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Hi Michael,
Here are a few leads on Osborne, Chappel, and their Malaya operations.
Good luck with your research!
Yrs,
Bob Murowchick
Dr. Robert E. Murowchick
Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology
Director
International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History
Boston University
650 Beacon Street, Suite 505
Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA
Tel. 617/358-8000
Fax 617/358-8008
Email: <[log in to unmask]>
ICEAACH Website: http://www.bu.edu/asianarc
Boston University Department of Archaeology website: http://www.bu.edu/archaeology
Visit the new "Asian Studies at Boston University" website: http://www.bu.edu/asian
(1) There are several mentions of Osborne and Chappel in C. G.
Warnford-Lock, Mining in Malaya for Gold and Tin (London: Crowther and
Goodman, 1907), and several photos of their operations are also
provided. The entire book can be downloaded as a pdf file from the
following link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=FlMxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=dykes+%22mining+in+malaya%22&source=bl&ots=9O2FZA2Mlt&sig=Vj4QJ8ahorHntu1uMYqIzx9f9c4&hl=en&ei=lr8OS7KUJozFlAettOWiBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false
(2) see F. Douglas Osborne, 'Tin Mining in F.M.S.', Malay Weekly Mail,
28 December 1905.
(3) Announcement of Osborne's election as a Member of the North of
England Institute of Mining Engineers is mentioned in the Transaction
of the Institution of Mining Engineers, Vol. 35 (1902-1903). Osborne
is described as "Mine Manager, Gopeng, Perak, Federated Malay States".
(4) Osborne served as first president of the Perak Turf Club
http://www.pmp.com.my/english/racing/perak_tc.asp?hidReLocationMenu=1
as well as co-founder in 1890 of the Kinta Gymkhana Club
http://www.ipohworld.org/search8/result.asp?strid=2936
(5) Heritage News (a bimonthly newsletter of the Perak Heritage
Society), Vol. 5, Issue 1-2 (Jan-April 2008), carries this description
of Osborne (pp. 7-8):
"The Gopeng Tin Mining Company
By Dr Ho Tak Ming
The Gopeng Tin Mining Company was started by F. Douglas Osborne, an
Irish mining engineer who came to Kinta in 1890. He was employed as
manager of the Leh Chin Mine at Changkat Pari near Ipoh where he
introduced the first hydraulic monitor in the State. However, the
terrain at Changkat Pari was not suitable for hydraulic mining as it
was not sufficiently steep.
In 1893 Osborne obtained the concession of a hill at Gopeng which was
suitable for hydraulic mining. However, the drawback at Gopeng was
that there was insufficient water to work the mines - in fact, many of
the Chinese miners were leaving Gopeng for the newly-established
township of Kampar. Osborne proposed to pipe water in huge iron pipes
from the sources of the Sungei Kampar at the foothills of Cameron
Highlands, a distance of seven miles from Gopeng, to work his
monitors. He got James Wickett of Redruth and his Cornish friends
interested in the project. Ten shareholders subscribed £700 each to
form the Gopeng Tin Mining Company, initially working with two
monitors. This was the first instance of hydraulic mining for tin in
the world. It was hugely successful and could work land profitably,
land that had been too poor to be used under any other system.
In 1894 Osborne procured an additional concession of 300 acres for the
company. Over time the shareholders invested another £11,000 to bring
the number of monitors to ten in 1904, altogether spending £18,000. On
that basis the company was reconstructed. The profit for 1905 alone
was £18,000. All in all, Gopeng had paid back the shareholders’ money
several times over, making them the luckiest accidental tin-miners in
the country. Together with another mining engineer, WRH Chappel,
Osborne founded the famous mining consultant firm of Osborne and
Chappel, eventually managing a dozen large mines (it was known in
Cantonese as “Sup Yee Kong Si”). The firm introduced the same system
of mining successfully to other properties, such as New Gopeng, Kinta
and Seremban. In 1912 the Gopeng Tin Mining Company merged with New
Gopeng Ltd and Ulu Gopeng Ltd to form the famous Gopeng Consolidated
Ltd, which was one of the most successful tin-mining companies in the
country. Osborne’s idea of piping water in gigantic pipes over such an
enormous distance to work his hydraulic monitors was a bold and
innovative concept, which spearheaded the introduction of modern
technology to the tin mining industry in this country."
(6) A detailed account of another family involved at several points
with Osborne (or Osbourne) and Chappel can be found here:
The Ephraums Family of Colonial Ceylon and Malaya
http://tormel.brinkster.net/applications/NewsManager/inc_newsmanager.asp?pcid=74&cid=75&rcid=75&ItemID=95
(7) You might want to contact the current OCIE (Osborne and Chappel
International Engineering Sdn. Bhd.) to see if they have company
archives and photos. Here are the contact numbers, from their web site:
Corporate Name
OCI Engineering Sdn. Bhd.
