Brimming with life and already one of the world’s leading port cities, early 20th century Singapore received quite a fair bit of attention from the world’s press. Numerous news features and press reports were published and beyond that many images were also captured, images that are a visual record of a Singapore that is now difficult to imagine.
Singapore in 1941, a year during which the dark clouds of war were looming over the Far East, was especially well documented. For many here for much of 1941, the threat of war seemed a distant possibility, even if there were very visible preparations being made for the eventuality. Singapore was after all the bastion of British imperial power in the Far East, a great naval base, and if Britain were to be believed, an “impregnable” fortress.
Among the photographic records of Singapore from 1941, are the wonderful archives of unpublished photographs of Harrison Forman and Carl Mydans, which were captured for National Geographic magazine and LIFE magazine respectively. What can be seen in many of these photographs, some of which have already been featured in the linked articles, are preparations for war, street scenes, the legal processing, sale, and consumption of chandu (processed opium, and various aspects of the tin and rubber industry.
Many of the images, such as those of Carl Mydans that have been presented below, also offer a window into how life was like for both the common folk and the colonial elite and the contrast that is seen between the two is pretty stark.
A dark and overcrowded coolie-keng (coolie quarter)An itinerant food vendor making a sales stop at a tea shopCorridor of trade, a food vendor sharing a space with a five-foot-way library.Gambling on a five-foot-wayA kacang putih vendorThe marketplaceHaving a meal at a hawker stallAn opium pipe maker / repairerA raid on an opium denA jaga (guard) on a charpoy (rope bed), once a common sight along out five-foot-waysMat and basket weavers working along a five-foot-wayA gathering of hawkers at Boat Quay — the origins of Boat Quay Food CentreA barefooted child hawker’s assistant clearing dishes along a busy five-foot-way A charcoal stove shopA market stallUnloading rubber bales. Rubber was a mainstay of the Malayan and Singapore economyBath time along the Singapore RiverFresh produceTwakows at Boat QuayA bullock cart along South Bridge RoadThe ever busy wharvesLive chickens bound for the marketWood for charcoal?A happy street vendorA bullock cartBasket weaver’s stall at the marketA Chinese medicine shopAt a hole-in-the-wall shopA satay vendorA busy marketplaceA man on a charpoy smoking a hookah by the riverMother and young children along a five-foot-wayA woman along North Boat QuayA rickshaw along South Bridge Road. he introduction of the trishaw during the Japanese Occupation would lead to the eventual ban on the use of rickshaws on Singapore’s streets after the war.A coolie “walking the plank”Another coolie by the riverFood vendors along a busy five-foot-wayToddy jars?A familyA harvest of coconutsA satay vendor on the moveCoolies unloading a gun at the wharvesA Teochew kueh vendorWaterside diningA wider view of the “kitchen appliance” shop dealing in charcoaL stovesA coffin maker’s shop / dwellingWining and dining at the Raffles Hotel ballroomAnd the band played on … at what looks like the Cathay’s roof café and ballroom
