Raffles Town Plan/Jackson Plan is initiated

When Stamford Raffles returned to Singapore in October 1822, he realised that William Farquhar, the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore, had not followed his instructions on land allocation in the town area. Raffles immediately formed a Town Committee in November the following month to address this issue. The Town Committee consisted of a European merchant, A. L. Johnston, and two officials, Captain Davies and George Bonham, whose main tasks were to consult representatives from the Malay, Chinese, Bugis, Javanese, and Arab communities on matters relating to the large-scale resettlement due to the revised town plan.^[1]

Lieutenant Philip Jackson was appointed to assist this committee in revising the layout plan of the city according to Raffles’s instructions. Jackson’s town plan became the earliest known map of the town in Singapore.^[2] The various communities were each allocated their own cluster in town according to a grid pattern. For instance, the Chinese and Indians occupied South Bridge Road and New Bridge Road, while the residence of the Malay royals was located north of the proposed European town between the coast and Rochore River, and next to the Bugis and Arab kampongs (Malay for “villages”).^[3]

References
1. Turnbull, C.M. (2009). A history of modern Singapore, 1819–2005 (p. 39). Singapore: NUS Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 TUR; Buckley, C. B. (1984). An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore: From the foundation of the settlement ... on February 6th, 1819 to the transfer to the Colonial Office ... on April 1st, 1867 (p. 81). Singapore: Oxford University Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 BUC.
2. Lim, J. (1991, March 20). Town and country. The Straits Times, Life! pp. 1–2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. The Straits Times, 20 Mar 1991, pp. 1–2.