page_title: Robert Norman Bland
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Norman Bland
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: cu31924023122777 Title: Historical tombstones of Malacca, mostly of Portuguese origin, with the inscriptions in detail and illustrated by numerous photographs Year: 1905 (1900s) Authors: Bland, Robert Norman Subjects: Sepulchral monuments Publisher: London&#160;: Elliot Stock Contributing Library: Cornell University Library Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: GATEWAY TO FORT. ( 70 ) Text Appearing After Image: THIS ILLUSTRATES THE METHOD BY WHICH THESE STONESWERE PHOTOGRAPHED. ( 71 ) 72 ) Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Robert Norman Bland CMG, or "R. N. Bland," as he was more commonly known then in The Straits, was Resident Councillor of Penang and a career civil servant in the Colonial Administration of the Straits Settlements.
  Bland joined the Colonial Civil Service of the Straits Settlements as a Cadet in 1883, learning Chinese and Malay languages, and later Law, and spent 27 years working his way up the Civil Service ladder through various different roles and positions, often holding multiple positions at the same time, retiring in 1910 as Resident Councillor of Penang. Brief biographies are given of him in Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya One Hundred Years of Singapore, Who's Who in the Far East, Burke's Irish Family Records and other works. The ones from the first two, read:
  "The Resident Councillor of Pinang: is the Hon. Mr. Robert Norman Bland, B.A. A son of Major-General Bland, R.E., he was born at Malta in 1859. He was educated at Cheltenham College and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained the degree of B.A. in 1882.
  Mr. Bland has had a long and varied career in the Straits Settlements Civil Service.
context_section_description: Robert Norman Bland CMG (1859–1948), or "R. N. Bland," as he was more commonly known then in The Straits, was Resident Councillor of Penang and a career civil servant in the Colonial Administration of the Straits Settlements.
  Bland joined the Colonial Civil Service of the Straits Settlements as a Cadet in 1883, learning Chinese and Malay languages, and later Law, and spent 27 years working his way up the Civil Service ladder through various different roles and positions, often holding multiple positions at the same time, retiring in 1910 as Resident Councillor of Penang. Brief biographies are given of him in Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya One Hundred Years of Singapore, Who's Who in the Far East, Burke's Irish Family Records and other works. The ones from the first two, read:
  "The Resident Councillor of Pinang: is the Hon. Mr. Robert Norman Bland, B.A. A son of Major-General Bland, R.E., he was born at Malta in 1859. He was educated at Cheltenham College and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained the degree of B.A. in 1882.
  Mr. Bland has had a long and varied career in the Straits Settlements Civil Service. Arriving in the colony early in 1883, he was attached to the Colonial Secretary's Office as a cadet learning Chinese, and in the following year he also qualified in Malay.
  He has served as private secretary to the Acting Governor, Collector and Magistrate at Kuala Pilah in the Negri Sambilan, Assistant Resident Councillor at Pinang, Collector of Land Revenue at Pinang and Singapore, officer in charge of Sungei Ujong, Inspector of Prisons for the Straits Settlements, Colonial Treasurer and Collector of Stamp Duties, and Resident Councillor at Malacca.
  In 1887 he was engaged in reporting upon a system of Mukim boundaries in Pinang and Province Wellesley.
  He is ex-officio Chairman of the Pinang Committee of the Tanjong Pagar Board, of the District Hospital, of the Library, and of the Gardens Committee, Pinang; a trustee of St. George's Church and of St. George's Girls' School ; and president of the Free School's Committee.
  Mr. Bland raised and commanded a company of volunteers in Malacca.(1902-6).
  He is a member of the Colonial Institute and of the Sports Club, London, and is enrolled either as a patron or member of all the local clubs. His recreations are golf and riding.
  He married, in 1895, Laura Emily, eldest daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Shelford, C.M.G., head of the firm of Paterson, Simons Co., and for some twenty years member of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. Mrs. Bland is a member of the Straits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and of the Royal Anthropological Institute. She takes a keen interest in women's work amongst the Malays."
  "Mr. R. N. Bland, C.M.G. Mr. Robert Norman Bland was appointed a Cadet in the Straits service in 1882. He held various offices in the three Settlements, and was also in charge of Sungei Ujong and Jelebu from 1893 to 1895. He became Colonial Treasurer in 1904, and was successively Resident Councillor, Malacca, from 1904 to 1907, and of Penang from 1907 to 1910, when he retired. He became a C.M.G. in the latter year. He is the author of the illustrated work Historical Tombstones of Malacca, which has done much to preserve the records of monuments of the past, otherwise only too likely to perish, and he was a frequent contributor to the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal."
  The sometimes contradictory accounts of the dates or periods he held these positions for, is due to two practices at that time. Firstly, holding multiple positions at the same time (a substantive role, together with other less substantive, temporary or acting roles). And second, being appointed to a role (substantive) but not functioning in that role, while someone else acts in that role or performs that function temporarily. These practices can be seen from the details provided below in the accounts of his appointments in the Straits Settlements and F.M.S. civil service.
caption: An illustration of the method used to photograph tombstones at the ruins of St. Paul's Church, Malacca for Bland's work Historical Tombstones of Malacca, 1905.
exif: {}