The Anglo-Chinese College of Malacca: where was it and what did it have?

What is it about?

The Anglo-Chinese College was founded by British missionaries Robert Morrison and William Milne in relatively established Dutch/British Malacca in 1818, and removed to the young British colony of Hong Kong in 1843. As the first Protestant school started in Asia by the first two Protestant missionaries to China, it has generated considerable interest in academic and religious research, in the West and in the East, even to this day. But few of these studies have focused on the physical aspects of the institution, preferring to examine the people involved and the impacts and influences of the school. Through a careful study of relevant primary sources, this paper attempts to fill this gap in research by firstly, investigating the original location of the College, secondly, giving a brief overview of the physical facilities on the school grounds, and, finally, taking a closer look at the library collection of this early western-style educational institution in Asia.

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Photo by T RR on Unsplash

Photo by T RR on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The Anglo-Chinese College of Malacca had existed only for a little over two decades, but because of its pioneering status it has, over many years, been a focal point of missionary and historical research efforts. This short paper is an attempt to participate in these efforts by examining the physical aspects of the College in these pivotal early years, in the hope of shedding new lights on these hitherto under explored areas of research. In particular, it depicted the former location of the school in the context of early 19th century Malacca, reviewed the buildings and other amenities which were available on the large campus, and described in some details the holdings of Chinese and non-Chinese books in the College library, hence providing a better understanding of the physical environment in which the missionary teachers and Chinese and European students worked and learned from 1818 through to 1843.