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Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld GCMG
Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld GCMG (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was born in England in 1823 and educated in Switzerland, Weld emigrated to New Zealand in 1843 where he became a landowner, sheep farmer and a leading politician during the Maori wars. Appointed Governor of Western Australia and then Tasmania he made great strides forward for the government and the people. In 1880 was reappointed Governor of the Straits Settlements and took a great interest in those Malay States who had agreed to have British Residents. He was also awarded a knighthood (KCMG) that year.
In 1880, Sir Frederick Weld arrived in the Straits Settlements. He began to take personal interest in the development of the Malay States. In the middle of 1881, Weld visited the town of Taiping, in Perak. He found "the revenue increasing and everything going on excellent well..." but "labour for public works and roads and to develop other industries and sources of revenue besides tin-mining," he lamented, "is the great want". He also reported that:
"Water supply for Taiping from the hill (Maxwell Hill), the roads to Krian, which will connect Taiping town centre with Province Wellesley, and a rail and tramway from Taiping to the port (Port Weld, which was named after him) are amongst the next most necessary works to be undertaken. the town of Taiping has been much improved since the fire, which took place rather more than a year ago; new streets have been laid out to considerable width, and a better class of houses has been built"
n 1882 he made an official tour of Perak accompanied by his two daughters and William Maxwell then Assistant Resident of Perak. Sir Hugh Low was the Resident at the time. The tour was extensive, much of it by elephant, and in Kinta took in Gopeng (as the centre of tin mining activity), Batu Gajah (where they arrived by canoe via the Kinta River) and Papan (again by elephant) where they called on Raja Bilah, as Penghulu. In Papan they slept in the court house and were presented with a tame black monkey by Raja Ya'qub, eldest child of Raja Bilah.
The construction of the Taiping - Port Weld railway was the beginning of a major transformation altering radically the landscape of the Malay Peninsula. It also brought the first influx of Indians (mainly Tamils) and Ceylonese to Perak. Sir Frederick Weld was in Taiping again in 1883 where he "inspected everything". He spent time going down the Port Weld railway line, then in the course of construction, "on a truck behind the Engine". He also put into effect plans to build a telegraph line along the road linking Taiping with Province Wellesley. It was nearing completion after which a railway along the same route would be constructed.
Weld finally retired from political life in 1887, although he remained active in other fields of work. In 1891, visiting the Straits Settlementsonce again, he contracted a serious illness, and returned to England. He died in Chideock on 20 July 1891.
The above photograph of Frederick Weld (1823–1891), is from an original black and white image, 15 x 11 cm. The image was taken from the online catalogue of the State Library of Tasmania. Due to its age it is in the public domain worldwide. The above text is based on a Wikipedis article and other information.