28 Facts About James Brooke

Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo.

James Brooke ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.

James Brooke then bought a ship and sailed out to the Malay Archipelago where, by helping to crush a rebellion, he became governor of Sarawak.

James Brooke was not without detractors and was criticised in the British Parliament and officially investigated in Singapore for his anti-piracy measures.

James Brooke was honoured and feted in London for his activities in Southeast Asia.

James Brooke was born in Bandel, near Calcutta, Bengal, but baptised in Secrole, a suburb of Benares.

James Brooke's father, Thomas Brooke, was an English Judge in the Court of Appeal at Bareilly, British India; his mother, Anna Maria, born in Hertfordshire, was the daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre, and his mistress Harriott Teasdale.

James Brooke stayed at home in India until he was sent, aged 12, to England for a brief education at Norwich School from which he ran away.

James Brooke saw action in Assam during the First Anglo-Burmese War until seriously wounded in 1825, and was sent to England for recovery.

James Brooke remained on the ship he had travelled out in, the Castle Huntley, and returned home via China.

James Brooke attempted to trade in the Far East, but was not successful.

Rajah James Brooke was highly successful in suppressing the widespread piracy of the region.

James Brooke was granted the title of Rajah of Sarawak on 24 September 1841, although the official declaration was not made until 18 August 1842.

James Brooke began 1844 in anti-pirate operations with ships of the Royal Navy and the East India Company off NE Sumatra: on 12 February, he received a gunshot wound to his right arm and a spear cut to his eyebrow in their second engagement, at Murdu.

James Brooke negotiated the cession on 18 December 1846 and took possession of Labuan on 24 December 1846.

James Brooke was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Labuan in 1848.

James Brooke returned temporarily to England in 1847, where he was given the Freedom of the City of London, appointed British consul-general in Borneo and created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

James Brooke pacified the native peoples, including the Dayaks, and suppressed headhunting and piracy.

James Brooke had many Dayaks in his forces and said that only Dayaks can kill Dayaks.

James Brooke became the centre of controversy in 1851 when accusations against him of excessive use of force against the native people, under the guise of anti-piracy operations, ultimately led to the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in Singapore in 1854.

James Brooke was influenced by the success of previous British adventurers and the exploits of the British East India Company.

James Brooke married Martha Elizabeth Mowbray on 10 July 1862, and had seven children, three of whom survived infancy; the oldest was called James.

Douglas mentioned about this daughter on the same letter after he met a physician Dr Ogilvie quite recently who told him that he had met James Brooke's already married Bruneian daughter in 1866.

James Brooke is featured in Flashman's Lady, the 6th book in George MacDonald Fraser's meticulously researched The Flashman Papers novels; and in Sandokan: The Pirates of Malaysia, the second novel in Emilio Salgari's Sandokan series.

James Brooke was a model for the hero of Joseph Conrad's novel Lord Jim, and he is briefly mentioned in Kipling's short story "The Man Who Would Be King".

In 1936, Errol Flynn intended to star in a film of James Brooke's life called The White Rajah for Warner Bros.

In September 2016, a film based on James Brooke's life was to be made in Sarawak with the support of Abang Abdul Rahman Johari of the Government of Sarawak, with writer Rob Allyn and Sergei Bodrov as its director.

James Brooke was a close friend of Viscount Bury's uncle, Henry Keppel; they had met in 1843 while fighting pirates off the coast of Borneo.