Winstedt, Sir Richard Olof

Winstedt, Sir Richard Olof

▪ British educator
born Aug. 2, 1878, Oxford
died June 2, 1966, London

      director of education in British Malaya who shaped Malay education and produced an extensive body of writings on Malaya.

      Winstedt first went to Malaya in 1902. As an administrative officer posted to rural districts in Perak and Negeri Sembilan, he immersed himself (with several notable Malay amanuenses) in the study of the language, beliefs, customs, and history of the Malays. His first paper on Malay folklore was published in 1907, and the first edition of his Malay Grammar in 1913. As a result of his special interests, Winstedt was made assistant director of education for the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, with special responsibility for vernacular (Malay) education. He was director of education from 1924 to 1931.

      Though he was responsible for introducing into Malay schools a greater proportion of indigenous materials, vernacular education remained at the most elementary level. Winstedt was accused by some of using education to create a quiescent colonial population rather than to advance the true interests of the Malays in what was fast becoming a multiracial and highly westernized society.

      Despite a busy official life, Winstedt was the author of a large series of monographs and articles on the history and culture of Malaya. During the 1930s he wrote histories of several Malay states and in 1935 a general history of the peninsula. He also published a History of Classical Malay Literature (1940), a work on Malay magic, and several dictionaries. After his retirement in 1935, he returned to England, was knighted (1935), and from 1937 to 1946 was reader in Malay at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1945.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Singapore — Singaporean, n., adj. /sing geuh pawr , pohr , sing euh /, n. 1. an island on the Strait of Singapore, off the S tip of the Malay Peninsula. 2. an independent republic comprising this island and a few adjacent islets: member of the Commonwealth… …   Universalium

  • Millennium Bailey's Hotel — Facade on Courtfield Road …   Wikipedia

  • Kota Gelanggi — is a potential archaeological site believed to be the first capital of the ancient Malay Empire of Srivijaya ca. 650 900 and one of the oldest pre Islamic Malay Kingdoms on the Malay Peninsula.Its existence was announced dramatically as a… …   Wikipedia

  • Chung Keng Quee — 鄭景貴 Traditional Chinese 鄭 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”