Sir Robert Townsend-Farquhar, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, 1st Baronet (1776 – 16 March 1830) was an influential British merchant of the early nineteenth century who served as a colonial governor and Member of Parliament. During his lengthy service for both the East India Company and the British government, Farquhar gained a reputation as an efficient and ambitious administrator and he notably served as Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) from January 1804 to 1805 and as governor of Île de Bourbon, now known as Réunion from 1810 to 1811.

He was the 1st Governor of Mauritius from 4 December 1810 to 20 May 1823. During his tenure on Mauritius, Farquhar became well known for his operations against French slave traders, having previously investigated the possibility of replacing slaves with paid Chinese labourers. After returning to Britain Farquhar, who was made a baronet in 1821, sat in Parliament for Newton and later for Hythe.

In 1787, at the age of 11, Farquhar joined Westminster School. He then took up the study of book-keeping under James Pierson of Castle Street. After this he joined the East India Company.

Farquhar rose rapidly in the company and by the late 1790s was the commercial resident in Amboyna, a former Dutch colony seized during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Farquhar concluded treaties of Alliance and Commerce with the Sultans of Tidore (12 November 1801), Ternate (23 November 1801) and Batchian (30 January 1802), all of which the Madras Government dissolved. None of them are mentioned in Aitchison's "A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads relating to India and neighbouring Countries," and can only be found at the National Archives (U.K., Ref. No. IOR/H/635).

In 1802, at the Peace of Amiens, Farquhar was charged with assessing British claims on the colony as it was returned to the Batavian Republic.

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