THE MOST ADVANCED OUTPOST. A History of Freemasonry in Sumatra and Penang, 1760 to 1862 Eidwin F. Mullan, Mullan, Kuala Lumpur, 2002. Paperback, 315 pages, £10.00. ISBN 983-41036-0-3. Also available in Hardback from E.F. Mullan, Ballarye House, Ramsey Road, Laxey, Isle of Man IM4 7PS.

The East India Company was set up in 1600 specifically to sail to and control trade with, the spice islands of Indonesia; immense profits were to be made from bringing pepper, nutmeg, mace and later tea, back to Britain. Settlements were establishedin due course: in 1685 a pepper factory was established in Bencoolen (now Benkulu) in Sumatra. This settlement became the British base in the region. During 1712-1716 Fort Marlborough was constructed to afford military protection. When, during the eighteenth century, Freemasonry increased in popularity, members of the East India Company took it with them.
    The first Lodge in Bencoolen, No. 356, was warranted by the Moderns in 1765. A second, Marlborough Lodge, was working by 1770 and warranted as No. 424. The first Provincial Grand Master of Sumatra, John Macdonald (the son of the Jacobite heroine, Flora Macdonald), was appointed in 1793. He also served as Master of Lodge No. 424, then renamed The Rising Sun Lodge. Singapore was established in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles and soon eclipsed Bencoolen. Raffles had been initiated in Java, probably in 1812, and raised in 1813. He joined the Rose-Croix in 1816. Penang was settled in 1786. Lodge Neptune, No. 344, was warranted there in 1809. Its first minutes began 1810 and continued until 1942 when they were lost during the Japanese invasion. In 1822 a second Lodge, Humanity with Courage, No. 826, was warranted there. It was an offshoot of a Military Lodge working in Dum Dum, Bengal, India.
    This is a fascinating book: Capt. Mullan produces and analyses all the correspondence extant concerning these Lodges, setting it within a history of the times which reveals the social and health problems which dominated these trading bases. Life was rough, and tragic. For children, in particular, to survive, was rare. The graveyard in Bencoolen has 954 burials recorded; this number is accepted as being far too low.
    With this work Capt. Mullan has produced a significant, yet very readable, resource for historians, both professional and amateur.
    Michael Baigent