Plan of the Town of Singapore.

The earliest printed plan of Singapore named after Lieutenant Philip Jackson the colony’s engineer and land surveyor under the instructions of Raffles.

When Sir Stamford Raffles was on his third and final visit to Singapore, he sought able men to help him build his town. Dissatisfied with the way in which Colonel Farquhar, then Resident, had haphazardly developed the Settlement, Raffles appointed Jackson to remodel and rebuild Singapore according to Raffles’ own plan. Raffles formed a Town Committee with Jackson assigned to assist this Committee. Jackson spent five years in Singapore as senior officer, executive engineer and Surveyor of Public Lands, helping to plan the infant town.

A draft lining out the streets was ready on 6 December 1822, and by February 1823, with the plan in definite shape covering proposals for Singapore’s future progress, the reconstruction programme went full swing. The plan though not an actual survey, was more an outline of details, but included Raffles’ important instructions of government, military and commercial locations, and town centres (kampongs also spelt campongs) to house the different ethnic communities. Throughout this period, Jackson was executive engineer of what we would now call the Public Works Department. In a sketch-drawing dated 5 June 1823, Jackson shows the town around and to the east of the Singapore River, viewed from the sea. He is known to have drawn other maps and plans for Raffles too. On 1 February 1826, Jackson was appointed Surveyor at a salary of Rs. 300 per month to survey lands, register grants and transfers. On Raffles’ instructions on 12 January 1823, Jackson prepared plans for the Singapore Institution (later called the Raffles Institution) with an estimated building cost of 15,000 Spanish dollars. With Jackson as the architect/engineer, work commenced that year on a simple design, but the building was not well constructed, and by 1832 still unfinished, and in a ruinous state. For several years it remained an eye-sore to the public until a committee was appointed on 27 August 1835 to see the completion of the building. In May 1936, George D. Coleman presented plans and cost estimates which were accepted, to complete the building. The Free Press reported in May 1837 that the Institution building was nearly finished, and by December that year classes moved in. The second wing extension was also completed by G. D. Coleman at the end of 1841.

Not much else was heard of Jackson after this period. The Sri Mariamman Temple at South Bridge Road is part of Singapore’s first town plan drawn up by Philip Jackson. Jackson was also involved in the construction of the first bridge over the Singapore River, Presentment Bridge or Monkey Bridge (at the site of Elgin Bridge).