![]() ![]() ![]() He was a man beset by contradictions, torn between his ideals and his loyalty to the Empire. Raffles was more complicated – and more interesting – than the cardboard caricatures invoked by devotees and detractors alike. Gazing down at sweltering passersby with imperial hauteur, aloof in his monumental marble, Raffles has become a quasi-mythological figure, a convenient symbol both for those who would celebrate the British Empire and for those who would damn it.Īs Victoria Glendinning points out in her perceptive and engaging new biography, Raffles and the Golden Opportunity, this is all rather a shame. No guidebook fails to mention him no whirlwind tour is complete without a pilgrimage to his statue, located near the mouth of the Singapore River, not far from where he landed in 1819 to found the original settlement. The name of Raffles is everywhere in Singapore – shopping centres, schools, streets, companies and, of course, the legendary Raffles Hotel, purveyor of the Singapore sling and allied tropical delights. Raffles and the Golden Opportunity 1781–1826īy Victoria Glendinning | Profile Books | $39.95 ![]()
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