They were among the earliest merchants to arrive in Singapore from the British Raj when it was established as a trading port by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819.

They numbered around 100 individuals at their peak in the early 1920s,[1] but most have moved on to other countries or become absorbed into the wider Singapore community.

Despite their small number, they had an impact in the commercial life of early Singapore, and members of the community co-founded the newspaper The Straits Times and built the Raffles Hotel.

Singapore is a city-state located on islands in Southeast Asia, separated from the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula by the narrow Johor Strait.

[3] Some of these Armenians that became merchants would migrate to British Raj India and further beyond and by the 18th century, Armenian traders had established themselves in British Raj India (particularly Kolkata), Myanmar, the Malay Peninsula (particularly Penang and Malacca) and Java.

As stated by The Free Press in 1836: "This small yet elegant building does honor to the civic and religious sentiments of the Armenians of this Settlement; for we believe that only in very rare cases would such a small community have gathered enough funds to construct such a building – one of the most decorated and best-appointed examples of architecture.

[8] Catchick Moses (Movessian) (1812-1895), was a co-founder of the Straits Times, which was to become the national English newspaper, in 1845.

The brothers' cousin Arathoon Sarkies, together with Eleazor Johannes managed the Adelphi Hotel in the early 1900s.

[9] Martyrose Arathoon who became a partner in Sarkies Brothers in 1917 managed Raffles Hotel during its halcyon days of the 1920s.

Her tombstone stands in the Armenian Church in Singapore and reads: In loving memory of Agnes, eldest Daughter of the late Parsick Joaquim, Born 7th April 1854 - Died 2nd July 1899,'Let her own works praise her.