List of governors of Penang

Superintendents of Prince of Wales Island

Lieutenant Governors of Prince of Wales Island

Governors of Prince of Wales Island

Resident Councillors of Prince of Wales Island

Residents and Governors of the Residency of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and Malacca (at George Town & Singapore)

Deputy Residents and Resident Councillors, Prince of Wales Island

• 1851–1855: Edmund Augustus Blundell was Resident Councillor of Prince of Wales Isle / Penang until 1855.
• 18XX-1860: William Thomas Lewis, Asst. Resident Councillor of Prince of Wales' Isle was transferred to Resident Councillor of Malacca in 1854 upon the demise of Captain Hay Ferrier. He would later become Penang's commissioner of police and its Resident Councillor. On 6 December 1838, he was appointed to officiate as resident councillor at Malacca during the absence on leave of Mr. Garling. W. T. Lewis retired as Resident Councillor of Penang in September 1860. He had transferred to the Straits Settlements in 1825 and had served the Government of the Straits Settlements for about 54 years. He was Siamese Consul at Penang during Ord's Governorship. In 1856 he was Resident Councillor and Acting Governor of Penang.
• 1860–1867: Major General Henry Stuart Man was Resident Councillor of Penang . Major General Henry Man was born in 1815 and became known in 1834 as an ensign in the 49th Madras Native Infantry. He was the captain in 1848, serving in the second Anglo-Burmese was 1852–1853 later becoming executive engineer and superintendent of convicts at Mulmein, Burma. In 1858, he was the officer-in-charge of the detachment that secured the British landing at Port Blair and formally annexed the islands to the British Crown. In 1860, Lieutenant-Colonel Man, as then was he, was appointed Resident Councillor of Penang and served in that capacity until 1867. In 1868, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Man returned to Port Blair as its fifth Superintendent while at the same time taking over the responsibility for the newly annexed Nicobar islands. The following year, his son, E.H. Man, joined him at Port Blair and the old Man relinquished his official position and was promoted to colonel. He was promoted to Major-General in 1881. He died at Surbiton, England, on 10 April 1898 was buried at Thames Ditton, Surrey.

  Colonial Office, United Kingdom

Lieutenant-Governors, Penang

• 1867–1871: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of Penang under Governor-general Sir Harry St. George Ord at Singapore.
• 1871–1872: Arthur Nonus Birch, Actg. Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, Malaysia
• 1872–1873: Sir George William Robert Campbell, KCMG, Acting Lieutenant-Governor Of Penang from
• 1873–1875: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of Penang under Governor-general Sir Andrew Clarke at Singapore.
• 1875–1877: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of Penang under Governor-general Sir William Jervois at Singapore.
• 1877-1877: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson was Acting Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements at Penang from 3 April 1877 to August 1877.
• 1877–1879: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of Penang under Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson at Singapore.
• 1879–1880: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson was Acting Governor of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements at Penang from 10 February 1879 to 16 May 1880.
• 1879–1880: Charles John Irving, Actg. Lieutenant-Governor of Penang & Resident Councillor of Penang. He was Auditor General to the government of Penang under Anson. He was born in 1831 at Isabelle place in Camberwell, London. He been took up some appointments at Mauritius.
• 1880–1881: Major General Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, Lieutenant-Governor of Penang under Sir Frederick Weld at Singapore. Born 16 April 1826. His military experience began in 1844. He served in England, Ireland and Scotland from 1847–1855, Mauritius, 1857–1862 and Madagascar 1862–1865. He then returned to England and was appointed last Lieutenant Governor of Penang from 1867 to 1882, after serving in the army in India. In his memoirs "About Others and Myself." he describes the feeling of depression upon his appointment as Penang's Resident Councillor. He retired in 1881. It was during his appointment that the Penang Riots occurred. The riots ended when he negotiated a peace agreement between the contending parties; Red Flag and Tua Pek Kong members against the White Flag and the Ghee Hin. He was an Acting Governor of Straits Settlements from. Anson died in 1925.
• 1881–1884: Major John Frederick Adolphus McNair, Actg. Lieutenant-Governor of Penang & Resident Councillor of Penang only. He was born at Bath in 1828. Entered Madras Royal Artillery in 1845. In 1857, A.D.C. to Governor Blundell in Singapore. From 1865–1867 he was in England as deputy governor in charge of public works at Woking Prison. He retired in 1884. He died in 1910.
• 1884-1884: Captain David Thompson Hatchell, Acting Lieutenant-Governor of Penang. He was born 1840. He became Commissioner of the court request in Ayer Itam, Penang in 1876.

