Sir Roland St. John Braddell (20 December 1880 – 15 November 1966) was a historian and colonial adviser in British Malaya. He was considered "one of Malaya's foremost legal authorities".[1]
Roland St. John Braddell was born in Singapore in 1880. His father, Thomas de Multon Lee Braddell, had served as Attorney-General of Singapore, as had his father before him.[2]
He was educated at King's School, Canterbury,[3] and then Worcester College, Oxford.[4] [2] He was called to the bar in 1905.[3]
Braddell wrote several books on the history of Malaya,[5] as well as a two-volume legal work called Laws of the Straits Settlements and a book titled Gaming Laws. Alongside this, he published several essays concerning the legal status of the Federated Malay States from a series of lectures he had given to the Singapore Rotary Club. He worked as an editor on One Hundred Years of Singapore with Walter Makepeace and Gilbert Brooke.[2] Alongside editing the book, he contributed several chapters to it.[6]
In 1934, he published The Lights of Singapore, an anecdotal work on life in the region.[2]
Braddell served as Chairman for the Council of the University of Malaya in Singapore from 1949.[3] He was later knighted for his work in this position, and also granted the degree of Honorary Doctor of Letters.[2]
Following his retirement from the university in 1951, he returned to Kuala Lumpur.[2] In 1953, alongside R. G. D. Allen, Braddell was appointed to "submit a scheme of courses and organisation for consideration by Senate and Council" at the University of Malaya. In March 1955, they published the Braddell-Allen Report and recommended the creation of two new departments for Social Sciences and Law. Braddell proposed a four-year programme with various elements to it, and consulted with legal experts like the Bar Committee of Singapore over what to include. He also suggested that a Professor of Law be hired by the university to develop a curriculumm, and Lionel Astor Sheridan was hired soon after.[7]
He was a Life Fellow of The Asiatic Society since 1934, and served as President of its Malayan branch for several years.[3]
Braddell served as Municipal Commissioner in Singapore for several years during World War I, and later became a member of the Housing Commission and the Executive Council.[3]
From 1932 to 1940, he was a Constitutional Advisor and member of the Executive Council to the Sultan of Johore. Following World War II, he advised the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the monarchies of Malaysia.[3] [2]
Braddell died on 15 November 1966.[2]