Photograph collection of the British Association of Malaysia and Singapore

Photographer unknown.

62 x 88 mm. Showing the statue of Captain Francis Light (1740-1794), founder of Prince of Wales Island (Penang) in 1786. Light died of malaria on the island and was buried in the old Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road, George Town. The bronze statue designed by Frederick J. Wilcoxson, was originally sited in Fort Cornwallis and was unveiled in 1939. It was removed during the Japanese occupation and re-erected in 1946 in front of the High Court in Light Street. The only known contemporary representation of Light is Thomas Medlands engraving of Elisha Trapaud's drawing of the founding ceremony.

For information about the engraving of Light see See Bastin, John and Rohatgi, Pauline (eds.) (1979), Prints of Southeast Asia in the India Office Library. the East India Company in Malaysia and Indonesia 1786-1824. London : H.M.S.O., p. 2.

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