Graphical version

School of Oriental and African Studies

Winstedt, Sir Richard


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0102 MS 312646

Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies

Title: Winstedt, Sir Richard

Date(s): 1925-[1960s]

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 5 boxes, 1 file, 1 volume

Name of creator(s): Winstedt | Sir | Richard Olaf (Olof) | 1878-1966 | Knight | colonial administrator and Orientalist

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in Oxford, 1878; educated at Magdalen College School and New College, Oxford; MA; Cadet, Federated Malay States Civil Service, 1902; posted to Perak, and studied Malay language and culture; appointed District Officer, Kuala Pilah, 1913; appointed to the education department, 1916; stationed in Singapore for 15 years; DLitt, Oxford, 1920; first President of Raffles College, Singapore, 1921-1931; his recommendations were instrumental in the founding of a new teacher training college, the Sultan Idris Training College at Tanjong Malim, to which was attached the Malay Translation Bureau, 1922; acting Secretary to the High Commissioner, 1923; Director of Education, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States (FMS), and member of Legislative Council, Straits Settlements, 1924-1931; CMG, 1926; member of Federal Council, FMS, 1927-1931; General Adviser to the Malay State of Johore, 1931-1935; retired from the Malayan Civil Service and was appointed KBE, 1935; lecturer in Malay, School of Oriental (later Oriental and African) Studies; Member of the Colonial Office Advisory Committee on Education, 1936-1939; Reader in Malay, School of Oriental Studies, 1937-1946; President, Association of British Malaya, 1938; member of Governing Body, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 1939-1959; Director, Royal Asiatic Society, 1940-1943, 1946-1949, 1952-1955, 1958-1961, President, 1943-1946, 1949-1952, 1955-1958, 1961-1964, Gold Medallist, 1947, and Honorary Vice-President, 1964; during World War Two, broadcast in Malay to Malaya under the Japanese occupation; following the re-occupation his joint authorship of a letter to The Times played a role in the reversal of the British government's Malayan Union policy and the institution of a federal government which led ultimately to Malayan independence; Fellow of the British Academy, 1945; retired from SOAS, 1946; Honorary Fellow of SOAS, 1947; Vice-President of the Royal India Society, from 1947; Vice-Chairman of Executive Committee for Exhibition of Art from India and Pakistan, Royal Academy of Arts, London (and headed a delegation to India to arrange for collection of exhibits), 1947-1948; Hon LLD (Malaya), 1951; Honorary Member of South-East Asia Institute, USA; Honorary Member, Royal Batavian Society and of Kon Instituut voor Taal-Landen Volkenkunde, The Hague; died, 1966. Publications: numerous works on Malay language, culture and history.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1925-[1960s], of Sir Richard Winstedt relating to his publications, comprising annotated proofs of Malay dictionary, 1960; manuscripts of Malay Dictionary, undated; copy of his An English-Malay Dictionary (1952), with extensive manuscript annotations and alterations [after 1952]; manuscripts and typescripts for his memoirs Start from Alif: Count from One (published in 1969), largely relating to his time in south-east Asia [1960s]; manuscript on philosophy, undated; letter on Malay law to [S G?] Vesey-Fitzgerald, 1945; letter on a Malay manuscript from P Voorholne[?] of the Bibliotheek der Rijks-Universiteit te Leiden, 1951; part of a letter on Raffles College and educational needs in Malaya from an unknown correspondent, 1965; miscellaneous offprints by Winstedt on Malay literature, law, customs and culture, 1925, 1929, 1945, and undated.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English and Malay

System of arrangement:

Manuscript and typescript memoirs, 1 box (Ref: 1); manuscript Malay Dictionary, 1 box (Ref: 2); proofs for Malay Dictionary, 3 boxes (Ref: 3); letters, offprints, and other documents, 1 file (Ref: 4); annotated copy of An English-Malay Dictionary, 1 volume (Ref: 5).

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented in 1974.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; Who Was Who; British Library OPAC.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Aug 2002


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Asian history | National history
Asian literature | National literatures
Central Asian cultures | Asian cultures | National cultures
Customs and traditions | Cultural heritage
Dictionaries | Reference materials | Books | Publications | Communications media | Information sciences
Editing | Publishing | Publishing industry
Educational needs | Economics of education
Higher education institutions | Educational institutions
Legal systems | Law | Law
Linguists | Social scientists
Malay language | Malayo-Polynesian languages | Austronesian and Oceanic languages
Memoirs | Documents | Information sources
History
Philosophy
Primary documents

Personal names
Fitzgerald | S G | Vesey- | fl 1945 x Vesey-Fitzgerald | S G
Voorholne | P | fl 1951 | of the Bibliotheek der Rijks-Universiteit te Leiden
Winstedt | Sir | Richard Olaf (Olof) | 1878-1966 | Knight | colonial administrator and Orientalist

Corporate names
Raffles College | Singapore

Places
Malaysia | South East Asia
Singapore | South East Asia
Malaya x Malaysia