Legacy

Penang Chronicles:

Volume IV

  • The family of Francis Light faces an uncertain future. As Penang heads inexorably towards colonial rule, Martinha struggles to claim her rightful inheritance, encountering corruption, prejudice and heartbreak in equal measure. Scattered across the world, her children are forced to negotiate the British establishment alone as best they can with little but their father’s name and reputation to sustain them. From Britain to the Peninsular War, from the social pretensions of Bengal to the court of the Pasha of Egypt, from Java in the company of Raffles to the new city of Adelaide in Australia, the next generation makes its way, its roots firmly planted in the beautiful island of its home.

  • Anon, (ed.)Bruce, H.A. (1864) Life of General Sir William Napier KCB Volume I, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London

     Cartwright, Arnold (1908) 20th century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries and resources. Lloyds Publishing

     Peter Carey, Ricklefs MC. (ed.): The British in Java, 1811–1816: a Javanese account. With a foreword by John Villiers. (Oriental Documents, x.) xxiii611pp., Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1992. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 1993

     Collis, Maurice (Reprint1982) Raffles: The Definitive Biograph (1965)y. Graham Brash, Singapore

     Dalrymple, William (2019) The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. Bloomsbury

     Doughty, Henry Montagu, (1910) Chronicles of Theberton: A Suffolk Village. Macmillan and Co

     D’Urban, Sir Benjamin, The Peninsular Journal of Major-General Sir Benjamin D’Urban 1808-1817, Wagram Press [Google ebook 2015]

     Dutton, Geoffrey, (1960) Founder of A City.  F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne

     Elder, David, The Art of William Light (1987) Wakefield Press Sdelaide

     Elder, David, William Light’s Brief Journal and Australian Diaries (1984) Wakefield press, Adelaide

     Forster, E.M., (1922) Alexandria: A History and A Guide. Whitehead Morris Ltd, Alexandria

     Gill, Thomas, A Biographical Sketch of Colonel William Light (1839) ( 36/200 of original edition.)

     Glendinning, Victoria (2012) Raffles and the Golden Opportunity, Profile Books

     Hannigan, Tim (2012) Raffles and the  British Invasion of Java, Monsoon Books

     Hastings, Max (ed) The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (1985) Oxford University Press

     Hayes Hoyt, S (2005) Old Penang. Oxford University Press

     Holmes, Richard (2022) Wellington: The Iron Duke. Harper Collins (Apple ebook) published 2003

     Keble Chatterton, Edward Lt RNVR (1912) The Old East Indiamen. T. Werner Laurie, London 

     Khoo Su Nin, (2001) Streets of George Town Penang. Janus Print

     Lim Chong Keat, (1986) Penang Views 1770-1860, Summer Times Publ., Singapore 

    Macalister Norman, (1803) Historical Memoir Relative to Prince of Wales Island J.H.Hart, Warwick Square, London

     Langdon, Marcus, (2013) Penang the Fourth Presidency of India 1805-30: Volume I Ships, Men and Mansions, Areca Books, Penang

     Langdon, Marcus, (2015) Penang the Fourth Presidency of India 1805-30: Volume II Fire, Spice and Edifice, Areca Books, Penang

     Langdon, Marcus, (2021) Penang the Fourth Presidency of India 1805-30: Volume III Water, Wigs and Wisdom, Areca Books, Penang

     Le Marchant, Sir Denis, (1841) Memoirs of the Late Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant. Samuel Bentley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane, London

     Eds. Loh Wei Ling, Langdon et al, (2013) Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang, Think City and MBRAS

     Lawrence, James Henry (1810) A Picture of Verdun or the English Detained in France…from the portfolio of a Détenu.  T. Hookham Junior and E.T. Hookham. London 

     Miller, W.G. (2020 British Traders in the East Indies (1770-1820): At Home in the Eastern Seas. (Volume 9 Worlds of the East India Company) Boydell Press

