Brooke, Sir James

Brooke, Sir James (1803-1868), British army officer and explorer, later raja of Sarawak, born in Varanasi, India. He entered the military service of the East India Company. Later he conceived a plan to found a settlement of his own in Borneo or the Celebes. Travelling to Sarawak in Borneo in an armed schooner fitted out at his own expense, he found that Muda Hassim, the uncle of the sultan of Brunei, was trying to quell a rebellion. Brooke assisted Hassim and in 1841 was rewarded with the governorship of Sarawak and the title of raja. Brooke suppressed piracy and headhunting, and framed a new code of laws. He and his followers made several expeditions into the interior of Sarawak, establishing secure government. In 1847 he was appointed British governor of the island of Labuan, near Sarawak, and consul general to Borneo; he was knighted the following year. Brooke's family continued to rule Sarawak until it became a British colony in 1946.