Alfred Russel Wallace and the Catholic connection in Singapore
In April 1854 Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) came to Singapore as an experienced naturalist and explorer. Wallace describes in The Malay Archipelago, “Few places are more interesting to a traveller from Europe than the town and island of Singapore, furnishing, as it does, examples of a variety of Eastern races, and of many different religions and modes of life.”1 Singapore remains so to this day.
One of the places Wallace stayed at was a mission house at Bukit Timah. Wallace writes, “My friend at Bukit-tima was truly a father to his flock. He preached to them in Chinese every Sunday, and had evenings for discussion and conversation on religion during the week. He had a school to teach their children. His house was open to them day and night.” Ibid
Wallace’s friend was a French Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Anatole Mauduit (1817-1858), Missions Étrangères de Paris . Fr. Mauduit left his home in Mortain, France after his ordination as a priest in 1843 and came to Singapore in 1844. He began his ministry with the head of the mission in town, Fr. Jean-Marie Beurel (1813-1872). While exploring the interior of the island (now known as the Central Catchment Nature Reserve), Fr. Mauduit felt the need to set up a chapel there. St. Joseph’s church was thus established in 1846 but it was in another location and was known as Kranji Chapel (fig. 4). Fr. Mauduit succeeded in raising funds and using also his own stipend, built St. Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah in May 1853. Less than a year later, Wallace would have the good fortune of meeting his acquaintance and enjoyed Fr. Mauduit’s generous hospitality not just once but over several years during his stop-overs in Singapore.
Wallace’s letters on Fr. Mauduit and his missionary
Wallace wrote home to his mother on 30th April 18542 telling her that staying in a hotel in town was very expensive and he would try to leave town to find somewhere more affordable in the country. In his attempts he “at last got permission to stay with a French Roman Catholic Missionary who lives about 8 miles out of the Town & close to the Jungle.” Wallace described Fr. Mauduit as a “very pleasant man” who spoke English, Malay, Chinese and mother tongue of French and that Fr. Mauduit “has built a pretty church here & has about three hundred Chineese converts.” About a month later, Wallace updated his mother that he was living comfortably with Fr. Mauduit and that he and Charles Allen (1839-1892, assistant to Wallace) went out daily to collect specimens in the jungle.
In June 1854, in a letter to a publisher (?) Wallace after describing his observations in the state and its people also quoted Mauduit, “Singapore is a very strange place; I never did see one like it. It belongs to the English, who bought it from the Malays, but now the Chinese have it quite for themselves. They take what ground they like, and make plantations, and then sell them for a great deal of money, and nobody says anything to them. It is really a very strange place.”3
Two years later, while staying with Fr. Mauduit, Wallace wrote at length to his sister Fanny praising the proselytization efforts of the French missionary and their personal sacrifices, “Most are frenchmen & those I have seen or heard of, are well educated men, who give up their lives to the good of the people they live among. No wonder they make converts, among the lower orders principally. For it must be a great comfort to these poor people to have a man among them to whom they can go in any trouble or distress, — whose sole object is to comfort & then advise them; who visits them in sickness, who relieves them in want, & whom they see living in daily danger of persecution & death only for their benefit…. As Missionaries I think Catholics are best…”4
Death of Fr. Mauduit
Sadly, years of toil and sacrifice took a toll on Fr. Mauduit. He was plagued with sickness but continued to serve his congregation with whatever strength he had – as Wallace had observed and recorded in his book and in his letters to friends and family. In 1858, Fr. Mauduit succumbed to his illness and was buried “in the church which he had built, in great part with his own money, and amidst the cries and regrets of all his people whom he had instructed and baptised with his own hands.”5 Fr. Mauduit was originally buried in the nave of St Joseph’s Church but was moved a number of times due to redevelopment. His remains are now interred in the parish columbarium and his gravestone now rests serenely in the Rosary Garden6 (figs. 1, 2 and 3).
Photographs and sketches of St. Joseph’s Church
The following discusses a few identical photographs of St. Joseph’s Church that are in various websites on the internet and in several publications, and three sketches. The different dates appearing on the identical photographs have caused some confusion and in the following notes, I hope to shed some light on which is the first known and original one.
August Sachtler (?1839-1873) was a German photographer who in partnership with a Danish photographer Kristen Feilberg took over Sachtler and Co. in 1864. It is not known who established Sachtler and Co. in 18637. In Low and Flores (2017)8, it is simply stated that “Germans August and Hermann Sachtler were established in Singapore in 1862 to 1874.” (p. 80). Hermann Sachtler (E. Hermann Sachtler) is presumed to be August’s brother.
Hannavy 20089, p. 1314, writes, “The earliest panorama in the Straits region was a view of Singapore in ten parts made in 1863 by Sachtler and Co. The firm also made one of the first published albums; Views and Types of Singapore. From 1864 the firm was run by August Sachtler and Danish-born Kristen Feilberg (1839–1919) and they built an extensive stock of views from across the region including images from an expedition to Sarawak in 1864.” August had photographed St. Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah possibly in or after 1864. It is captioned, ‘129. Singapore Mission Capelle’ (fig. 5).