     Mayo, M. P. The Life and Letters of Col. William Light, 1937, F.W. Preece and Sons, Adelaide

     Morson, I (1993) The Connection Phuket, Penang, Adelaide: A Short Account of Francis Light. Siam Society Amarin Printing 

     Napier, William Francis (1857), The Life and Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier. Vol I, John Murray, Albermarle Street, London 

    Skinner, A. M. 1895. MEMOIR OF CAPTAIN FRANCIS LIGHT, WHO FOUNDED PENANG. [Died October 21st, 1794]. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 28, 1–1

    Smith, F. Andrew. ‘Daniel Smith’s last seven years: hardships in country trade in the East Indies in the early nineteenth century.” Borneo Research Bulletin, vol. 39, annual 2008, pp. 71+7.

    Smith, George C., (1885) The Life of William Carey: Six Years in North Bengal: Missionary and Indigo Planter.  John Murray, Albemarle Street

    Smith, George (1895) Bishop Heber (1783-1826), poet and chief missionary to the East, 2nd Lord Bishop of Calcutta. J. Murray, London 

    Steuart, A.F. (1901) A Short Sketch of the Lives of Francis and William Light, the Founders of Penang and Adelaide , S. Low, Marston Co. Ltd

     Thorn, William, Major (1816) Memoirs of Major-General Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie, T.G. Egerton, Whitehall

     Thornton, L. H.(1925)Campaigners Grave and Gay: Four studies of soldiers of 18-19th century. Cambridge

     Welsh, James (1830). Military Reminiscences: Extracted from a Journal of Nearly 40 years’ active service in the East Indies. Vol. 1 (Two volume, 2nd ed.). Smith, Elder, and Company. [Google Books]

     Wright, Arnold and Reid Thomas. (1912) The Malay Peninsula: A record of British Progress in the Middle East. Fisher and Unwin. London, Adelphi Terrace

     Wright, Nadia. H. (2018) The Armenians of Penang, Entrepot Publishing

     Articles

     Andaya, B. (2012). 'A People that Range into all the Kingdoms of Asia' 1: the Chulia trading Network in the Malay World in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. In The Trading World of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, Ed. Om Prakash. New Delhi: Pearson Education, 2012, Pp. 305-336.

     BASTIN, J. (1953). PALEMBANG IN 1811 AND 1812. (PART I and II). Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde, 109(4)

     Bastin, C., & Bastin, J. (1964). Some Old Penang Tombstones. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 37(1 (205)), 126–165.

     Miller., W.G (2020) British Traders in the East Indies 1770-1820.  (Ed Bowen, H.V)Volume 19 At Home In the Eastern Seas(Worlds of the East India Company), Boydell Press 

     Garnier, K. (1923). Early Days In Penang. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1(1 (87)), 5–12. 

     Herivel, Jan-Maree, (2020) ‘A Perfect Malay’ James Scott, East Indies Country Trader, PhD thesis Charles Darwin University

     Smith, F. Andrew James Carnegy and the ‘Country Trade’ in Penang c1802-1824, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol 96 Part 1 June 2023

    Online

    Asiaticus. “The Rise and Fall of the Indigo Industry in India.” The Economic Journal, vol. 22, no. 86, 1912, pp. 237–47. JSTOR,https://doi.org/10.2307/2221777. Accessed 15 Jan. 2024.

     

    http://www.clanhunter.com/Hunter_of_Burnside_genealogy.html

    Chattopadhyay, S. (2000). Blurring Boundaries: The Limits of “White Town” in Colonial Calcutta. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 59(2), 154–179. https://doi.org/10.2307/991588

     

    Chauhan, Dr. G.S. Das, Paresh Kumar (2018) Indigo Cultivation in Birbhum in Colonial Time. North Asian International Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities.

