Francis James Bernard

Francis James Bernard
Personal details
Born(1796-07-06)July 6, 1796
Westminster, London, England
Died19 December 1843(1843-12-19) (aged 47)
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Spouse
Esther Farquhar
​
​
(m. 1818; died 1838)​
RelationsJustin Trudeau (4th-great grandson) [1]
Children
  • Alfred George Farquhar Bernard (son)
Parents
  • Charles Bernard (father)
  • Mary Ford (mother)
Relatives
ProfessionPolice Chief
Police career
AllegianceBritish Empire
DepartmentSingapore
BranchPolice Force
Service years1820–1826
RankPolice Assistant

Francis James Bernard (6 July 1796 – 19 Dec 1843) was the first police chief of the Police Force in Singapore and the founder of the Singapore Chronicle, the first newspaper in Singapore.

Bernard was appointed as the first Master Attendant when Singapore became a trading port in February 1819. In addition to advising the governor on nautical matters, he was responsible for the control of shipping lying in the roadstead. He was succeeded by William Lawrence Flint, the brother-in-law to Sir Stamford Raffles, in April 1820. The Master Attendant designation would later renamed as Director of Marine in 1964.[2]

In May 1820, Bernard led the first police force in Singapore as the Police Assistant under the direction of his father-in-law Major William Farquhar, who would only receive the official sanction from Raffles in August 1820.[3]

Bernard had no previous experience, and the police force, which consisted of just 12 men, had limited resources. He first worked out of his own residence, an attap house which was completed in December 1820 and in close proximity to Farquhar's residence (present day location of Old Supreme Court Building), before being relocated to a stone building in 1823, which was formerly one of an English merchant Captain Methven's godowns at Ferry Point (close to the lawn in front of the main entrance of present-day Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall). There were also lockups at the basement of this building.[4][5][6]

Bernard also founded the Singapore Chronicle newspaper in 1824.[7]

The police force was later put under command of the Resident Councillor John Prince, after Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements in 1826.

  1. ^ Bah, Tan Bah (18 November 2018). "Justin Trudeau's serendipitous links to Singapore". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  2. ^ Gibson-Hill, C. A. (1960). "The Master Attendants at Singapore, 1819 – 67". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 33 (1 (189)): 64. JSTOR 41505484. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  3. ^ Wright, Nadia (December 2016). "The Career of Francis James Bernard: Nepotism and Patronage in Early Singapore". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 89 (2): 25–44. doi:10.1353/ras.2016.0023. S2CID 159481028.
  4. ^ "Singapore Police Force". Singapore Police Force.
  5. ^ "Mata.Mata: History of The Singapore Police". Remember Singapore. 10 August 2013.
  6. ^ "First Police Office (demolished)". www.roots.gov.sg. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  7. ^ Gibson-Hill, C. A. (1969). "The Singapore Chronicle (1824-37)". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 42 (1 (215)): 166–191. JSTOR 41491982. Retrieved 19 January 2021.