16 Facts About Alexander Hare

Alexander Hare was an English colonialist merchant and politician, infamous for his polygamy.

Alexander Hare is known for his attempts at founding settlements in Maluka near Banjarmasin on the island of Borneo and the Cocos-Keeling Islands.

The son of Janet and Mr Hare, a London watchmaker, Alexander joined a trading company in Portugal around 1800.

Alexander Hare moved to Calcutta, and settled as a merchant in Malacca in 1807.

The Sultan, seeking a replacement for the Dutch, and having developed a good relationship with Alexander Hare, asked him to establish a British trading post.

Alexander Hare had first met Raffles when the later stopped in Malacca in 1807 and 1808 on sick-leave from Penang.

Alexander Hare established his estate as an independent polity, Maluka, which issued its own coinage, possessed its own flag and levied custom duties.

Alexander Hare was to build a salt works and defensive posts to ward off pirates.

Alexander Hare left the colony two years before the Dutch takeover, moving to his estates at Pangielpingan and Kampong Mangis, near Batavia on the island of Java.

Alexander Hare tried to resume trading with Malacca, but was harassed by the Dutch authorities who detained and seized several of his ships in 1817 and 1818.

Alexander Hare's plan was to settle at Cape Town, Cape Colony while the ship continued onward to England, but to do so it needed to be registered.

The magistrate at Bencoolen freed these people, although Alexander Hare persuaded them to stay with him.

Alexander Hare sailed to Bencoolen where he established his residence, but died in November 1834.

Alexander Hare married James Graham at St Peter's, Pimlico 22 May 1862 and died at London 1874.

Alexander Hare is central to the novel The Man Who Collected Women by Nigel Barley, published in 2020 by Monsoon Books.

Alexander Hare was a character in the 1940 radio play John Ross, King of Cocos Islands.