Prisoners their own Warders.
A Record of the Convict Prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements established 1825, discontinued 1873, together with a cursory history of the Convict Establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca from the year 1797. Westminster Archibald Constable 1899
First edition, 8vo (23 x 16 cm), pp.xvi, 191, 23 plates, adverts. A very good copy in rather dull and lightly rubbed original cloth. Book plate professionally removed from front free end-paper.
John Frederick Adolphus McNair (1828-1910) had a long and successful career as a key civil-servant in the service of the Straits Settlements until his retirement in 1884. McNair was appointed as Executive Engineer and Superintendent of Convicts in the Straits Settlements in 1857 and was also responsible for Public Works and the Oriental Gaol in Singapore until its abolition in 1873, before which he had been private secretary and aide-de-camp to the Governor of Straits Settlements. The work is of particular importance because consistent records of the prison at Singapore were not kept until 1844, and utilises numerous private letters and papers alongside McNair's considerable personal knowledge, in part due to his fluent Hindustani, from the establishment of the prison in 1825 up to 1844. In this work he was assisted by his Superintendent, W.D. Bayliss.