William A. Pickering

For other people named William Pickering, see William Pickering (disambiguation).

William Alexander Pickering
CMG
Protectorate of Chinese
In office
3 May 1877 – 4 May 1899
Personal details
Born9 June 1840
Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England
Died26 January 1907(1907-01-26) (aged 66)
San Remo, Italy

William Alexander Pickering[1] CMG (9 June 1840 – 26 January 1907) was the first Protector appointed on 3 May 1877[2] by the British government to administer the Chinese Protectorate in colonial Singapore. He was the first European official in Singapore who could speak fluent Mandarin and Hokkien and gained the trust of many of the Singapore Chinese. His efforts went a long way towards controlling the problems posed by the secret societies then. Pickering Street in Singapore's Chinatown is named after him.

  1. ^ Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute: Volume 20. 1889. p. 473. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  2. ^ "William A. Pickering". Singapore Infopedia. Retrieved 28 October 2018.