  Resident Councillors, Penang

• 1884–1885: Major Samuel Dunlop, Actg. Resident Councillor of Penang. D.G.M of Freemasons' Hall in 1885,Singapore.
• 1885–1887: Charles John Irving, Resident Councillor of Penang (1885-1887

  Japanese Occupation

Japanese Governors of Penang

• 1942–1943: Lt-Gen. Shotaro Katayama Governor of Penang from
• 1943–1944: Maj-Gen. Masakich i Itami Governor of Penang from
• 1944: Lt-Gen. Shinohara Seiichiro Governor of Penang from
• 1944: S.Ikagawa Deputy Governor of Penang from only.
• 1944–1945: Lt-Gen. Shinohara Seiichiro was Governor of Penang from 1944 to 1945

  British Military Administration

Military Governors of the Settlement of Penang

• 1945–1945: Peter Dicken Cracroft assumed command as Military Governor of Penang on 24 September 1945 under Lord Louis Mountbatten of the British High Command at Singapore

  Malayan Union and Federation of Malaya

Resident Commissioners of the Settlement of Penang

• 1946–1948: Sydney Noel King was Resident Commissioner of Penang from 1946 to 1948. He was born on 6 June 1897. He was a Cadet in the Straits Settlements in March 1920. He was attached to Land Office, Penang in May 1920. He served as Acting District officer in Bukit Mertajam in 1923. In March 1932 he worked as Acting First Magistrate, Johor Bahru, before being appointed Deputy Public Prosecutor, Johor, in the same year. He was District Officer of Christmas Island, Australia from 1925 to 1926. He was appointed Acting Under Secretary of the Straits Settlements in April 1936 and as Acting Legal Adviser of Kedah in June 1937. He was an internee at Changi and Sime Rd. He was a member of the British Military Administration till 1973.
• 1948–1951: Arthur Vincent Aston was a Resident Commissioner of Penang from 1948 to 1951. He was an internee at Changi and Sime Rd.
• 1948: George Evan Cameron Wisdom was Acting Resident Commissioner of Penang in 1948. He was Resident Commissioner of Malacca from 1951 to 1954.
• 1951–1957: Robert Porter Bingham was Resident Commissioner of Penang from 1951 to 1957. He was an Acting Resident Commissioner of Penang in 1950.
• 1952: Norman Ward was Acting Resident Commissioner of Penang in 1952.
• 1954: John Sjovald Hoseason Cunyngham-Brown was Acting Resident Commissioner of Penang from 25 June – 17 July 1954. He retired in 1957 and died, in Georgetown, Penang, in 1989.
• 1954–1955: David Gray, Acting Resident Commissioner of Penang, from 30 December 1954 to 3 August 1955. He had been Assistant Protector of Chinese, Singapore Police Magistrate, Chinese Secretariat in 1934. He was an internee at Changi and Sime Rd internee. Upon returning to Malaya in 1947, he was assigned to the Dept of Labour, Federation of Malaya. He was appointed to Secretary of Chinese Affairs, Federation of Malaya in 1951. In 1952 he was appointed Acting Chief Secretary of the Federation of Malaya. He was Acting Resident Commissioner, Penang, from 1954 to 1955. He then moved on to become Acting Chief Secretary for the Federation of Malaya and Officer Administering the Government of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1956.

  Independent Federation of Malaya and Malaysia

List of Governors of the State of Penang

Citations