Singapore's Colonial Mace: From Royal Gift to Political Symbol

In 1953, ArtReview published designs by Scottish sculptor Charles d'Orville Pilkington Jackson for a ceremonial mace commissioned for Singapore City Council. The nine-faceted silver and gilt mace, fabricated by Edinburgh silversmith Hamilton & Inches, featured botanical motifs of Malayan flora suggested by a committee including philanthropist Loke Wan Tho and Raffles Museum staff. Funded with $15,000 from Loke, it commemorated Singapore's elevation to city status by Royal Charter from George VI in 1951. Presented in April 1954 to council president T.P.F. McNeice (Loke's brother-in-law), the nearly two-meter staff was intended to symbolize council authority. Political transformation arrived with the 1957 election of mayor Ong Eng Guan, a founding member of the People's Action Party. During his December 1957 inauguration, Ong denounced the mace as 'a relic of colonialism' and successfully motioned for its disposal, receiving unanimous council support. British MP Sir John Barlow offered to purchase it as a colonial souvenir. Following Singapore's independence in 1965, the mace survived and now resides in the National Museum of Singapore. Pilkington Jackson is better known for Scottish nationalist monuments like his 1964 Robert the Bruce statue at Bannockburn. Ong Eng Guan later lost a 1959 PAP leadership vote to Lee Kuan Yew by one vote, was expelled from the party in 1960, and died in 2008.