William Henry Macleod Read

William Henry Macleod Read (7 February 1819 – 10 May 1909) was an active participant in the commercial, political and social life of Singapore and the Malay states between 1841 and 1887.

Read was born in Scotland, the son of Christopher Rideout Read, co-partner of A. L. Johnston & Company. Aged 22, he travelled to Singapore to take his father's place at A. L. Johnston & Company, Singapore's leading merchant company at that time, his father retiring and returning to England the following year (1842). Alexander Laurie Johnston, his father’s co-partner, retired and left Singapore in December. Read headed the company until his own retirement in 1887. Read was predeceased by his wife, Marjory Cumming-Read at age 21 on 24 June 1849. Cumming-Read was the daughter of banker John Cumming of Forres, Scotland and there is a stone marker in her memory as his "beloved and lamented wife" at St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore.

William Read was appointed Special Constable to deal with ethnic riots between the Colony’s Hokkien and Cantonese communities in 1854. He is credited with using his powers of negotiation and mediation to settle the conflict. Also in 1854, William Read was the first volunteer of the Singapore Rifle Corps, a militia unit in which he remained active for 25 years.

In 1857 Read, who was fluent in French, was made Counsul for the Netherlands in Singapore, a post he held until 1885. For his service as the Dutch Counsul, he was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Knight Commander). By 1865, Read was Chairman of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce. During his tenure in the then British Straits Settlement, Singapore passed from control of British India to the British Colonial Office in 1867. William Read was a member of the Legislative Council that oversaw the transfer. In 1868, Read was appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael & St. George (C.M.G.), by Queen Victoria. An announcement in the London Gazette noted,

Chancery of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Downing Street, February 3, 1885. THE Queen has been graciously pleased to give directions for the following appointment to the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George : To be an Ordinary Member of the Third Class, of Companions of the said Most Distinguished Order :— William Henry Macleod Read, Esq., for long and valuable services rendered in the Straits Settlements.

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