Suffolk House - Georgetown, Malaysia
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 05° 24.635 E 100° 18.334
47N E 644646 N 598204
This is a fully restored mansion with period furniture and art work, giving a glimpse into the opulence of the past colonial days of Penang, Malaysia.
Waymark Code: WMN3NQ
Location: Malaysia
Date Posted: 12/20/2014
Views: 1
From the website for
Suffolk House
Suffolk House was built on a vast pepper estate owned by Captain Francis Light (1740-1794), founder of the British port settlement of Penang. He lived here with the woman he loved, Martina Rozells. Martina was of mixed Portuguese and Siamese descent and was reputed to be the adopted daughter of the Sultan of Kedah.
Though it is uncertain whether Francis and Martina were ever married, he bequeathed her the pepper gardens with my Garden house plantation and all the Land by me cleared in that part of this island called Suffolk? The executors of Light will however betrayed her and transferred it to themselves.
in 1805 the estate was sold to William Edward Phillips (1769-1850), one of the early Governors and it was probably Phillips who built Suffolk House in the form we see today. In 1818 Sir Stamford Raffles was a guest at Suffolk House and it is highly likely that it was here that he first discussed the founding of Singapore. Over the years, the house was altered many times, evolving from a colonnaded Anglo-Indian mansion to a tile-roofed bungalow and eventually a school before falling into ruin.
Old paintings show that the garden was like an English park. A list of the plants that originally grew here was discovered some years ago and these are being replanted. They were all plants native to Penang so form a priceless record of the islands botanical heritage.
From the Wikipedia entry for
Suffolk House, Penang:
In Penang, Malaysia, the Suffolk House refers to two early residences built on the same site located some four miles west of George Town, Penang, on the banks of the Air Itam River (Black Water River in the Malay language). The earliest of the two buildings is notable for serving as the residence of Francis Light, the founder of the British settlement on the Prince of Wales Island, commonly known as Penang Island. Following Light's death in 1794, and with Penang becoming the fourth presidency of India in 1805, a newer Suffolk House replaced the original house, assuming multiple roles and was later neglected before its current restoration.
The mansion and the estate it was built on, the Suffolk Estate, is presumably named after Suffolk county in England. Light was born in Dallinghoo, Suffolk in East Anglia.
