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"This is the story of British enterprise in Singapore and Malaya from 1786 to 1920, when British vision, zeal and drive developed Penang, then Singapore and, finally, the peninsular Malay States. In the initial years, commerce and finance were paramount. The seeds of these commercial activities had been planted initially in the days of the East India Company but later, and more importantly, by individual merchant firms, supported by credit from London. These merchants were the driving force of British investment and development on the Malay Peninsula. While the contributions of the Malays, Indians and, especially, the Chinese to economic development should not be under-rated, in the period under review, their activities were steered and monitored by the British. This book presents an original and coherent account of British Enterprise in Singapore and Malaya in an important historical period and includes substantial new material from primary records of merchant firms and banks which will be of great interest to students, professionals as well as the general public."--Publisher's website.

One of the most interesting features of the growth of Britain's overseas commerce over the past two centuries has been the merchant firm, often the product of very small-scale beginnings but gradually developing into a worldwide network centring on London. The scope for such enterprises grew as effective naval control increased the security of the maritime trade routes and the importance of the great chartered companies declined. Much of the early growth came from the "country trade" between India and China in which private merchants were permitted to engage. In the late eighteenth century, commercial firms in the City of London began to open branches in India to deal in local products such as indigo, cotton and, later, opium. By the early nineteenth century, around two dozen of these "agency houses" were in existence though the majority were very small and short-lived. 1 In the same period, the more substantial firms were establishing further offshoots in Canton to participate in the tea and silk trade in Europe.