     Duché, Elodie.  ORCID,(2022) ‘Prisoners of War’ In Forrest, Alan and Hicks, Peter, Cambridge History of The Napoleonic Wars

    Ghosh, Suresh Chandra, The Social Condition of the British Community in Bengal, 1757 - 1800. (THESIS) 1966

    Musa, Mahani. (2015) A HISTORY OF MOSQUES AND KRAMATS IN PENANG 1730-2012. Think City

     Narain, V.A. (June 1958) The Life and Career of Jonathan Duncan (PhD Thesis Univ London)

     O’Neill, T. P. (1973). Fever and Public Health in Pre-Famine Ireland. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 103, 1–34.

     Raafat, Samir (2005)   Restoration  of the Subra Pavilion. http://www.egy.com/landmarks/05-12-25.php

     Wargadalem, Farida R, Susanti Helen, (2023)Tin Bangka Island: The Scramble between England and Dutch in the Palembang Sultanate. Proceedings of the Critical Island Studies 2023 Conference.

    Miscellaneous

    https://the-past.com/feature/the-darker-side-of-victory-wellingtons-medical-service-at-waterloo/

    https://www.britishbattles.com/peninsular-war/storming-of-badajoz/

     

Behind the Scenes of Legacy :

Reviews for Legacy

Available SE Asia and UK: September 2025

Available US /Australia: October 2025

“…Rich in detail, Legacy stylishly immerses us in the time and space of the colonial era in Penang, Malaysia, its sister city Adelaide, South Australia, and a wider imperial world beyond. I have thoroughly enjoyed Rose Gan’s weaving of the fascinating Light family story into a vast tapestry of empire, faithfully portraying the depth of colonial hegemony and the complexities of identity and intercultural tension. Speaking as an Adelaidian, the imagining of the remarkable life of our gifted Eurasian city planner, Colonel William Light—from naval cadet to visionary—is particularly compelling and emotionally resonant. A wonderful read!”

Elizabeth Ho OAM

Chair, History Trust of South Australia

Herald Van Der Linde

Author: Jakarta and Majapahit

“…Rose Gan has that unique gift for fusing meticulous research with vivid storytelling and beautiful prose to bring the past to life. She takes us on a walk through the bustling and dusty streets of Georgetown, sits us down for a cool drink on shady verandah in Calcutta and invites us to join a dance with dark-eyed beauties, clad in kebaya, in early 19th-century Batavia. This was a time when diverse peoples —the Malays, Chinese, Bugis, Javanese, Dutch, British, and Tamils—navigated an era rife with ambition, intrigue, colonial arrogance and war. Amongst the soldiers, swindlers and scandals stood people such as Captain Francis Light, adventurer and statesman and founder of modern-day Penang. Her series is centered about his life and are an excellent gateway to rediscover the vibrant and tumultuous days of “old Penang’ and Maritime Southeast Asia.  "Legacy" is the final of this series, with focus on William Light, his son and founder of Adelaide. It is an absolute pleasure to read. Let’s hope Rose Gan will pick up her pen again and delve into another part of SE Asia history.”

“…A fascinating, compelling read. Rose Gan takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey into the past – to the era of empires. In ‘Legacy’, we get insights into the lives of the children of Francis Light,  their harrowing adventures and dramatic twists of fate, all the while facing racial prejudice because of their mixed heritage. The double-crossing, betrayals and machinations of colonial personalities including renowned figures such as Stamford Raffles reveal the challenges and pitfalls of that era. Despite the setbacks, William Light, the son of Francis Light and Martinha Rozells, achieved ultimate success in the founding of Adelaide, a similar accomplishment in the footsteps of his father. Meticulously researched, beautifully created, this book is truly a treasure.”

Lee Su Kim, Author:

Kebaya Tales, Sarong Secrets, Manek Mischief

Marcus Langdon, Author

 Penang: the Fourth Presidency of India series.

“…Rose Gan has skilfully woven a delectable concoction of fact and fiction for this fourth and final instalment in her Penang Chronicles series. Transporting the reader regionally and across the globe and back, from sweating the tropics to covert escapades in the bitter cold, Gan has yet again produced a book that is impossible to put down.”