Robert Ibbetson (4 May 1789 – 4 November 1880) was a colonial governor of the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore from 1832 to 1834.Boundary Treaty with Johore, 15 June 1833. Political and statistical account of the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca by Thomas John Newbold, published 1839.
In 1817 Ibbetson married a widow, Harriet Georgina Hutchings Bennett, in Penang; she was a daughter of the late George Caunter, acting superintendent of Penang.India, Marriages, 1792-1948. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. That same year Ibbetson was promoted to Senior Merchant and Sheriff. In 1820 he was Paymaster and Storekeeper and Suptd of the company's Law Suits. In 1824 he was Secretary and acting Accountant.
By the time from 3 February 1825, he was Provisional Member of Council for the Straits Settlements in Malacca. In 1826 he was Fourth in Council and Resident Councillor at Malacca, Ibbetson had been Resident Councillor at Penang from 1826, In 1827 his responsibilities expanded to include Suptd of Landed Tenures, Collector of Quit Rents, and Civil & Marine Warehouse Keeper. In 1828 he was made Second in Council. In 1829 he was assisted by James William Salmond, Second Assistant to the Resident Councillor at Penang. Prior to Governor Fullerton's move of the seat of the Straits Government from Penang to Singapore on 12 November 1829, after which time Ibbetson assumed the role of governor of Penang, as the sole survivor of the officials appointed to the new Penang Presidency in 1805.
The departure of the last Governor Robert Fullerton is also recorded in the Gazette. The issue of 29 August 1829 carries the following notification:
On 12 November 1830, he became the 2nd Governor of the Straits Settlements and Treasurer of the Presidency of the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Penang and Malacca for three years. Not much is known about his influence on the history of the Straits Settlements, but it is said that at that time Government business there was performed in a slovenly manner, with property registration being as impenetrable as the jungle which surrounded many properties, and with Government accounts being very casually audited.
Around April 1874 he returned to England for the last time and settled in Portsmouth. He died on 4 November 1880 and was buried at Highland Road Cemetery.
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