John George Clunies Ross
| John George Clunies Ross | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Ross, John George Clunies.jpg | |||||||||||||
| Born | 1823 | ||||||||||||
| Died | 1871 | ||||||||||||
| Residence |
Singapore (via Messrs Richardson, Cornhill) [Aug 1866] Cocoa Islands near Java [1864] | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | administrative | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
Father of Mrs Wood Jones qv
Notes From Elsewhere
John George C-R (1823-1871), the 2nd Governor of Cocos
John Clunies Ross had seven children, - four sons, two of whom predeceased him, and three daughters, who all married and left Cocos. John George was the eldest son and had married a Balinese girl. He was 31 when he took over control of the Cocos. John George imported more Javanese labourers, instituted a more efficient method of collecting coconuts, and set up a steam powered oil mill. Although his education had been limited, he showed an aptitude for medicine and the islanders credited him with some extraordinary cures. They called him "Tuan Pandai" (learned master).
In 1857 the Cocos Islands were claimed for Britain by Captain Fremantle who had mistaken them for the Cocos Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This upset Clunies Ross's trading arrangements with the Javanese authorities and in 1860 he went to London to ask for the Islands to be attached to a British colony. His request went unanswered.
In 1861 a powerful cyclone shattered the settlement and John George recalled his eldest son, George, from Scotland, to help with rebuilding. Some of the contract labourers John George imported were convicts, and in 1867 one of them committed a brutal murder. Confronted by an angry mob, John George struck the ringleader down with a blow of his cutlass. Tuan Pandai contracted typhus fever on a journey to Batavia and died shortly after his return to Cocos.John Clunies Ross had seven children, - four sons, two of whom predeceased him, and three daughters, who all married and left Cocos. John George was the eldest son and had married a Balinese girl. He was 31 when he took over control of the Cocos. John George imported more Javanese labourers, instituted a more efficient method of collecting coconuts, and set up a steam powered oil mill. Although his education had been limited, he showed an aptitude for medicine and the islanders credited him with some extraordinary cures. They called him "Tuan Pandai" (learned master).
In 1857 the Cocos Islands were claimed for Britain by Captain Fremantle who had mistaken them for the Cocos Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This upset Clunies Ross's trading arrangements with the Javanese authorities and in 1860 he went to London to ask for the Islands to be attached to a British colony. His request went unanswered.
In 1861 a powerful cyclone shattered the settlement and John George recalled his eldest son, George, from Scotland, to help with rebuilding. Some of the contract labourers John George imported were convicts, and in 1867 one of them committed a brutal murder. Confronted by an angry mob, John George struck the ringleader down with a blow of his cutlass. Tuan Pandai contracted typhus fever on a journey to Batavia and died shortly after his return to Cocos.