We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Colonial regimes have frequently shown a preference for sharing the burdens of defence with certain ethnic groups of the countries under their control. The advantages of a policy of this type—the essence of the divide and rule system—were many and varied. Binding natives to the service of colonial defence solved the functional problems of manpower in situations where no adequate corps of white regulars was readily available. The practice was cheaper to maintain and found to be an effective instrument of control. Its employment also drew off warlike elements that might have made trouble.
1 Abshire, D. M. and Samuels, M. A. (eds), Portuguese Africa (London: 1969), p. 43.Google Scholar
2 Johnson, J. J. (ed.), The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries (Princeton: 1962), p. 376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Ibid., p. 188.
4 Coats, G. Y., ‘The Philippines Constabulary 1901–1917’, Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1968.Google Scholar
5 In Canada, a local defence force was raised immediately after the capture of Quebec to cope with the Indian rising of the Pontiac as well as for protection against hostile French settlers. In 1812, the Canadians had been compelled to develop a large militia of their own, to cope with an invasion from the United States, and to contain the rebellious activities of French settlers. Later, Canadians were compelled to finance and fight in the European theatre. See Barclay, G. J., The Empire is Marching—A Study of the Military Effort of the British Empire 1800–1945 (London: 1976), pp. 5–7.Google Scholar
6 Cole, D. H. and Priestley, E. H., An Outline of British Military History 1660–1936 (London: 1936), p. 160.Google Scholar
7 The Company had a much larger army than the Crown and in many ways its military department was a far larger one than that of the Horseguards and War Office of those days. See MacMunn, George, The History of the Sikh Pioneers (London: 1880), p. 8.Google Scholar
8 See Roberts, Field-Marshal, Forty-One Years in India (London: 1897);Google ScholarKaye, J. W., History of the Sepoy War (London: 1880);Google Scholar and Muter, Dunbar, My Recollections of the Sepoy Revolt (London: 1911).Google Scholar
9 Brig-General R. E. H. Dyer ordered a party of Gurkhas to open fire on a crowd who had gathered to hold a meeting in defiance of orders. The meeting was in an open space surrounded by buildings to which the only entrance was held by the troops. The massacre happened at Amritsar, the heart of the Sikh religion. For comments on Dyer's military action see Turner, E. S., Gallant Gentlemen: A Portrait of the British Officer (London: 1956), pp. 295–6.Google Scholar
10 For the composition of troops deployed in the Moplah disturbances see Choudhari, Sukhbir, Moplah Uprising (1921–23) (Delhi: 1977), p. 52.Google Scholar For further readings see Brown, Judith, ‘War and the Colonial Relationship: Britain, India and the War of 1914–1918’, Foot, M. R. D. (ed.), War and Society (London: 1973), pp. 85–106;Google ScholarWood, Conrad, ‘The Moplah Rebellion’, Ph.D. thesis, SOAS, London, 1976.Google Scholar
11 Kiernan, V. G., ‘Colonial Africa and its Armies’, War and Society: Year Book of Military, ed. by Bond, Briand and Roy, , I., 1976, p. 27.Google Scholar
12 Dividing and ruling might be practised between army and people, as well as between soldier and soldier. In Morocco, the French utilized Berbers against Arabs. In Mozambique towards the end of their rule the Portuguese were playing on tribal enmities, hiring Makua against Makonde. Abshire, D. M. and Samuels, M. A. (eds), Portuguese Africa: A Handbook (London: 1969), p. 423. In Guinea, Fula tribesmen were set against the rebels, and attempts were made to set Cape Verdeans against mainlanders.Google ScholarDavidson, B., The Liberation of Guinea (Harmondsworth: 1969), p. 62.Google Scholar
13 See the rejection by the War Office of the proposal to raise an auxiliary force of Chinese in Hong Kong, 19.4.1879, CO 537/210.
14 Lewis, McK., ‘The Iraq Levies’, Journal of the Royal Artillery (Woolwich: 1926), p. 302.Google Scholar
15 The Hong Kong Regiment was raised as an infantry battalion at Jhelum in the Punjab in 1892.
16 Dalhousie to Charles Wood, 15.8.1854, quoted in Lee-Warner, , Life of Lord Dalhousie (London: 1904), pp. 276–82.Google Scholar
17 In 1854 Dalhousie sanctioned a volunteer corps for the Straits Settlements, then governed from Calcutta. Similar opinion was often expressed by the Malayan military and civilian authorities.
18 The whole process by which these states were brought under the Residential System is discussed in Cowan, C. D., Nineteenth Century Malaya: The Origins of British Political Control (London: 1961).Google Scholar
19 The four northern states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu were under Siamese suzerainty until 1909 when an agreement was made between the British and Siamese governments, as a result of which all the four states came under the protection of the British Crown. Not long after 1914, Johore concluded a similar agreement with the British. All these five states later came to be known collectively as the Unfederated Malay States.
