Colonel John Alexander Bannerman

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tagsperson, british-official
aliasesBannerman, Colonel Bannerman, governor Bannerman

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Colonel John Alexander Bannerman (d. 8 August 1819) was a British East India Company official who served as Governor of Penang (Prince of Wales’ Island) from 1817 until his death in 1819. He is best known in the Achehnese context as the chief Penang antagonist of Raffles during the preliminaries to the Acheh treaty of 1819.

Earlier Career

Before his Penang appointment Bannerman had pursued «a meritorious military and political career» as an officer in Madras. He afterwards sat in Parliament and, for many years, served as an esteemed member of the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London. On the death of Governor Petrie he was appointed Governor of Penang and thus, in Van der Kemp’s phrase, «fell into the middle of the Achehnese questions, which were unknown to him».

Governor of Penang and the Acheh Commission

Petrie’s government had already dispatched Captain Coombs on a preliminary mission to Acheh in late 1817 or early 1818. When, in 1819, Lord Moira’s government decided to send out the joint Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission, Bannerman was incensed at what he regarded as an intrusion into his proper jurisdiction. The political superintendence of Achehnese affairs, he insisted, belonged by the highest authority to the government of Penang, and he wrote immediately to Calcutta demanding that the Acheh instructions be recalled. The request was refused.

The quarrel between the two men ranged over a series of issues. Bannerman held that the commission ought to proceed directly to Acheh in accordance with the letter of its instructions; Raffles claimed a discretion to act as circumstances required. Bannerman insisted that the artillery detachment which Raffles had brought from Bengal was destined for the Acheh operation; Raffles maintained that it had been provided solely to relieve the garrison at Bencoolen. Above all, Bannerman and Coombs opposed Raffles’s plan to call first at Pedir on Sultan Jauhar Alum, arguing that this would violate the spirit of the instructions, which directed the commissioners to treat with whichever party should be found actually in power.

The Karimon Detour

The dispute reached its sharpest point on 19 January 1819, when Raffles, having received a private communication from Major Farquhar extolling the suitability of the Karimon Islands for a British settlement, suddenly weighed anchor and left Penang without taking leave of either Bannerman or Coombs — taking with him, into the bargain, the artillery stores which Bannerman believed had been intended for Acheh. Bannerman and Coombs at once complained to Bengal of this «arbitrary interruption of the Acheh commission» and the «unauthorised dispatch of the Minto» (see Criddle’s mission). Raffles’s reply, dated 30 September 1819, is printed as Appendix 5 of Van der Kemp’s article.

Death and Assessment

Bannerman did not live to see the controversy resolved. He died on 8 August 1819, before Raffles’s formal defence of his conduct reached Calcutta on 31 December 1819. He was succeeded as Governor of Penang by W. E. Phillips.

Van der Kemp’s treatment of Bannerman is markedly more sympathetic than the conventional British view, which (as summarised by the historian) had «sullied his memory» for failing to fall in with Raffles’s plans. Van der Kemp, drawing on the narrative of John Anderson, argues that Bannerman’s conduct arose not from personal jealousy but from «greater conscientiousness as a British officer who dutifully obeyed the orders given him». Anderson himself observed that the Penang governor «deserved the utmost degree of obedience, respect, and deference for the directions of their superiors»; and the Calcutta government’s report of 7 October 1820 substantially vindicated Bannerman’s reading of the 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.

Colonel John Alexander Bannerman (d. 8 August 1819) was a British East India Company official who served as Governor of Penang (Prince of Wales’ Island) from 1817 until his death in 1819. He is best known in the Achehnese context as the chief Penang antagonist of Raffles during the preliminaries to the Acheh treaty of 1819.

Earlier Career

Before his Penang appointment Bannerman had pursued «a meritorious military and political career» as an officer in Madras. He afterwards sat in Parliament and, for many years, served as an esteemed member of the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London. On the death of Governor Petrie he was appointed Governor of Penang and thus, in Van der Kemp’s phrase, «fell into the middle of the Achehnese questions, which were unknown to him».

Governor of Penang and the Acheh Commission

Petrie’s government had already dispatched Captain Coombs on a preliminary mission to Acheh in late 1817 or early 1818. When, in 1819, Lord Moira’s government decided to send out the joint Raffles-Coombs Acheh Commission, Bannerman was incensed at what he regarded as an intrusion into his proper jurisdiction. The political superintendence of Achehnese affairs, he insisted, belonged by the highest authority to the government of Penang, and he wrote immediately to Calcutta demanding that the Acheh instructions be recalled. The request was refused.

The quarrel between the two men ranged over a series of issues. Bannerman held that the commission ought to proceed directly to Acheh in accordance with the letter of its instructions; Raffles claimed a discretion to act as circumstances required. Bannerman insisted that the artillery detachment which Raffles had brought from Bengal was destined for the Acheh operation; Raffles maintained that it had been provided solely to relieve the garrison at Bencoolen. Above all, Bannerman and Coombs opposed Raffles’s plan to call first at Pedir on Sultan Jauhar Alum, arguing that this would violate the spirit of the instructions, which directed the commissioners to treat with whichever party should be found actually in power.

The Karimon Detour

The dispute reached its sharpest point on 19 January 1819, when Raffles, having received a private communication from Major Farquhar extolling the suitability of the Karimon Islands for a British settlement, suddenly weighed anchor and left Penang without taking leave of either Bannerman or Coombs — taking with him, into the bargain, the artillery stores which Bannerman believed had been intended for Acheh. Bannerman and Coombs at once complained to Bengal of this «arbitrary interruption of the Acheh commission» and the «unauthorised dispatch of the Minto» (see Criddle’s mission). Raffles’s reply, dated 30 September 1819, is printed as Appendix 5 of Van der Kemp’s article.

Death and Assessment

Bannerman did not live to see the controversy resolved. He died on 8 August 1819, before Raffles’s formal defence of his conduct reached Calcutta on 31 December 1819. He was succeeded as Governor of Penang by W. E. Phillips.

Van der Kemp’s treatment of Bannerman is markedly more sympathetic than the conventional British view, which (as summarised by the historian) had «sullied his memory» for failing to fall in with Raffles’s plans. Van der Kemp, drawing on the narrative of John Anderson, argues that Bannerman’s conduct arose not from personal jealousy but from «greater conscientiousness as a British officer who dutifully obeyed the orders given him». Anderson himself observed that the Penang governor «deserved the utmost degree of obedience, respect, and deference for the directions of their superiors»; and the Calcutta government’s report of 7 October 1820 substantially vindicated Bannerman’s reading of the 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.

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