Arthur Crookshank
Arthur Chichester Crookshank | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 April 1825 |
| Died | 15 February 1891 (aged 65) |
Resting place | South Stoke, Somerset, England |
| Title | Resident of Sarawak, Chief Secretary, Police Magistrate |
| Spouse | Bertha Jane Lechmere |
| Relatives | James Brooke (uncle by marriage) |
Arthur Chichester Crookshank (23 April 1825 – 15 February 1891) was a British colonial administrator and a senior officer in the Raj of Sarawak under the Brooke dynasty. A nephew of Reverend Francis Charles Johnson and his wife Emma Brooke (the sister of the first White Rajah, Sir James Brooke), Crookshank was a foundational figure in the state's early civil service.
Early life and family
[edit]Crookshank was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, on 23 April 1825.[1][2] He was the son of Chichester Crookshank, an Irish military officer who saw extensive service in Martinique, the Cape of Good Hope, Argentina, and the Peninsular War, and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Johnson. Through his mother's lineage, he was the cousin of Charles Brooke, the Second White Rajah of Sarawak. He married Bertha Jane Lechmere (1839 – 26 February 1912).[3]
Career in Sarawak
[edit]Early service and military expeditions
[edit]Crookshank arrived in Sarawak as a young maritime officer. He was employed as the second mate aboard the 14-hand private brig Ariel (under Master David Irons).[4]
He transitioned to the Sarawak civil service and was appointed Magistrate on 1 March 1843, subsequently succeeding Thomas Williamson as Police Magistrate in 1846.[3] As a trusted deputy to the Rajah, he held the highest executive authority in the state, being left in full charge of the government from June 1847 to September 1848 during Sir James Brooke's absence in England.[3] In August 1847, when the steamer Nemesis unexpectedly returned with the mail-bag, the mail was opened in the counting-house in his presence; acting as "Police Magistrate and general Sbirro," Crookshank seized a private and confidential dispatch directed to him from James Brooke.[5]
Crookshank took an active role in the state's military and defensive expansion. In December 1849, he built the first government fort at Skrang.[3] He accompanied Brooke Brooke on an expedition up the Rejang River in April 1851 to construct Fort Kanowit, and later participated in the military expedition against the Iban war leader Rentap at Sungei Lang in August 1854.[3] Beyond his official duties, he personally nursed Sir James Brooke when the Rajah fell gravely ill with smallpox in 1853.[3] He took an extended leave from February 1855 to August 1856, returning to Sarawak as a newlywed with his wife Bertha.[3]
The 1857 Chinese Insurrection
[edit]Crookshank was a central figure during the February 1857 Chinese insurrection. On the night of Tuesday, 18 February, Chinese gold miners from Bau launched a surprise attack on Kuching.[6]
Awakened by the home invasion, Crookshank and his wife Bertha attempted to escape down the bathroom stairs. Crookshank fought to defend his wife with a spear but was badly wounded in the assault with a severe gash on his arm.[6] He managed to escape the burning capital and retreated down the river to Jernang alongside the Rajah, Crymble, Middleton, Steele, and Penty.[6][3]
During the chaos, Bertha was severely injured with a fearful gash below her hip and left for dead in the grass near their burning house.[6] The Chinese rebels surrounded her and initially refused to let anyone assist her, declaring that she was "as bad as her husband and must die".[6] However, the local schoolmaster, Owen, and Bishop Francis McDougall eventually managed to rescue her. She was carried to the McDougalls' house on the back of a Chinese servant to receive medical care.[6] While in hiding, an old Chinese woman—the wife of the court scribe—secretly brought Crookshank the news that his wife had survived the attack.[6] Early on Sunday morning, the European party, including a rescued Bertha Crookshank, retreated further downriver as the rebels attacked again, eventually making their way to Lingga.[3]
Return to service and the first Residency
[edit]Crookshank temporarily left the Sarawak service in 1857 but rejoined the government and was officially appointed Police Magistrate on 1 June 1860.[3] As the Sarawak administration formalized, Crookshank's job profile evolved. On 1 January 1862, his title was elevated to Secretary to Government and Chief Secretary to the State Council.[3]
