Hullo there, once again. I hope you're enjoying our monthly trips out onto the moors. If this is the first time you've stumbled across this feature you might like to click on the links at the end to take you to some of the previous ones. This month we discover the connection twixt Dartmoor and the East Indies...

What on earth has a little corner of Dartmoor known as Sheepstor, to do with the Country of Sarawak in the East Indies?

Well, I’ll tell you very simply, then it's up to you to visit Sheepstor and see the evidence and find out a little more detail for yourselves.

Are you sitting comfortably?
It all began in 1803, when James Brooke, son of Thomas Brooke, a Judge in the East India Company’s Civil Service, was born in Bengal.

When Thomas died, James bought a boat "The Royalist".

This bust of James Brooke can be seen inside Sheepstor church

In 1839 the then Governor of Singapore, commanded him to sail to Sarawak to thank the Rajah Muda Hassim for his kindness shown to some shipwrecked British sailors.

He found a country where piracy, head-hunting, slavery and inter-tribal warfare were everyday events.

With the help of some friends, he used his power of diplomacy and fairness, and a little bit of British Justice, which he had administered himself, to overcome the problems facing the population.

He also spent a large amount of his personal fortune.

He finally succeeded in suppressing most of these problems, particularly the activities of the pirates. The inhabitants of Sarawak were delighted and he was made their ‘First White Rajah’ in 1841.

St Leonard's church at Sheepstor

This was the beginning of a most unusual period in the history of Sarawak, being ruled by White Rajahs from 1841 until the second World War.

In 1848, James Brooke returned to Britain and was awarded the K.C.B. by Queen Victoria.

When he returned to Sarawak, he took with him his nephew, John Brooke Johnson, who changed his surname to Brooke. John Brooke was then created Rajah Muda, to be James’s heir, and together they succeeded in creating and maintaining peace and a certain amount of prosperity for the country.

Sarawak was recognised as an independent country by Great Britain in 1864.

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