29-614: The North Borneo Chartered Company ( NBCC ), also known as the British North Borneo Company ( BNBC ), was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia). The territory became a protectorate of the British Empire in 1888 but the company remained involved with the territory until 1946, when administration
58-464: A company with two million pounds of capital was sealed on 1 November 1881. The provisional company was dissolved and the following year, a chartered company was established with its first settlement on Gaya Island . The settlement however was burnt down during a raid by a local leader named Mat Salleh and was never re-established. Due to such resistance, establishing law and order as well as recruiting Sikh policemen from northern India became one of
87-698: A member of the Council of Legal Education in 1929. He refused to accept a knighthood for his wartime services. He was junior counsel to HM Treasury , the Board of Trade and the Attorney General for England and Wales in 1934. Uthwatt was nominated a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in 1941 and subsequently created a Knight Bachelor . On 9 January 1946, he
116-642: Is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights ) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, or colonization , or a combination of these. The article Chartered Companies in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , by William Bartleet Duffield, contains a detailed narrative description of the development of some of the companies in England and, later, Britain. From 3 August 1889 to 15 May 1893 Filonardi
145-672: The White Rajahs , he managed to bring territories to the company that were not included in the original leases. These include Pengalat (1883), the Klias Peninsula (1884), Mantanani (1885), Padas (1889) and the area of Sipitang, Bongawan to Tuaran (1889). From 1889, the island of Labuan was also part of the company's administrative territory. Although the Netherlands had already installed a trading post in Borneo shortly after
174-598: The BCL despite graduating with second-class honours. After his admission to Gray's Inn in 1901, he was called to the bar three years later and became a bencher in 1927. He was a pupil barrister of Chancery specialist Robert John Parker (later Lord Parker of Waddington ). As he was unable to serve during the First World War , Uthwatt served as legal adviser to the Ministry of Food from 1915 until 1918 and became
203-474: The British government included a £860,000 immediate cash settlement that allowed the company to settle outstanding financial claims. The government's offer to repay all other claims by paying 2.2 million pounds had already been rejected by the company. For the negotiation of further financial compensation, the British government appointed Lord Uthwatt as an independent arbitrator. In March 1949, Uthwatt announced
232-687: The Sultan of Brunei had already ceded some areas to the Sultan of Sulu , further negotiations were needed. With the assistance of William Clark Cowie , a Scottish adventurer and friend of Sultan Jamal-ul Azam of Sulu, the Sultan signed a concession treaty on 22 January 1878 and received 5,000 Spanish dollars. Following the successful concessions, Overbeck and the Dent brothers became the rulers of an area in northern Borneo. Overbeck withdrew in 1879 after failing to attract German interest, leaving Alfred Dent to manage
261-657: The West Coast Residency and the East Coast Residency. The seat of the two residents was in Sandakan , where the governor was based. Each residency, in turn, was divided into several provinces managed by a district officer. Over time, the number of residencies increased to five: Tawau Residency (also known as East Coast Residency), Sandakan Residency, West Coast Residency, Kudat Residency, and Interior Residency. The provinces were initially named after
290-479: The board of directors in 1894 marked the beginning of a major change in the style of administration: Before, North Borneo was governed by the company, and the governors were fully empowered and fully responsible. But since Cowie took over, he mostly ran things from London. Instead of the development of North Borneo, the satisfaction of the shareholders was in the foreground. Alfred Dent, who fiercely opposed Cowie's costly and money-wasting ideas, resigned and withdrew from
319-470: The boundary between the area granted by the Sultan of Sulu and the area claimed by the Dutch on the basis of the treaty with the Sultan of Bulungan. On 20 January 1891, they agreed on a line along 4°10' north latitude – which corresponded to a central division of the island of Sebatik . On 5 January 1905, the company territory of Lawas – a controversial border area of the province of Clark was relinquished to
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#1732765147374348-425: The company's earlies priorities, along with expanding trade; instituting a government, courts, and penal system; building a railway line from Jesselton to Tenom ; and encouraging the harvesting and barter trade of local crops, as well as establishment of plantations. The company also faced some resistance to its economic modernisations and tax policies. North Borneo was negatively affected by World War II and by
377-610: The company. Under Neill Malcolm , the administration was ordered to strictly supervise expenditure. Several governors reduced the number of district officers by eliminating the posts in Ranau, Pensiangan, Tenom, Sipitang, Penampang, Tuaran, Langkon, Lamag, Beluran and Semporna. Douglas James Jardine , who become the governor in 1934, completed the process by merging the Tawau Residency with the Sandakan Residency on
406-501: The end of the war it was foreseeable that the company would be unable to finance reconstruction. The company therefore waived the further use of their charter and gave North Borneo to the British Colonial Office . The company officially dissolved on 26 June 1946 with the signing of an agreement. From 15 July 1946 until the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, North Borneo was a Crown colony . The agreement with
435-496: The founding of the Dutch East India Company , there were no noteworthy activities by the Dutch on the east coast of northern Borneo. This changed in 1846 when the Dutch signed a contract with the Sultan of Bulungan , who assured the Dutch control of the area. At the instigation of the Dutch, the Sultan married his son with the daughter of the Sultan of Tarakan in 1867, whereby the Dutch sphere of influence reached
