Fort Cornwallis
Encyclopedia
Fort Cornwallis is an old star-shaped fort located on the northeastern coast of Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia. It is named after the late 18th century Governor-General of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
. Fort Cornwallis is the largest standing fort in Malaysia.
Captain Sir Francis Light
Francis Light
Captain Francis Light was the founder of the British colony of Penang and its capital George Town in 1786.-Early years:...
took possession of the island from the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
of Kedah
Kedah
Kedah is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice...
in 1786 and built the original fort. It was a nibong stockade with no permanent structures, covering an area of 417.6 square feet (38.8 m²).
In 1804, Indian convict labour rebuilt the fort with bricks and stones during Colonel R.T. Farquhar’s term as Governor of Penang. Fort Cornwallis was later completed in 1810 during Norman Macalister’s term as Governor of Penang at the cost of $80,000. The fort was intended as a defence against the pirates, Kedah, and the French because of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. A moat 9 metres wide by 2 metres deep once surrounded the fort but it was filled in in the 1920s due to a malaria outbreak in the area.
The Chapel at Fort Cornwallis was built in 1799. The first recorded marriage here took place that same year when John Timmers married Martina Rozells, the widow of Francis Light. The building in the southwest bastion is almost certainly not the chapel, but the main magazine; the massive roof and the surrounding buttresses are typical of magazine buildings of the period. The building is the earliest roofed structure surviving in Penang from the colonial era.
Even though the fort was originally built for the Royal artillery troops and the military, its function, historically, was more administrative than defensive. For example, the judge of the Supreme Court of Penang, Sir Edmond Stanley
Edmond Stanley
Sir Edmond Stanley SL was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and politician who served as Serjeant-at-Law of the Parliament of Ireland, Recorder of Prince of Wales Island, now Penang, and subsequently Chief Justice of Madras....
, was first housed at Fort Cornwallis when the court opened on 31 May, 1808.
In its entire history, the fort had never engaged in any battle. Apart from being used for the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal artillery troops, the fort was once occupied by the Sikh
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
Police of the Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
during the 1920s.
An archaeological survey was conducted by Royal Navy personnel under the direction of Rev. Peter Brown RN in July/August 1970.
Old cannons decorate the fort. The largest cannon, known as Seri Rambai Cannon, was cast in 1603, and was a gift from the Dutch to the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
of Johore in 1606. In 1613, the Portuguese took possession of Seri Rambai. The cannon was taken to Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, where it stayed until 1795, when it was given to Acheh and brought to Kuala Selangor. The British seized the cannon and placed it in the fort in 1871.
The fort was gazetted on Sept 8, 1977, under the Antiquities Act 168/ 1976, as an Ancient Monument and Historic site. Today, it has become one of Penang's prime tourist attractions.
Sources
- "Fort Cornwallis, Penang | Malaysia Travel Guide" - http://travelmalaysiaguide.com/fort-cornwallis-penang/#ixzz0ED0j1tO0&A
- "Fort Cornwallis, Penang | Malaysia Travel Guide" - http://travelmalaysiaguide.com/fort-cornwallis-penang/#ixzz0ED1BjBSx&A