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Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, KCB, was a British adventurer whose exploits in the Malay Archipelago made him the first White Rajah of Sarawak.


Born in India and briefly educated in England, he served in the Bengal Army, was wounded, and resigned his commission. He bought a ship and sailed out to the Malay Archipelago, where by helping to crush a rebellion, he became governor of Sarawak. He then vigorously suppressed piracy in the region, and in the ensuing turmoil, restored the Sultan of Brunei to his throne, for which the Sultan made Brooke the Rajah of Sarawak. He ruled until his death.


Brooke was criticised and officially investigated for his anti-piracy measures. He was, however, honoured in London for his work. Among his achievements was to attract the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace to the Archipelago, leading to Wallace's eight-year expedition there, and ultimately to his book The Malay Archipelago.


Brooke was born in Bandel, near Calcutta, Bengal, but was baptised in Secrole, a suburb of Benares. His father, Thomas Brooke, was an English Judge Court of Appeal at Bareilly, British India; his mother, Anna Maria, born in Hertfordshire, was the daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre, and his mistress Harriott Teasdale. Brooke stayed at home in India until he was sent, aged 12, to England and a brief education at Norwich School from which he ran away. Some home tutoring followed in Bath before he returned to India in 1819 as an ensign in the Bengal Army of the British East India Company. He saw action in Assam during the First Anglo-Burmese War until seriously wounded in 1825, and sent to England for recovery. In 1830, he arrived back in Madras but was too late to rejoin his unit, and resigned his commission. He remained in the ship he had travelled out in, the Castle Huntley, and returned home via China.


Brooke attempted to trade in the Far East, but was not successful. In 1833 he inherited £30,000, which he used as capital to purchase a 142-ton schooner, Royalist. Setting sail for Borneo in 1838, he arrived in Kuching in August to find the settlement facing an uprising against the Sultan of Brunei. Greatly impressed with the Malay Archipelago, in Sarawak he met the sultan's uncle, Pangeran Muda Hashim, to whom he gave assistance in crushing the rebellion, thereby winning the gratitude of the Sultan, who in 1841 offered Brooke the governorship of Sarawak in return for his help.


Rajah Brooke was highly successful in suppressing the widespread piracy of the region. However, some Malay nobles in Brunei, unhappy over Brooke's measures against piracy, arranged for the murder of Muda Hashim and his followers. Brooke, with assistance from a unit of Britain's China Squadron, took over Brunei and restored its sultan to the throne.


In 1846 Brooke presented the island of Labuan to the British government. He was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of Labuan.


In 1842 Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien II ceded complete sovereignty of Sarawak to Brooke. He was granted the title of Rajah of Sarawak on 24 September 1841, although the official declaration was not made until 18 August 1842.


During his reign, Brooke began to establish and cement his rule over Sarawak: reforming the administration, codifying laws and fighting piracy, which proved to be an ongoing issue throughout his rule. Brooke returned temporarily to England in 1847, where he was given the Freedom of the City of London, appointed British consul-general in Borneo and was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.


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