Remembering Sir Stamford Raffles, founder and first President of ZSL. July is the anniversary month of both the birth and death of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, he was born July 1781 and died July 1826.

This painting hangs in the Council Room in ZSL's Main Offices in Regent's Park. The subject is Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Born in 1781, Raffles had an adventurous life: he was Lieutenant-Governor of Java, founded Singapore, and had the enormous, foul smelling, rarely flowering plant Rafflesia arnoldi named after him. On his return to England, Raffles set up the Zoological Society of London in 1826, becoming its first President. Sadly he died unexpectedly the same year.

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781–1826) was a British statesman, Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen. He founded modern Singapore and the Straits Settlement. Raffles was heavily involved in the capture of the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. He wrote 'The History of Java'.

To learn more about key individuals in the history of ZSL search the Authority Records on the Archive catalogue by clicking "Browse" then "People and Organisations".

Raffles was a co-founder the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in 1826 and was the first President of the Society. He died unexpectedly on 5 July 1826 of apoplexy.