John Anderson

John Anderson (1795-1845) had started off first as a Writer with the Penang (then Prince of Wales Island) government in 1813. During the next sixteen years, he held a succession of official posts, including Assistant to the Accountant and Auditor (1816), Assistant to Secretary to Government (1817), Assistant to Warehousekeeper (1818), Sub-Treasurer and Assistant to Warehousekeeper (1819), Deputy Warehousekeeper and Malay Translator (1820), Deputy Accountant, Deputy Auditor, and Accountant to Recorder’s Court and Commissioner of Court of Requests with the rank of Factor (1822), Paymaster and Malay Translator with the rank of Junior Merchant (1825), Accountant and Auditor, and Acting Secretary to Government (1826), and Secretary to Government and Malay Translator with the rank of Senior Merchant.

In 1829, he went on home leave and retired from the service of the East India Company shortly afterwards in order to engage in mercantile activities in England. Apart from the present publication, Anderson’s other writings include two pamphlets on British relations with the Malay states of Peninsular Malaysia and East Sumatra, along with two other travel accounts of a mission undertaken to the east coast of Sumatra and Acheh. He died in London on 2 December 1845.