John Edmund Taylor (active years 1860-1885) was in Singapore and the Malay Peninsular in the years 1879-1881. He painted, photographed, collected photographs and newspaper clippings which are compiled as an album named Sketches in the Malay Archipelago.10 On page 47 is a copy of Sachtler’s photograph of the St. Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah. In the album, Taylor dated and captioned nearly all his drawings and the photographs he took or collected. The photo of the church however was not dated. The photo had been superimposed with a cut-out photo of himself with five other men. The caption reads, “THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION CHURCH Bukit Timah– Singapore – The country behind this church is very beautiful – and there is a good sprinkle of wild deer and boar in the thick jungle – We have had many an exciting hunt close by.” (fig. 6). Dr. George Beccaloni suggested that Taylor probably did not have his camera with him when he went hunting that day and wishing to remember he had in fact been there, had a (studio-photographed?) photo of himself and his men cut out and pasted on the copy of the photograph of the church. We now call this photoshopping.
Taylor’s photograph was reproduced in the Wellcome Collection as, “Singapore: a western hunter and native Malays with a background view of the Roman Catholic Mission Church at Bukit Timah. Photograph by J. Taylor, 1880.” This is inaccurate as the ‘native Malays’ are in fact South Asian Indians, and the photo of the church was not taken by Taylor but August Sachtler, albeit having been doctored by Taylor (fig. 7).
The last photograph in this discussion is captioned ‘St. Joseph Bukit Timah 1905’ but is undoubtedly a copy of Sachtler’s 1864 version as well (fig. 8).
Sketches of St. Joseph’s?
In Liew (2016) are two productions of the same sketch with a caption, ‘Side View: St. Joseph’s Church, 1854’ on page facing cover page and on page 73. If the description and date are accurate, scholars and laypeople interested in Wallace and his travels would be delighted to lay eyes on the very scene Wallace himself beheld. Liew attributed the image to the Wellcome Library.
I performed an image search but was unable to pull up the exact image (fig. 10). Instead, a water-coloured reproduction by John Taylor is found in Sketches in the Malay archipelago. The drawing is on page 18 captioned, “Mount Echo – Singapore – Just below this hill was a large piece of Swampy Ground where we have had many a good morning’s snipe shooting. —” (fig. 11). It is reproduced in more vivid colours in Wellcome Collection and described as “Singapore: a hill known as ‘Mount Echo’. Watercolour by J. Taylor, 1879.” (fig. 12). It is also recorded in our National Archives (NAS) as “SKETCH OF HILL KNOWN AS MOUNT ECHO, OUTSIDE SINGAPORE, 1879”, attributing its source to the Wellcome Collection mentioned above. However, part of the description in NAS “OUTSIDE SINGAPORE”, is incorrect.
Mount Echo Park (elevation 19m) is 14 km away, a 16-minute drive on today’s roads, from St. Joseph’s Church, Bukit Timah (elevation 31m). The heights of the two places may have been reduced due to redevelopment. It is a mystery (to me) how the two nearly identical sketches are at two different locations but I am inclined to believe that Mr. John E. Taylor is right. A photograph taken in 1974 (fig. 13) features the front facade of the Mount Echo mansion. It is said to have been built around 1860. The 1854 sketch (fig. 10) is perhaps wrongly dated and may not be St. Joseph’s Church but the Mount Echo mansion before additional buidlings were contructed.
Dr. Beccaloni pointed out to me a passage in Wallace’s The Malay Archipelago, p. 36, “The mission house at Bukit-tima [sic] was surrounded by several of these wood-topped hills, which were much frequented by woodcutters and sawyers, and offered me an excellent collecting ground for insects.” Wallace did not describe the church as being on top of a hill.
St. Joseph’s Church today
Though modern with all the creature comforts, technology, ample parking spaces, the church also has a rustic layback feel and tranquility on its well-manicured grounds. The moment we entered, time seemed to slow down. Our leisurely stroll was very pleasant and though overcast and very humid, an occasional breeze brought calmness and delight. Soon we were in the Rosary Garden and we came upon Fr. Mauduit’s gravestone. I cannot help but marvel at the fervour and devoutness of Fr. Mauduit who extended kindness so naturally to anyone and to Wallace. Unbeknownst to himself, he is remembered to this day, in no small part, due to Wallace’s writings. It must be gratifying to Wallace’s family to have a quote from Wallace’s book on the back of the dust jacket of Mission on a Hill Far, Far Way, published by the church. Surrounded by greenery in the heart of the nature reserve, we spotted a number birds and butterflies, but sadly, not as many or as varied as when Wallace was here 170 years ago — but at least we know we are safe from the tigers!
1. Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1869. The Malay Archipelago: the land of the Orang-Utan, and the bird of paradise: a narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. London: Macmillan and Co. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/230985#page/13/mode/thumb
2. “WCP353,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 21 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP353
3. “WCP354,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 21 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP354
4. “WCP363,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 21 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP363
5. History of the Catholic Church in Singapore: Father Anatole Mauduit, MEP. https://history.catholic.sg/father-anatole-mauduit-mep/
6. St Joseph’s Church cemetery — the last Catholic resting place of our early missionaries. https://history.catholic.sg/st-josephs-church-cemetery-the-last-catholic-resting-place-of-our-early-missionaries
7. Daguerreotypes to Dry plates: Photography in 19th-century Singapore. BiblioAsia Oct-Dec 2019. https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/files/pdf/BiblioAsia%20Oct-Dec%202019.pdf
8. Charting Thoughts: Essays on Art in Southeast Asia. Low Sze Wee; Patrick Flores, eds. 2017. National Gallery, Singapore.
9. Hannavy, John. 2008. Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
10. Taylor, John Edmund. c1878-1881. Sketches in the Malay archipelago, Album of watercolours and photographs made and collected. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/t867gjws
Image credits:
Fig. 1. ‘Fr. Mauduit’s tombstone in the Church’, 1858. From the archives of St Joseph’s Church (Bukit Timah).
Fig. 2. Fr. Mauduit’s tombstone in the Rosary Garden, by the author, April 2024.
Fig. 3. Fr. Mauduit’s ashes in the Parish columbarium, by the author, April 2024.
Fig. 4. Mission Chapel in the Jungle, Kranji c1846. 2008, A Survey of the Development of the Singapore Chinese Catholic Mission in the 19th Century. BiblioAsia, National Library, Singapore. https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-3/issue-4/jan-2008/chinese-catholic-mission-development/#fn:28
Fig. 5. August Sachtler. c1870. Views of Singapore and surroundings: 129. Singapore Mission Capelle. https://inlibris.com/item/bn50136/
Fig. 6. [August Sachtler] and John E. Taylor. Sketches in the Malay archipelago. Album of watercolours and photographs made and collected by J.E. Taylor. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/t867gjws/items?canvas=95
Fig. 7. [August Sachtler] and John E. Taylor. 1880. Part of: Sketches in the Malay archipelago. Album of watercolours and photographs made and collected by J.E. Taylor. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/php47j3d
Fig 8. August Sachtler. ‘St. Joseph Bukit Timah 1905’. Reproduction origin is unknown.
Fig. 9. Photographer unknown. ‘The old church 1905’. A tower can be seen in this postcard that are not in the others discussed in this article. Courtesy of St. Joseph’s Church (Bukit Timah), personal gift.
Fig. 10. Painter unknown. Liew, Clement. 2016. ‘Mission on a Hill Far, Far Away’. Published by St. Joseph’s Church (Bukit Timah) https://www.google.com.sg/books/edition/Mission_on_a_Hill_Far_Far_Away/hn6tAQAACAAJ?hl=en
Fig. 11. Taylor, John Edmund. c1878-1881. Sketches in the Malay archipelago, Album of watercolours and photographs made and collected. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/t867gjws/items?canvas=37
Fig. 12. Taylor, John Edmund. Singapore: a hill known as “Mount Echo”. Watercolour by J. Taylor, 1879. 1 painting: watercolour; image 11.3 x 24.6 cm. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/bzayqt4g/items
Fig. 13. All rights reserved, Lee Kip Lin and the National Library Board, 2009. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/image-detail?cmsuuid=4a00db74-1b5a-419f-95c5-4a168a7c0162
Acknowledgements
My thanks go out to Dr. George Beccaloni, Director of the Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project and the executor, with members of Wallace’s family, of Alfred Russel Wallace’s Literary Estate. He encouraged me to investigate the origins of the photographs of the church and hope I would uncover something new along the way. Thanks also for his suggestions post publication.
I thank Dr. Julian Derry for reading my first draft and offered brilliant suggestions.
I am grateful to Terry Pyle who noticed a typographical error, now corrected, and to Rev. Michael Roberts for his sweet comments on Facebook on this article.
I am grateful to the members of St. Joseph’s Church, namely Christina, daughter of the sacristan. As she was really busy, I could not impose much on her time but I learned that she and her mother are living in the house occupied by Fr. Mauduit. Wallace may not have slept there but it is probable he had partaken tea and held conversations with Fr. Mauduit and other priests there.
Apart from the building’s external walls, nearly everything else has been reconstructed to comply with the standards of the Building and Construction Authority. She helpfully directed me to approach the lady in the admin office for more history of the church.
Ms. Evelyn Lau, administrator in the office shared her valuable knowledge of the church’s history. She generously gave me the book Mission on a Hill Far, Far Away by Clement Liew and many historical postcards. I am touched by her kindness and generosity.
I also thank my daughter Ashley Toh who accompanied me on this little quest and vetting my writing afterwards.
