The Coronation of the Sultan of Selangor, Hisamuddin Alam Shah

A copy of the "Order of the Coronation of His Highness Sir Hisamud-din Alam Shah, K.C.M.G., Sultan of Selangor'. The printed pamphlet gives details of the order of events from 25-28 January 1939 with a full description of the Order of the Ceremony of the Crowning. Written in English and Malay in Arabic script.

With the programme is a letter from W.O. Skeat to Sir Richard Winstedt, dated 5 October 1954, in which he writes that Dr. Laidlaw found it difficult to decide whether to give the programme to the Royal Asiatic Society or the British Museum. Skeat was asked his preference and he favoured the Royal Asiatic Society, so it was therefore to be considered the Society's possession.

Hisamuddin Alam Shah was educated at Malay College, Kuala Kangsor. He became the sixth Sultan of Selangor, on 4 April 1938, four days after the death of his father. On 26 January 1939 he was crowned at Istana Mahkota Puri in Klang. In January 1942, Col. Fujiyama, the Japanese Military Governor of Selangor, invited Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah to King's House in Kuala Lumpur. He was told to surrender the regalia to his older brother, and the Japanese proclaimed Tengku Musa Eddin as the new Sultan. Hisamuddin Alam Shah declined to work with the Japanese and from 1943, refused their allowance awarded to him and his children. He returned to the throne in 1945, and in 1957, was elected Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong of independent Malaya. He was elected the second Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 1960 and in July declared the end of the state of emergency in Malaya. He died on 1 September 1960, the day fixed for his official installation.

Frank Fortescue Laidlaw was born at Galashiels on 1 February 1876 but spent his childhood in Guildford. He was educated at Uppingham School and Trinity College, Cambridge, studying Zoology. In 1899 he joined the Cambridge University Expedition to Malaya, under the leadership of W. W. Skeat, returning to England in the following year. He was then appointed Lecturer and Assistant Demonstrator in Zoology at Owen's College, Manchester. In 1903 he turned to the study of medicine and qualified from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1909. In 1911 he took a practice at Uffculme, Devon, where he remained, except for three years in the R.A.M.C. in the first World War, until his retirement in 1945. He had a lifelong interest in natural history and for his services to Malayan natural history he was elected a corresponding member of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1920.

Laidlaw went to Malaya with Walter William Skeat (1866-1953), the anthropologist. However this letter is signed by W.O. Skeat and sent after W.W. Skeat's death. So presumably the author of the letter is William Oswald Skeat who was educated at Whitgift Grammer School, Croydon, and apprenticed under Gresley on GNR at the Doncaster Works. He gained experience in running the department at Peterborough, then moved to Stratford Works. He joined the staff of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1933, and edited their Proceedings from 1939. Between 1947 and 1950 he worked for British Council and from 1950 he was the Secretary of the Institution of Water Engineers.

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The pamphlet was acquired from Frank Fortescue Laidlaw.

These archives were catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

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The pamphlet belonged to Frank Fortescue Laidlaw who donated it to the Royal Asiatic Society through W.O. Skeat.