page_title: William Cowie (merchant)
section_title: North Borneo Chartered Company
hierarchical_section_title: William Cowie (merchant) / North Borneo Chartered Company
caption_attribution_description: English: North Borneo Chartered Company:: Court of Directors
context_page_description: William Clark Cowie was a Scottish engineer, mariner, and businessman who helped establish British North Borneo and was Chairman of the British North Borneo Company.
context_section_description: In 1878, Baron von Overbeck and Alfred Dent approached Cowie knowing he has friendly with the Sultan of Sulu, asking for help in arranging land concessions in Borneo. Cowie agreed as he had plans to occupy territory as part of the British Empire. As the political situation was favourable to unilateral treaties, Cowie told the Sultan to leave the Spaniards to his country, helping foreign powers to take parts of the Sultan territory while expecting the Spanish would wish to avoid diplomatic involvement with the interests of other colonial powers. Cowie managed to get the Sultan to surrender his lands in north-eastern Borneo on 22 January 1878 for an annual payment of £1,000; which was later given to Overbeck and Dent as they received the full power of government and territorial rights to the possessions in Borneo, including the islands. The rights from this treaty were then transferred to the newly-founded British North Borneo Company in 1881.
  In March 1882, Cowie purchased a 40 year-concession for the exploitation of coal fields in Muara in Brunei and founded Cowie Brothers, based in Singapore. From Labuan, he rented a shipyard for 99 years from which he shipped his coal. On 12 July 1887, Cowie handed over his franchise rights to the British North Borneo Company and returned with his family to England. Charles Brooke, who later acquired the mine, renamed it as "Brooketon" (today's Brooke Town).
  In 1887, Cowie, together with Edmund Ernest Everett, was commissioned to conduct the company's business in Borneo. Due to the lack of transportation to move goods in the island, Cowie sought a concession to build a rail network from the West Coast Division to Sandakan. The company initially agreed and appointed Cowie as the Supervisory Board in 1894. In 1896 construction of the North Borneo Railway began but financial difficulties prevented the company fully connecting to northern Borneo; Cowie was unable to raise the necessary funds especially after company officials refused to borrow more money.
  In 1893, under the patronage of Cowie and his brother Andson, a dictionary for the Sulu and Malay languages was created.
  He was appreciated for his extensive knowledge of the territory and the people of Borneo. He rose to the position of Director General in 1897. In North Borneo in 1898 he met with Mat Salleh to bring an indefinite solution of the so-called Mat Salleh Rebellion. On 15 October 1909, after the retirement of Charles Jessel, he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
caption: Cowie with officials of the British North Borneo Company.
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