AN INTERESTING CAREER

Key events in the life of Thomas Raffles (a long bio is here):

7/6/1781 - Born on father's ship off Jamaica.
1795 - Joins East India Company, aged 14.
April 1805 - Promoted from clerk (70 pounds/year) to Assistant Secretary to the Government of Prince Wales Island (Penang, Malaysia - 1500 pounds/year). Teaches self Malay on the voyage.
May 1811 - Helps launch invasion of Java.
June 1812 - Conquers Java, is named lieutenant governor.
May 1815 - Discovers ruins of Borobudur, largest Buddhist temple in the world.
1816 - Britain cedes Java to Dutch at end of Napoleonic Wars, dismissed from post.
1817 - Knighted by Prince Regent.
1819 - Founds Singapore.
1824 - Returns to London, founds London Zoological Society.
7/6/1826 - Dies on his 45th birthday.