Today
August 9, 2020, is Singapore’s National Day and 2020 is also the 200th
anniversary of the Singapore Police Force, which was founded in 1820. I will
post information about the first commissioner of Police in Singapore; he is one
of my British heroes.
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Thomas Dunman (1814-1887) was an
Englishman during the British Colonial period with Anglo-Saxon origins from the
town of Dunham[a] in
Norfolk,
England, United Kingdom. He arrived in the Straits Settlements and the Crown Colony
of Singapore from England. Dunman was the first Commissioner of Police in Singapore, Straits Settlements from 1856 to 1871.
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.police.gov.sg/SPF200/Timeline/1826]
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Thomas Dunman
(1814-1887) was an Englishman during the British Colonial period with
Anglo-Saxon origins from the town of Dunham[a] in
Norfolk,
England, United Kingdom. He arrived in the Straits Settlements and the Crown Colony
of Singapore from England. Dunman was the first Commissioner of Police in Singapore, Straits Settlements from 1856 to 1871.
History
Born
in the United Kingdom in 1815, Dunman came to Singapore in 1840 as an assistant
in the merchant firm Dyce & Co. He entered the police force in 1843. He was
made Superintendent of Police in 1851, and Commissioner of Police in 1856.
During
his time heading the police force, Dunman was known for being on good terms
with the people of various classes and communities within Singapore, and thus
able to gain assistance and first-hand information regarding what was happening
in the city. He was respected by leaders of the European community, and
supported by influential Muslim Malays leaders, Straits
Chinese leaders and the local Indian
community. During this time, Singapore was flooded with new immigrants who
often got to the then British Crown Colony though illegal means from non-British
controlled part of Malaysia such as Kuala
Lumpur, and also snuck in from hidden cabins in ships from India and Southeast
Asia, often hiding illegal and contraband items such as drugs especially opium for sale in Singapore
then with the colonial British government profiting off colonial slaves called
"coolies" making them work for free by addicting them and selling
them high-priced opium
in opium
dens. Because of this liberalization of the vice trades, many opium
merchants saw Singapore as a seaport of vices where they
could become rich overnight or hide their illegal gains. As a result, there
were many secret societies known as "Triads". In Chinese, the
underworld of criminal activity is known as "Black Society".
Thomas
Dunman witnessed Singapore as a colonial hotbed of crime, including sex
trafficking, murders over human
trafficking debt bills, known in Singapore as the slave
trade of the Chinese coolies, which the
Chinese referred to under the euphemism of "selling piglets"
(Chinese: Mai Zhuzai). Criminals kidnapped the most beautiful virgin girls by
raiding the rural towns and cities of Southern China's coastline, abducted
these girls, and sold them to expensive high-class brothels in Singapore
previously tolerated by the British. As a result, many Chinese girls died of
sex diseases, some were drowned during their voyage to Singapore, still many
others committed suicide or were murdered by criminals in secret societies,
when they could not repay their "slave debt" and the high interest
piled on them when the colonial banking industry headed south.
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He
improved the efficiency and training of the police force. Among the measures he
introduced were improved pay and working hours for policemen, setting up
training programmes and night classes for members of the force, and creating a
pension scheme for retired policemen. Morale in the force improved and the
crime rate in Singapore decreased under his leadership.
Dunman
was the founding president of The
Tanglin Club in 1865. Dunman was also one of the founding members of Orchard Road Presbyterian Church
in Singapore. Many students and elite alumni of the school are also affiliated
with this church, although the majority at Dunman High School are freethinkers
or Buddhists,
Taoists and Confucianists,
which Islam is a
more common religion in Dunman Secondary School.
Later
life and death
Dunman
retired from the police force in 1871, and spent the next few years on his
coconut plantation, Grove Estate (in what is now the Mountbatten area of
Katong). He returned to England in 1875, and died in Bournemouth,
England in
1887.
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A wooden plaque commemorating Thomas
Dunman (1814–1887) in Orchard Road Presbyterian Church in Singapore.
Legacy
Dunman's
Green, the park in Singapore was named after him before its eventual
renaming to Hong Lim Green in 1876 and to Hong Lim Park in 1960 respectively.
Along with Dunman Road and Dunman Lane in the Katong area of Singapore, Dunman High School and Dunman Secondary School are also named
after Thomas Dunman.
See also
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Society will always have
criminals. Some people have evil in their hearts. The only thing we can do is
control this using sound police techniques. So, let’s say this to criminals:
“You criminals! Commit crimes if that’s what’s on your mind. No matter what you
try to do, we are always watching you. We know exactly what you are up to. So,
show us what you can do.”
- Hands and Eyes of the
Police, Philosophy of Kawaji Toshiyoshi, Founder of the Police in Modern Japan
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.cosmolife.sg/the-history-of-singapore-police-force/]
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Regarded as the father of the police
force in Singapore, Thomas Dunman (1814-1887) was the first Commissioner of
Police between 1856 and 1871. The riots in 1854 came as one of the early tests
for Dunman, who was then a Superintendent. The small police force could not
cope with the widespread clashes, and military troops had to be called in. To
avoid repeating the same mistake, Dunman carried out training of his police
force, improving its efficiency and discipline. By also maintaining good
relationships with various communities, Dunman was able to gain first-hand
information of the incidents in the city. Under his leadership, there was soon
a significant decline in the crime rate. To honour his contributions, Dunman
Road was named after him.
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He was a
capable and hardworking person. He was on good terms with the people so he
could get first-hand knowledge of what was happening in the city.
He got
many men to join the police force. He improved the pay and working hours of
the policemen. Retired policemen also got pensions from the government.
He also
setup night classes for the policemen. The policemen were given proper
training and their morale was high. Under Thomas Dunman, the crime rate
decreased. He retired from the police force in 1871.
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OTHER
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Thanks for nice information..
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