[1] His brother, Arthur, two years his senior, rose to the rank of rear admiral in the Royal Navy, and received a knighthood for his distinguished services during the Napoleonic Wars.

During his tenure here he assisted in missions around the region, including the British Invasion of Java led by Governor-General Baron Minto and Sir Stamford Raffles in August 1811.

An engineer, his reputation was established by his long and successful term as Resident of Malacca, of which he was given charge when it passed into British hands from the Dutch.

A task given him by the British Government was to demolish all the structures left by the former occupants; he blew up the fortifications with gunpowder but spared some of the other buildings, showing great intelligence.

[2] With his long Malayan experience and an intimate knowledge of Riau-Lingga politics, Major Farquhar proposed a settlement on Singapore island.

He drew up the first gun and set up the post to hoist the Union Jack flag on top of the hill, marking the birth of Singapore as a British settlement.

[3][4] Communication with Raffles in Bencoolen and the East India Company in Calcutta were so poor that for more than three years Singapore developed on her own with Farquhar at the helm.

[citation needed] However, when Raffles returned in October 1822, he was furious to discover his ideas had been neglected and that moreover local vices, such as the trading of opium and slave-trading, were being tolerated.

Raffles argued that an attack on an official should be met with an exemplary punishment and called for Sayid's corpse to be put in chains in an iron cage and exhibited publicly at Tanjong Malang for a fortnight.

Sayid's grave at Tanjong Pagar, however, would soon become a shrine and remained a place of pilgrimage for many years, making many Europeans think that Raffles had endangered their lives by needlessly antagonizing the Malays.

One example was the moving account of Farquhar's departure from Singapore at the end of December 1823, which was confirmed by a report in one of Calcutta's newspapers, which states that on that day as he left, he was accompanied to the beach by most of the European inhabitants of the settlement as well as by 'a large concourse' of Asians of every class.

After his arrival in London in 1824, Farquhar wrote to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, complained of his unjust removal from office by Raffles, and requested the reinstatement of his command of Singapore.

Raffles replied: "On the credit assumed by Lieutenant-Colonel Farquhar for having suggested the establishment of Singapore, this is the first time I ever heard of the circumstance, and on reference to the public records I find nothing to support it.

In Farquhar's brief rejoinder to Raffles' reply, in April 1825, he omitted reference to Singapore and to his claim, and the Court of Directors finally ruled against him in November 1825, refusing his request to be reinstated.

Raffles commented in a letter to his sister: "It was my wish poor Man that he should be let off as easily as possible, but he seems to have failed in all he attempted, and if he has not been so severely handled as he might have been he has me to thank for it -- for certainly he stands on no better footing than he did before he made his Appeal."

Farquhar settled in Perth, Scotland, in late 1826, where he bought two large recently completed Georgian houses (one for his brothers, a naval captain) and built a billiard hall for the entertainment of his many friends.

On 17 August 1833, Farquhar drafted the Deed of Settlement for his former mistress Antoinette "Nonio" Clement, to whom he bequeathed his house and contents in Kampong Glam, together with an annuity of sp350 paid half yearly in advance.

During 20 years of his valuable life he was appointed to offices of high responsibility under the civil government of India having in addition to his military duties served as Resident in Malacca and afterwards at Singapore which later settlement he founded.