Penang Rulers

Penang's Rulers

Title of Head of Penang Government since 1786

* Superintendent 11 August 1786
* Lieutenant governor 1799
* Governor 1805
* Resident councilor 1849
* Japanese governor 1941
* British military governor 1945
* Resident commissioner 1946
* Governor (ceremonial) 31 August 1957
* Chief minister 12 June 1959


11 Aug 1786 British colony (Prince of Wales Island)
1826 part of Straits Settlements
1946 part of Malaya/Malaysia

Superintendents (of the British East India Company)

11 Aug 1786 - 21 Oct 1794 Francis Light (b. 1740 - d. 1794)
1794 - 1795 Philip Mannington
1795 - 1799 Forbes Ross MacDonald (b. ... - d. 1799)

Lieutenant governors

1799 - 1804 Sir George Leith (b. 1766 - d. 1842)
1804 - 1805 Robert Townsend Farquhar (b. 1776 - d. 1830)

Governors

1805 - 1807 Philip Dundas (b. 17... - d. 1807)
1807 - 1810 Norman Macalister
1810 Charles Andrew Bruce (b. 1768 - d. 1810)
1810 - 1812 William Edward Phillips (1st time) (b. 1769 - d. 18...)
1812 - 1816 William Petrie (b. 17... - d. 1816)
1816 - 1817 William Edward Phillips (2nd time) (s.a.)
1817 - 8 Aug 1819 John Alexander Bannerman (b. 1758 - d. 1819)
1819 - 1824 William Edward Phillips (3rd time) (s.a.)
20 Aug 1824 - 1826 Robert Fullerton (b. 1773 - d. 1831)

Resident councillors

1849 - 1855 Edmund Augustus Blundell (b. 1804? - d. 1868)
1855 - 1860 William Thomas Lewis (b. 1791 - d. 1875)
1860 - 1867 Henry Man (b. 1815 - d. 1898)
1867 - 1883 Archibald Edward Harbord Anson (b. 1826 - d. 1925)
1883 - 1887 Charles John Irving (b. 1831 - d. 1917)
1887 - 1897 Allan Maclean Skinner (b. 1846 - d. 1901)
1894 - 1895 Francis James Anderson (acting) (b. 18... - d. 1920)
1897 - 11 Jul 1904 Charles Walter Sneyd-Kynnersley (b. 1849 - d. 1904)
1904 - 1907 James Kortright Birch (b. 1850 - d. 19...)
1907 - 1910 Robert Norman Bland (b. 1859 - d. 1948)
1910 - 1914 William Evans (b. 1860 - d. 1936)
1914 - 1917 Alfred T. Bryant
1917 - 1919 Walter Cecil Michell (b. 1864 - d. 1939)
1919 - 1922 Gilbert A. Hall
1922 - 1925 Arthur Blennerhassett Voules (b. 1870 - d. 1954)
1925 - 1926 William Peel (b. 1875 - d. 1945)
1926 - 1928 Ralph Scott (b. 1874 - d. 19...)
1928 - 1930 Meadows Frost (b. 1875 - d. 1954)
1930 - 1931 Edward Wilmot Francis Gilman (b. 1876 - d. 1955)
May 1931 - 1933 Percy Tothill Allen (b. 1878 - d. 19...)
(acting to Aug 1931)
1933 - 1941 Arthur Mitchell Goodman (b. 1886 - d. 1961)

Japanese governors

Dec 1941 - 1942 Shotaro Katayama
1942 - 1944 Masakichi Itami
1944 S. Ikagawa
1944 - 1945 Seiichiro Shinohara
British military governors
1945 Peter Dicken Cracroft (b. 1907 - d. 2003)
1945 - 1946 Thomas John Norman Hilken (b. 1901 - d. 1969)
Resident commissioners
1946 Norman Grice (b. 1893 - d. ...)
May 1946 - 1948 Sydney Noel King (b. 1897)
1948 George Evan Cameron Wisdom (b. 1899 - d. 1958)
(acting)
1948 - 1951 Arthur Vincent Aston (b. 1896 - d. 1981)
1951 - 1957 Robert Porter Bingham (b. 1903 - d. 1982)

Heads of State (title Yang di-Pertua Negeri)

31 Aug 1957 - 30 Aug 1967 Raja Sir Tun Uda Al-Haj bin Raja
Muhammad (b. 1894 - d. 1976)
31 Aug 1967 - 31 Jan 1969 Tun Syed Sheh bin Syed Abdullah
Shahabuddin (b. 1910 - d. 1969)
5 Feb 1969 - 5 Feb 1975 Tun Syed Sheh bin Syed Hassan
Barakbah (b. 1906 - d. 1975)
5 Feb 1975 - 1 May 1981 Tan Sri (from Jun 1976, Tun)
Sardon Jubir (b. 1917 - d. 1985)
1 May 1981 - 1 May 1989 Tun Awang Hassan (b. 1910 - d. 1998)
1 May 1989 - 1 May 2001 Tan Sri (from 7 Jun 1989, Tun)
Hamdan Sheikh Tahir (b. 1921 - d. 2005)
1 May 2001 - Dato' Seri (from 9 Jul 2001, Tun)
Abdul Rahman Abbas (b. 1938)

Chief ministers (title Ketua Menteri)

12 Jun 1959 - 12 May 1969 Wong Pow Nee (b. 1911 - d. 2002)
12 May 1969 - 25 Oct 1990 Lim Chong Eu (b. 1919)
25 Oct 1990 - 11 Mar 2008 Koh Tsu Koon (from 3 Jun 1995,
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon) (b. 1949)
11 Mar 2008 - Lim Guan Eng (b. 1960)