20 The Sultanate of Johore was founded by the last Sultan of Malacca who was driven into exile by the Portuguese in 1511. There were various comings and goings in the early nineteenth century between the Dutch and the English and between rival factions of the Johore royal family, which resulted in the English acquisition of Singapura and the establishment of the pro-British local chief as the new ruling family of the state. Recognition of the chief as Sultan was given after the death of Sultan Ali in 1877. A British gun-boat was purposely despatched to Muar, the royal town, to see that the deceased's son was not appointed as successor. A British Adviser was not assigned to the Johore court until 1914. See also FARELF minute concerning Malay Sultans, 20.7.1945, PSO/SACSEA 5282.
21 See Mills, Lennox, ‘A History of British Malaya’, Journal of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. III, Part 2, No. 94, 1925, pp. 115–28.Google Scholar
22 Winsley, T. M., A History of the Singapore Volunteer Corps 1854–1937 (Singapore: 1938), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar
23 This information appeared in the reports and memoranda enclosed with despatches written by William Sir Jervois, Governor of the Straits Settlements dated 17 and 30 December 1875, CO273/82.
24 See Morrah, Patrick, ‘The History of the Malayan Police’, Journal of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXXVI, Part 2, No. 202, 1963, pp. 46–79.Google Scholar
25 The earliest police units in the Malay States, i.e. the Malay Peninsula proper and excluding the Straits Settlements, were the Perak Armed Police or the Ist Perak Sikhs as it was later known, recruited in India from personnel of the Indian Army. The Selangor Military Force was formed in 1875 made up of 530 NCOs and men, while the Sungei Ujung Police composed of a body of Sikhs was formed in 1874. See Patrick Morrah, ‘History of the Malayan Police’; and R. W. E. Harper, ‘History of the Federation of Malaya Police’, Malaysia, 05 1970.
26 Warren, Charles to Adjutant-General to the Forces, 1.5.1893, WO32/6712.Google Scholar
27 See correspondence between the GOC S.S. and Adjutant-General to the Forces, 1893, WO32/6712.Google Scholar
28 The Rulers were hurried into an agreement which they did not fully understand. Frank Swettenham, who was instructed by the Governor to visit each state and obtained the Rulers' concurrence, reported on his mission as follows: ‘The Sultan of Perak signed and sealed the treaty at once; the Sultan of Pahang returned it to me in four hours; the Sultan of Selangor affixed his seal in an hour; the Datuk Bandar of Sungei Ujung signed and sealed the treaty after an hour's interview; the Yam Tuan Besar of Seri Menanti and the Datuks of Johol, Rembau and Tampin (whom I saw together) returned the treaty duly signed and sealed in three hours; while the Datuk of Jelebu, the last of the signatories, affixed his seal and signature at the end of half an hour's interview.’ Swettenham to Governor of the Straits Settlements, 28.7.1895, encl. Clementi to Cunliffe-Lister, 4.12.1932, CO717/74/13312. George Maxwell, in a memorandum dated 15.10.1920, printed as Eastern No. 135, commented sarcastically on the rapidity with which the signatures were obtained, and that the treaty was a profound secret until it became an accomplished fact.
29 The need to establish a garrison at Taiping was not only derived from the economic importance of that tin belt, but also because of its military strategy during that time. A battalion was required for the defence of British interests bordering with Siam and its vassal states. Taiping with its railway link to Kuala Lumpur, Seremban and even to Singapore would enable the battalion to be deployed wherever required.
30 Treaty of Federation 1895, encl. Clementi to Cunliffe-Lister, 4.12.1932, CO717/94/13312.
31 Hugh Low to Governor Weld, encl. in Colonial Office Despatch 209, 9.8.1884.
32 War Office Despatch dated 3.10.1900 ordered that senior ranks were meant for British regular officers only.
33 See Haron, Nadzan, ‘The Raising of the Volunteer Corps in Malaya 1850–1925’, Hassan, Nik, Annuar, and Yahya, (eds), Sumbangish (Kuala Lumpur: 1988), pp. 28–40.Google Scholar
34 Annual Report of the Resident-General, 1902, p. 16, CO575/1.Google Scholar
35 Swettenham to Chamberlain, 28.2.1901, CO275/267.
36 Encl. Ian Hamilton to Army Council, 22.1.1913, WO32/4816.
37 The Army Council formed under the reorganization of the British Army that followed after the Boer War 1899–1902 was under the Secretary of State for War assisted by four military members, one civilian member and one finance member. The military members were the Chief of the General Staff, the Adjutant-General, the Quartermaster-General and the Master-General of Ordnance.
38 Memorandum ODC No. 422M, 30.7.1910, WO32/4816.
39 Report by the Inspector-General of Overseas Forces of an Inspection in Malaya, Together with the Reply of the Army Council there to 1913, WO32/4816.
