19 Facts About Francis Light

Francis Light began a Royal Navy apprenticeship in 1759 onboard the 70-gun Captain before being transferred after a few months to the newly-commissioned 70-gun Dragon.

Francis Light was promoted to the officer's rank of midshipman on the 74-gun Arrogant in 1761 before being discharged from the Royal Navy in 1763.

In 1765 Francis Light embarked on the East India Company merchant ship Clive, captained by John Allen, bound for Madras and Bombay.

Francis Light soon gained an influential position with the Sultan of Kedah.

Francis Light's warning enabled the islanders, led by Chan and her sister Mook, to prepare for Thalang's defence and subsequently repel the Burmese invasion.

In 1785, after the death of the Governor of Thalang, his widow and other relatives proposed that Francis Light assume the position; however the King of Siam, Rama II, thwarted the proposal.

Francis Light suggested that the island of Penang might serve as a "convenient magazine for the Eastern trade" but at that time his idea didn't gain traction.

Whereas his previous suggestion had brought no result, following the American Revolutionary War during which Britain had struggled with France for naval superiority, Francis Light's suggestion took on a new significance.

In 1786, on behalf of the EIC, Francis Light leased Penang Island from Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah, for the price of 6,000 Spanish dollars per annum.

Francis Light had exceeded his authority with a promise of military aid should the Burmese or Siamese invade, despite the fact that Sultan Abdullah asked him to refrain from landing until the promise of military aid had been confirmed in London.

Francis Light remembered his friends James Scott, William Fairlie and Thomas Pegou in his will.

Francis Light was respected by his British peers as a fair and honourable man and admired for his achievements, which included keeping the Siamese and Dutch at bay.

Francis Light was a skilled negotiator and cared for the welfare of the people both in his colony and old friends in Thalang, sending rice when the island was hit by famine.

Francis Light spoke the local languages and partially assumed the local dress, earning the love of the residents of Penang.

Francis Light had three daughters and two sons with Martina Rozells, whose origins and status are the subject of debate.

Francis Light has been variously recorded as being of Portuguese or French extraction on one side, and of Siamese or Malay on the other.

Francis Light was rumoured to have been a princess, possibly given to Light as a reward, or the island as her dowry, although other sources state that the princess was sent to enlist Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan.

Francis Light was probably one of many Portuguese Eurasian Catholics who had fled religious persecution in southern Siam and to Kedah.

The other son, Francis Lanoon Light II, was born in Penang in 1791, married a Javanese woman, Charlotte Aboni, with whom he had a daughter and two sons.