Robert Sparke Hutchings

[8] At the Dittisham rectory, Hutchings had the care of the children of his brother-in-law George Caunter, a Navy man who had gone to Prince of Wales Island (Penang) in 1795 and was its Acting Superintendent in the closing years of the eighteenth century.

[9] One of the children to whom Robert Hutchings was guardian, the later clergyman and writer John Hobart Caunter, would describe his uncle as having "a heart perfection scarce could mend" and as being the source of "most of what I know".

Soon after his arrival, Hutchings petitioned the government for cups for the wine, a salver for the bread and a plate for the alms, items necessary for the administration of the sacrament.

To a council meeting under governor William Petrie on 6 January 1816, Hutchings presented an "Address to the Public in behalf of a School, to be established in Prince of Wales Island".

The "first object of the Institution" was "to provide for the education of such Children, as would be otherwise bred up in Idleness and consequent Vice, and without any means of obtaining Instruction either in useful Learning or in any Manual Employment, and to implant in them the early habits of Industry, Order, and Good Conduct.

[17] The first iteration of Penang Free School, housed temporarily at a private residence in Love Lane, George Town, was opened for 25 boys on 21 October 1816.

The Society wrote: "we could not obtain suitable Assistants, so as to commence the Printing of the Malay Version in the Arabic Character, until the arrival of the Revd Mr Hutchings (on Sick Certificate) from Penang.

We can scarcely speak in too high terms of the indefatigable zeal and attention shewn by that Gentleman among many interruptions from Sickness, in the revision of the new Testament".

Notwithstanding his poor health, he joined government employee Robert Ibbetson on a visit to the eastern states of Sumatra to encourage trade agreements.

Hutchings brought "Testaments and Religious Tracts in the Malayan language", but the mission was ended a mere three months later as Ibbetson fell severely ill.

As the chaplain, he advocated for repairs and improvements to the church, and a suggestion of his was carried out that the portico be adapted to allow carriages to draw up underneath.

[31] He continued to suffer poor health and, fearing for his life, left for China in July 1822, having drawn up his will in which he bequeathed his possessions to his wife.

[37] In June 1823 Hutchings began establishing spice plantations and building a home, Mount Elvira, on one of the higher mountains of Penang in the district of Ayer Etam.

[40] For reasons that are unclear, Hutchings was opposed later that year to the installation of a memorial tablet in the church to the late senior member of council John Macalister.

[41] In May 1825 Hutchings petitioned the government for an allowance for house rent, stating that his salary was insufficient to meet his health expenses and the education of his family.

[50] In its tribute to Hutchings following his death, the Prince of Wales Island Gazette wrote: "Of the value and importance attached to his professional labours, the best proof was afforded by the regular attendance of the community at public worship".

The paper praised his efforts "in behalf of our native population, by founding our public school; and afterwards, in promoting and securing its prosperity, by his unwearied application to the closely watching of its progress and perfecting all its minute and complicated details."

The Gazette further noted "his ardour and assiduity in the study of the Malayan language, with the great and meritorious object of improving the vernacular translation of the scriptures", as well as "the active part which he so kindly took in the management of our presidency library".

[57] In 2016, to mark the bicentenary of the school's founding, more than thirty "Old Frees" or alumni travelled through nineteen countries in six 4×4 vehicles in a "PFS Penang-Dittisham(UK) Drive".