So the building was named after Ernest Woodford Birch.
The name Birch has unfortunate echoes to a recalcitrant figure, much hated by the Malays, James W.W. Birch, the first British Resident of Perak.
There is a Birch Road in Penang, near Gurney Drive. Used to be a Birch Road in KL, renamed Jalan Maharajalela , honouring the guy who killed James W.W. Birch.
The Berjaya Penang Times Square build close to it is mainly a commercial failure. Maybe bag feng shui...
the guy who killed JWW Birch was Seputum. Both him and Dato Maharajalela were hanged by the British. The Sultan of Perak then Sultan Abdullah was exiled to Seychelles.
The British built the Birch Memorial Clock Tower in Ipoh right opposite the central mosque in Ipoh, now the Perak State Mosque. A kind of In-Your-Face memorial by the Colonials.
Ernest Woodford Birch was James W.W. Birch's son, and he had a long and an illustrious career in the British FMS Colonial Administration. It is Ernest Birch whom Birch Road in Penang and (formerly) in KL are named after.
So the building was named after Ernest Woodford Birch.
ReplyDeleteThe name Birch has unfortunate echoes to a recalcitrant figure, much hated by the Malays, James W.W. Birch, the first British Resident of Perak.
There is a Birch Road in Penang, near Gurney Drive.
Used to be a Birch Road in KL, renamed Jalan Maharajalela , honouring the guy who killed James W.W. Birch.
The Berjaya Penang Times Square build close to it is mainly a commercial failure. Maybe bag feng shui...
the guy who killed JWW Birch was Seputum. Both him and Dato Maharajalela were hanged by the British. The Sultan of Perak then Sultan Abdullah was exiled to Seychelles.
DeleteThe British built the Birch Memorial Clock Tower in Ipoh right opposite the central mosque in Ipoh, now the Perak State Mosque.
ReplyDeleteA kind of In-Your-Face memorial by the Colonials.
Ernest Woodford Birch was James W.W. Birch's son, and he had a long and an illustrious career in the British FMS Colonial Administration.
It is Ernest Birch whom Birch Road in Penang and (formerly) in KL are named after.