Civilian Internment : Malaya's war effort

Thomas, Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge, 1879-1962, knight colonial administrator

Civilian Internment

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Copy of a report written by Thomas outlining pre-war social and economic conditions in Malaya; the organisation of wartime command and civil defence; the duties of civil government; local forces assisting in defence; medical services; finance and the production of tin and rubber; the supply, distribution and pricing of food; and the behaviour of the Malay, Indian and Chinese populations (32 sheets).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>After a career as a colonial administrator in Africa, in which he served as governor of Nyasaland and the Gold Coast, Sir Shenton Thomas was appointed governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner for the Malay states in 1934. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, he was interned first in Changi prison, before being moved to Taiwan, and then to Manchuria. He retired in 1946.</p>