Company No
179502X
Address
26-28 Jalan Medan Ipoh 5
Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh
31400 Ipoh, Perak
Malaysia.
Telephone Nos
60 5 5499337
60 5 5475337
60 5 5479722
60 5 5467933
60 5 5474720
Fax No
60 5 5498337
E-Mails
Contact Persons
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Ir. Ng Kam Seng
Ir. Tan Hang Teck
(8) A mining engineer by the name of Archibald (Archie) Glenister
spent some 60 years with Osborne and Chappel. Here's his obit,
originally published in The Times, but reproduced here from the
Glenister Family [genealogy] Newsletter, Issue 3, 1992, pp. 21-22. It
is possible that Glenister's family might have archival information
and/or photographs of the company's early operations.
The Malaysian connection
The following article appeared in the Times newspaper, published in
London on 3 February 1986:
MR ARCHIE GLENISTER
MrArchie Glenister, CBE, who died recently aged 95 had a long and
distinguished career in the tin mining industry.
After eduction at a private school, he entered the Cambome School of
Mines, where he obtained his colours for rugby, soccer and tennis.
Graduating in 1912,
he went out to Ipoh, Malaya, and joined the firm of Osbome & Chappel
who were general managers of a large number of tin mines. He was made
a partner in 1920 and became senior partner in 1927. During the Second
World War and afterwards he served in The Malay States Volunteers, was
president of the FMS Chamber of Mines 1921-1923, and a member of the
Legislative Council of the Federated Malay States. He came home
permanently from Malaya in 1931 but continued active in the tin
industry for many years and was chairman of the Malayan Chamber of
Mines, London, from 1944 to 1955, being crated CBE in 1956. He finally
retired in 1973 after a service with Osborne & Chappel group of 61
years.
Alongside his professional work he was a keen naturalist and a
knowledgeable ornithologist; he became a Scientific Fellow of the
Zoological Society, having
presented some Malayan tigers to the London Zoo and Whipsnade. His
book "The Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang",
accurately
illustrated in colour by his wife, was first published in 1951 and is
still the standard handbook on Malayan birds; he was a member of the
British Ornithologists
Union.
Archibald Gerald Glenister was the grandson of William Montague
Glenister (see "The father of the Hastings police force" in GIN issue
2). He was born on 19
December 1899 at Hastings, the son of William Joseph Glenister and
Emma Elizabeth (nee Piper). AGG's marriage to his wife, Elizabeth
Madeline Earl Roddis, born 11 May 1899, was registered in December
1920 at Dorking, Surrey. AGG and Elizabeth had two children, Michael E
Glenister and Elizabeth R Glenister, both births registered in June
1932 at Eastbourne, so perhaps they were twins. AGG and Elizabeth
lived in retirement at The Barn House, Blatchingdon, Sussex, which is
where Elizabeth died on 6 June 1975, to be followed by AGG himself
early in 1986. No details are known of either of their children.
(9) Contact the University of Malaya archives (see http://www.umlib.um.edu.my/scontents.asp?tid=25&cid=50&p=1&vs=en
)
(10) Contact the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF MALAYSIA (Sidek Jamil, Director
General)
Address
Jalan Duta, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA ZIP Code: 50568
Telephone: 60 3 6201 0688
Fax: 60 3 6201 5679
http://www.arkib.gov.my/
(11) At Cambridge University, the Royal Commonwealth Society's
collections include the photograph collection of the British
Association of Malaysia and Singapore (BAM). A quick look turns up
quite a few tin mining-related photos. If you work with their
collections manager, you might discover images relating to your
Osborne and Chappel, or images of their operations. To start, see http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115
(12) Obituaries and memorial articles for F. Douglas Osborne appears
in The Straits Times (Singapore), May 23, 1923, page 9; May 24, page
8; June 25, 1923, page 12; Unfortunately, online access to the full
text seems to be restricted to computer terminals associated with
Singapore's National Library Board. (The Straits Times, in fact, has
some 193 mentions of Osborne, so it would probably be worth your while
to get full access to this newspaper's archive).
On Nov 26, 2009, at 7:23 AM, Mike Joll wrote:
Dear Members
I am currently researching the history of two early pioneers of
European involvement in the tin mining of Malaya - Francis Douglas
Osborne and Walter Richard Haighton Chappel. Osborne was an Irishman
who arrived in Malaya around 1880 while Chappel was a Cornish mining
engineer who arrived around 1890.
They formed a partnership which, with financial backing from Cornish
investors, went on to become one of the most successful alluvial tin
mining groups in Malaya. The finance came through the help of James
Wickett, a partner in the stockbroker firm of Abott & Wickett, based
in Redruth, Cornwall.
Any information on the above would be most useful. In particular I am
having difficulty in tracing photographs of the 3 gentlemen and any
ideas or suggestions on where I might look for these would be most
appreciated.
Michael Joll
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