464-478: The heads of a British trading company in Shanghai and London , Alfred Dent and Edward Dent, together met with the rulers of northern Borneo to obtain a concession for their colonial interests. The Governor of Labuan , accompanied the negotiations. On 29 December 1877, they met Sultan Abdul Momin of Brunei. The Sultan agreed to make the concession for 15,000 Spanish dollars . However, since it turned out that
493-491: The members of the board: Alcock, Cunlife, Dewhurst, Keppel, Dent, Martin, Elphinstone, Myburgh and Mayne. The senior residents occupied Sandakan and West Coast, while the other three residents with the second class residencies occupied Interior, East Coast and Kudat. The residents of Sandakan and West Coast were members of the Legislative Council, the legislative assembly of the company. The election of Cowie to
522-462: The neighbouring Sarawak and in exchange for “certain coal fields at the Brunei Bay ”. The head of the company was the chairman of the board of directors, since 1910 officially named as President : [REDACTED] Media related to North Borneo Chartered Company at Wikimedia Commons Chartered company A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that
551-922: The one hand and the Interior Residency with the West Coast on the other hand. He also removed the District Officer in Papar. Municipal administration was governed by the Village Ordinance of 1891. This ordinance fundamentally changed the status of the chiefs, the traditional indigenous tribal leaders. Following its implementation, the company only accepted those chiefs who had appointed them as community leaders. Other chieftains, who had played an important role for generations, were either shut down or branded as criminals or troublemakers. Disrespect for these traditional leaders contributed to
580-498: The promotion of trade and the establishment of plantations. Effective from 1 March 1883, the periodical North Borneo Herald and Official Gazette was published to disseminate the decisions of the Court of Directors, both within the administrative units of North Borneo, and the company's shareholders and investors. A major contribution to the consolidation of the administrative area was made by William Hood Treacher . In negotiations with
609-536: The region around Tawau . The north of the Dutch area which overlapped with an area that was claimed by the Sultanate of Sulu for themselves. A conflict with the British was therefore inevitable when in 1878 the Sultan of Sulu placed the southern boundary of his land for cession to Overbeck on the Sibuku River . In settling the border disputes, the company negotiated with the Dutch from the 1880s onwards to define
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#1732765147374638-418: The result of his investigations: £1,400,000 should be awarded to the company as compensation; any claims related to war damage would not be included. The news triggered disappointment among shareholders. Overnight, the value of the company share fell from 17 s to 9s 6 p . With the founding of the company, the administrative divisions of North Borneo introduced by Overbeck were maintained by the establishment of
667-588: The spirit of local resistance led by tribal group such as Mat Salleh and Ontoros Antanum . The company had two responsibilities, namely: The first governor of North Borneo, William Hood Treacher , devoted himself to the elimination of slavery . However, the land laws issued by him in no way respected the traditional land rights of the inhabitants. The second governor, Charles Vandeleur Creagh , in 1888, issued several proclamations that largely secured foreigners' access to land. A board of directors in London determined
696-408: The tasks of the company over the governors. Locally, directors over-ruled the governor's instructions. The company established a state power, issued laws (proclamations), recruited Sikh policemen from northern India. Courts were set up to enforce the laws. Furthering the economic exploitation of the area was the construction of a railway line (North Borneo Railway) from Jesselton to Weston and Melalap ,
725-575: The territory. Dent then planned to register a company to represent the British but since a considerable delay seemed likely, he decided to found a provisional company first. In 1881, the British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited was founded with registered capital of £ 300,000. The directors were Dent himself together with Rutherford Alcock , Richard Biddulph Martin , Admiral Richard Mayne and William Henry Read . The charter contract for
754-669: Was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and received thereby additionally a life peerage with the title Baron Uthwatt , of Lathbury, in the County of Buckingham. Following his appointment, he was sworn of the Privy Council in February of the same year. He served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until his death in 1949. In 1927, he married Mary Baxter Bonhote. They did not have any children of their own, though they did adopt
783-596: Was educated at Ballarat College and the University of Melbourne where he resided at Trinity College from 1896. He was awarded a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899 and subsequently studied for the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. He went to Balliol College, Oxford in 1901, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law , receiving the Vinerian Scholarship . He received the highest mark on
812-705: Was fully assumed by the Crown colony government. The company also temporarily administered the island of Labuan in 1890 before it became part of the Straits Settlements . The company motto was Pergo et Perago , which means "I persevere and I achieve" in Latin . Its founder and its first chairman was Alfred Dent . The company was founded along similar lines as the East India Company . German businessman and diplomat Baron von Overbeck , along with
841-558: Was the first Governor of Italian Somaliland and was in charge of an Italian company responsible for the administration of the Benadir territory, called Societa' Filonardi. Augustus Uthwatt, Baron Uthwatt Augustus Andrewes Uthwatt, Baron Uthwatt PC (25 April 1879 – 24 April 1949 ) was an Australian-born British judge. Born in Ballarat, Victoria , he was the son of Thomas Andrewes Uthwatt and his wife Annie Hazlitt. He
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