40 Encl. High Commissioner's despatch, 24.12.1913, WO32/4817.
41 Arthur Young to War Office, 24.12.1913, WO32/4817. See also Remarks by the Army Council, 27.2.1914, WO32/4817.
42 With the withdrawal of the British battalion, the establishment which normally consisted of 2,480 of all ranks was reduced by 1,060 men. Telegram No. 170, GOC, Maj-Gen. R. Reade to War Office, 15.12.1914, CO273/416.
43 War Office to Lewis Harcourt, 20.12.1914, CO273/416.
44 The Party was based in California and was said to be partly financed by German agents. The objective was the subversion of British rule in India. According to the plan agents were to foment troubles in the colonies. If disturbances occurred the energies of the British would be engaged in that direction. Simultaneously, a revolt in India was to be raised. Report of Inquiry presided over by Sir Evelyn Ellis, 26.8.1915; and Testimony of Sukumar Chatterji on his role in the Gadr Party movement after his arrest in 1914, CO273/435.
45 Young to Harcourt, 22.11.1914 and 19.1.1915, CO273/408 and CO273/420.
46 War Office to Harcourt, 7.1.1915, CO273/1435.
47 S.S. War Office to S.S. for the Colonies, 30.11.1914, CO273/416.
48 Report by Lees, Colonel to Maj-General R. Reade, 6.12.1914, CO273/435.Google Scholar
49 Earlier, personnel of the MSG volunteered for active service in South Africa (1899), China (1900) and Somaliland (1903), but the War Office declined their on each occasion. MSG Memorandum by the Colonial Defence Committee, 5.6.1905, CO273/303.Google Scholar
50 Maj-General Ridout to Governor Young, Arthur, 21.6.1916, CO273/450; Letter from men of the Guides to Maj-General Reade (n.d.), December 1914, CO273/435.Google Scholar
51 British troops of the 4th Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry arrived from Rangoon five days later when the situation was already brought to normal. For full report of the Singapore Mutiny, see report by the GOC, 25.2.1915, CO273/435.
52 Report by GOC Ridout to War Office, 27.5.1915; Report by Lt.-Colonel Brown Low, RGA Commander (n.d.), CO273/435.
53 Under-Secretary of State War Office to Colonial Office, 7.1.1915, CO273/435.
54 Straits Settlements War Diary (098/3282) for July 1918, CO273/477.
55 The Shropshire Light Infantry was despatched to Kelantan to suppress the uprising but was found to be ineffective due to lack of adequate training and having no previous experience of work in the tropics. Report by the GOC Dudley Ridout to the War Office, 27.5.1915, CO273/435. This regiment was soon relieved by the 25th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. A year later, in July 1918, the 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment took over garrison duty. Straits Settlement War Diary (298/3283), July 1918, CO273/477.Google Scholar
56 Towards the end of the War, compliants were voiced to the effect that the manpower of the Singapore force had increased by only 233 men since 1898. Young to Long, 24.7.1918, CO273/469.
57 Straits Settlements, Report on the State of Crime, 1915, CO275/96.Google Scholar
58 Straits Settlements War Diary (098/3282), 1918, CO273/3282.Google Scholar
59 The decision to form Asiatic companies in the Malay States was partly an act of acknowledging the concern of natives over the large sum of money spent on the European volunteers and the Guides. Arthur Young to War Office, 27.2.1914, CO32/4817.
60 GOC Ridout to Young, Arthur, 21.6.1916, CO273/450.Google Scholar
61 Report of a Committee Appointed to Consider the Question of Organisation Against Civil Disturbances, CO Circular, 11.11.1918, CO537/796.
62 Ibid.
63 The War Office rejected the proposal for enlistment of Chinese as auxiliary forces in Hong Kong, and also the proposal for converting a portion of the Chinese police units to an armed force. The reason for objection was not only because of the homogeneous population but also on account of its close proximity to the mainland of China. However, the War Office gave its approval for the formation of a volunteer force of Portuguese. Despatch, Governor Thomas Wade to Colonial Office, No. 20, 13.2.1878; Secretary of State War Office to Colonial Office, 19.4.1879, CO537/210.
64 Arthur Young to Viscount Milner, 17.5.1919, CO273/487.
65 Parkinson, C. N., The British Intervention in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur: 1964), p. 288.Google Scholar
66 Examples of loyal addresses are enclosed in Young to W. H. Long, 11.7.1916, CO273/466; 3.1.1917, CO273/459; and 18.8.1918, CO273/469.
67 Grey to Harcourt, 10.10.1913. CO273/402.
68 A writer who claimed to have consulted Admiralty records and War Cabinet papers, notes that the Japanese were involved in a secret German organization for the promotion of revolution in the East. See Digman, D. K., ‘Australian and British Relations with Japan, 1914–1921’, Australian Outlook: Journal of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, XXI (08 1967), p. 136.Google Scholar
69 Anderson to Crewe, 4.10.1910, CO273/359; Swettenham to Chamberlain, 5.2.1903, CO273/293.
70 Remarks by the Army Council on the Defence of Malaya, 31.12.1912, WO32/4816.