On 1 May 1863, the title of "Resident" was introduced to the Sarawak Civil Service for the first time, and Crookshank was appointed the first Resident of Sarawak.[7] His jurisdiction, the Residency of Sarawak, comprised what was later known as "Sarawak Proper" or the First Division.[3] In a letter written to John Brooke Johnson Brooke on 30 July 1862, Crookshank detailed local administration and trade operations while noting his wife Bertha's regards.[8]
He was also closely involved with the Sarawak Sugar Company, an enterprise managed by Europeans to cultivate sugar cane in the territory. In a June 1863 letter, Crookshank detailed that the company had secured significant shareholders from Singapore, including W.H. Read and L.V. Helms, and that they had planted hundreds of acres of Mauritius cane.[9] However, by the mid-1860s, the enterprise faltered, and Sir James Brooke noted its insolvency was due to "neglect and mismanagement."[10]
Later administration and retirement
[edit]Crookshank was present in England at the death of Sir James Brooke on 11 June 1868.[3] Between 1869 and 1870, Crookshank held the highest executive authority in the state by Administering the Government while Charles Brooke was absent in England.[3] On 11 October 1870, he was formally sworn in as a Member of the Council Negri, alongside Dr. E. P. Houghton, W. Paul, and H. Skelton.[3]
After thirty years of involvement in the establishment of Sarawak, Crookshank officially retired on a pension in May 1873.[3] Upon his retirement, the state was formally reorganized into three distinct Divisions (First, Second, and Third), establishing the Divisional system that remained in force for decades.[3]
Later life and death
[edit]Crookshank retired to his birthplace in Ryde, Isle of Wight. He died on 15 February 1891 at the age of 65 and was buried on 20 February 1891 in the parish of South Stoke, Somerset. He left a personal estate valued at £1,494 9s.[2] His wife Bertha survived him by over two decades, dying on 26 February 1912.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Arthur Chichester Crookshank". Biographical Register. Brooke Trust Digital Archive. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Arthur Chichester Crookshank, Somerset Parish Records". Somerset Parish Records, 1538–1914, ID: D\P\Sto.S/2/1/7. Taunton, Somerset, England: South West Heritage Trust, Somerset Archives & Local Studies.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Batty-Smith, W. de B. P. (1999). Sarawak: The Rajah's Officers, 1841-1946. Charnage: N. Batty-Smith. ISBN 0-9535722-0-X.
- ↑ Wise, Henry (14 September 1843). "Letter No. 11 to Sir Robert Peel". A Selection from Papers Relating to Borneo and the Proceedings of James Brooke, Esq. at Sarawak. London. pp. 9–10.
- ↑ Gliddon, Wm A. "Letter No. 3: Mr Gliddon to Joseph Hume Esq. M.P." (25 November 1851). Foreign Office Records, 1761–1952 (AJCP Reel No. 3502), Series: Foreign Office Records: Borneo (FO 12), File: 12/9, ID: nla.obj-806985076, pp. ff. 180r–182r. National Library of Australia, The National Archives, Kew / National Library of Australia.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McDougall, Harriette. "Copy of Mrs McDougall's Journal of Events during the Chinese Insurrection in Sarawak" (1857). Records of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (as filmed by the AJCP), Series: Series C MSS, File: Box 2 (Borneo and Malaya), ID: nla.obj-2613882007. National Library of Australia, United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel / National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Crookshank, Arthur Chichester. "Letter to Charles Thomas Constantine Grant" (23 April 1863). Bodleian Library, Oxford, Series: Basil Brooke Papers, ID: MPS90.9.90. Brooke Trust Digital Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- ↑ Crookshank, Arthur Chichester. "Letter to John Brooke Johnson Brooke" (30 July 1862). Bodleian Library, Oxford, Series: Basil Brooke Papers, ID: MPS90.9.83. Brooke Trust Digital Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- ↑ Crookshank, Arthur Chichester. "Letter to Brooke Brooke on Residency and the New Fort" (June 1863). Bodleian Library, Oxford, Series: Basil Brooke Papers, ID: MPS90.9.85. Brooke Trust Digital Archive, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- ↑ Brooke, James (1935). Rajah Brooke and Baroness Burdett Coutts: Consisting of the Letters from Sir James Brooke, First White Rajah of Sarawak to Miss Angela (afterwards Baroness) Burdett Coutts. Edited by Owen Rutter. London: Hutchinson. p. 257. OCLC 2097034 – via Internet Archive.