George Drumgoole Coleman (1795 – 1844) arrived in Singapore as a young man when the British trading station there was just three years old. He first attracted public attention in 1827 when he designed and constructed a handsome building that the government used as the Court House and the office of the Recorder. It was later incorporated into Parliament House. Between 1828 and 1841, he surveyed the entire island, constructed inland roads and city streets, and designed and erected many of the principal public and privately owned buildings in the urban area.

The Author

T.H.H. Hancock, Dipl. Arch. (U.C.L.), F.R.I.B.A., F.R.T.P.I. was born in Essex in 1913 and received his education at Parmiter’s School and at University College, London. During the Second World War, he served with the Air Ministry on a number of sensitive projects such as aerial reconnaissance sites and on airfield expansion programmes, before proceeding to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning as its Liaison Planner between 1945 and 1946. Between 1947 and 1950, he was employed briefly as Town Planner for the Federation of Malaya, in which capacity he acted as adviser on planning to States, Municipalities and Crown Colonies. Afterwards, Hancock joined the Public Works Department of Singapore as its Senior Architect (1950-1957), during which time he was also made Vice-President of the Institute of Architects of Malaya, 1956-1957; Vice-Chairman, Royal Town Planning Institute, Malaya Branch, 1952-1957 and Governor of Singapore Polytechnic, 1955-1957. Hancock returned to Britain in 1957 where he continued to serve in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government as Housing and Planning Inspector. Between 1959 and 1975, Hancock crowned his career when he became the Principal Planning Architect with the Greater London Council. Hancock was a member of various societies in Britain, including the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, the Society of Authors, the Georgian Group and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, serving as adviser to the last two organizations.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Coleman’s early life
3. Coleman in Calcutta and Batavia
4. Coleman returns to Singapore
5. Coleman the Surveyor
6. No. 3 Coleman Street
7. Superintendent of Public Works
8. Coleman leaves Singapore 1841
9. Coleman remembered