Captain Coombs

Properties2
tagsperson, british-official
aliasesMajor Coombs, captain Coombs

8 min read

Captain Coombs (later Major Coombs) was a British East India Company officer who, in 1817–1818 and again in 1819, served as a commissioner to Acheh. He was the co-commissioner with Raffles on the Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission of 1819, in which capacity he opposed Raffles’s pro-Jauhar Alum policy and upheld the rights of the rival sultan Syf ul-Alum.

First Acheh Mission (1817–1818)

Still during the lifetime of Governor Petrie, Captain Coombs was dispatched at the end of 1817 or the beginning of 1818 on a commission to Acheh to enquire who was the rightful sultan. He was told by the chiefs that they had forever renounced Jauhar Alum and recognised Syf as their sultan. A few days before Coombs’s arrival a British brig had been cut out by Tuku Pakih of Pedir (Capture of British brig by Tunku Pakih); Coombs took the matter up with the chiefs, who expressed indignation and promised to call Pakih to account. After a fourteen-day stay Coombs left the «ungenerous port» in February 1818, convinced that Syf was the recognised sovereign but that the British government would have to support him with at least a thousand men if he were to maintain his authority. He then proceeded to Calcutta to make his report, in accordance with the wishes of the Penang government.

Co-Commissioner with Raffles (1819)

When, early in 1819, Lord Moira’s government determined to send out a regular commission to Acheh, Coombs, who was still at Calcutta pressing the claims of Syf, was naturally selected as Raffles’s colleague. The Bengal government, unwilling to decide between the conflicting recommendations of Raffles (who favoured Jauhar Alum) and Coombs (who favoured Syf), entrusted the elder commissioner Raffles with a casting vote, naively trusting — in the words of their report — that «the integrity and judgement of the Commissioners would prevent any improper bias».

The joint commission reached Penang and immediately collided with Governor Bannerman over the conduct of the mission. Coombs and Bannerman, who were in agreement, held that the commission ought to proceed directly to the Achehnese capital and treat with whichever party should be found in power. Raffles, on the contrary, insisted on calling first at Pedir on Jauhar Alum, and to that end had already — without consulting Coombs — dispatched the ship *Minto* under Lieutenant Criddle. Raffles then compounded the offence by suddenly quitting Penang on 19 January 1819 for the Karimon Islands with Major Farquhar (Raffles’ detour to Karimon Islands), leaving behind only a written notification for his colleague.

The Acheh Negotiations and Their Sequel

After Raffles’s return on 16 February 1819 the commission, eventually sailing without the military force Bannerman had desired, anchored off the Achehnese capital on 14 March 1819. There, during a stay of nearly seven weeks, Raffles and Coombs carried on what Raffles himself, in a letter to Sir Robert Harry Inglis of 12 June 1819, described as a «paper war» said to have occupied more than a thousand pages of the Company’s largest-sized paper. Coombs continued to maintain that the commission should treat with Syf, who had been recognised by the three Sagis; Raffles, with the casting vote, eventually decided for Jauhar Alum. Coombs, finding his arguments overruled, came round — at least formally — to his colleague’s opinion, and on 22 April 1819 the Treaty of Pedir (1819) was signed.

Although Coombs had been a joint commissioner, contemporary newspaper accounts of the treaty made little of his share in it; the Asiatic Journal remarked only at the end of a long eulogy of Raffles that «in the arrangement concluded at Acheen Sir Stamford was associated in a commission with Maj. Coombs as joint agents and representatives of the Gov.-Gen.». The Bengal government’s report of 7 October 1820 substantially vindicated Coombs’s reading of the instructions, observing that his and Bannerman’s interpretation was the correct one and that Raffles’s plan to go first to Pedir «would undoubtedly have been decidedly contrary to the spirit of our instructions».

See Also

Source

Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.

Captain Coombs (later Major Coombs) was a British East India Company officer who, in 1817–1818 and again in 1819, served as a commissioner to Acheh. He was the co-commissioner with Raffles on the Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission of 1819, in which capacity he opposed Raffles’s pro-Jauhar Alum policy and upheld the rights of the rival sultan Syf ul-Alum.

First Acheh Mission (1817–1818)

Still during the lifetime of Governor Petrie, Captain Coombs was dispatched at the end of 1817 or the beginning of 1818 on a commission to Acheh to enquire who was the rightful sultan. He was told by the chiefs that they had forever renounced Jauhar Alum and recognised Syf as their sultan. A few days before Coombs’s arrival a British brig had been cut out by Tuku Pakih of Pedir (Capture of British brig by Tunku Pakih); Coombs took the matter up with the chiefs, who expressed indignation and promised to call Pakih to account. After a fourteen-day stay Coombs left the «ungenerous port» in February 1818, convinced that Syf was the recognised sovereign but that the British government would have to support him with at least a thousand men if he were to maintain his authority. He then proceeded to Calcutta to make his report, in accordance with the wishes of the Penang government.

Co-Commissioner with Raffles (1819)

When, early in 1819, Lord Moira’s government determined to send out a regular commission to Acheh, Coombs, who was still at Calcutta pressing the claims of Syf, was naturally selected as Raffles’s colleague. The Bengal government, unwilling to decide between the conflicting recommendations of Raffles (who favoured Jauhar Alum) and Coombs (who favoured Syf), entrusted the elder commissioner Raffles with a casting vote, naively trusting — in the words of their report — that «the integrity and judgement of the Commissioners would prevent any improper bias».

The joint commission reached Penang and immediately collided with Governor Bannerman over the conduct of the mission. Coombs and Bannerman, who were in agreement, held that the commission ought to proceed directly to the Achehnese capital and treat with whichever party should be found in power. Raffles, on the contrary, insisted on calling first at Pedir on Jauhar Alum, and to that end had already — without consulting Coombs — dispatched the ship *Minto* under Lieutenant Criddle. Raffles then compounded the offence by suddenly quitting Penang on 19 January 1819 for the Karimon Islands with Major Farquhar (Raffles’ detour to Karimon Islands), leaving behind only a written notification for his colleague.

The Acheh Negotiations and Their Sequel

After Raffles’s return on 16 February 1819 the commission, eventually sailing without the military force Bannerman had desired, anchored off the Achehnese capital on 14 March 1819. There, during a stay of nearly seven weeks, Raffles and Coombs carried on what Raffles himself, in a letter to Sir Robert Harry Inglis of 12 June 1819, described as a «paper war» said to have occupied more than a thousand pages of the Company’s largest-sized paper. Coombs continued to maintain that the commission should treat with Syf, who had been recognised by the three Sagis; Raffles, with the casting vote, eventually decided for Jauhar Alum. Coombs, finding his arguments overruled, came round — at least formally — to his colleague’s opinion, and on 22 April 1819 the Treaty of Pedir (1819) was signed.

Although Coombs had been a joint commissioner, contemporary newspaper accounts of the treaty made little of his share in it; the Asiatic Journal remarked only at the end of a long eulogy of Raffles that «in the arrangement concluded at Acheen Sir Stamford was associated in a commission with Maj. Coombs as joint agents and representatives of the Gov.-Gen.». The Bengal government’s report of 7 October 1820 substantially vindicated Coombs’s reading of the instructions, observing that his and Bannerman’s interpretation was the correct one and that Raffles’s plan to go first to Pedir «would undoubtedly have been decidedly contrary to the spirit of our instructions».

See Also

Source

Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.

Graph View

Backlinks