him £30,000, which he used as capital to purchase a ship, The Royalist. After setting sail for Borneo in 1838, he arrived in Kuching in August of the same year to find the settlement facing a Dayak uprising against the Sultan of Brunei. Offering his aid to the Sultan, he and his crew helped bring about a peaceful settlement and was granted the title of Rajah of Sarawak by the Sultan, due to the fact that he threatened the Sultan with military force (although the
in short…………….. Brooke, Sir James, 1803–68, rajah of Sarawak on Borneo, b. India, of English parents. After active service in Burma (1825–26), he retired (1830) from the army of the East India Company. He sailed (1838) for Borneo, and on the west coast there he assisted (1840) Muda Hassim, uncle of the reigning sultan, to suppress rebel Dyak tribes. For his services he was made (1841) rajah by the sultan of Brunei and proceeded to create a government and to put down head-hunting and piracy. He was given a baronetcy by the British government and entrusted with the governorship (1847–57) of Labuan. He was succeeded by his nephew, Sir Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke,. 1829–1917. Sir Charles extended the authority of the government to all parts of the country and abolished slavery. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke,. 1874–1963. Sir Charles was forced out of Sarawak in 1942 by the Japanese invasion. He ceded Sarawak to the British government as a crown colony in
