Photographs and letters from Robert Porter Bingham

Scope and Content

Letters from Robert Porter Bingham to his parents as a Malay Civil Service cadet, and later, during service in Malaya (1926-1927, 1931-1950); with an album of photographs relating to a tour of Penang Island made by Bingham as Resident Commissioner (1957). Reproduced typescript.

Administrative / Biographical History

Robert Porter Bingham (1903-1982) entered the Civil Service in Malaya in 1926. He was appointed Chinese Protector of Singapore in 1928 and in 1931, after a short period working as a District Officer on Christmas Island, he worked in Malaya as Assistant Protector (later Protector) of Chinese.

After the Second World War, during which he was interned in Singapore (1942-1945), Bingham held the posts of Commissioner for Labour, Singapore (1946-1950); Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Federation of Malaya (1950-1951); and Resident Commissioner, Penang (1952-1958). He was awarded the CMG in 1956.

Access Information

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Note

Collection level description created by Marion Lowman, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Administrative/Biographical History compiled with reference to Who Was Whoand A Biographical Dictionary of the British Colonial Service 1939-1966 by A.H.M. Kirk-Greene (1991).

Other Finding Aids

The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room.

Listed as no. 664 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).

Conditions Governing Use

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.