Simon Soon
Penang was short of police and military personnel to deal with the riots effectively. The Penang force numbered at 500 riflemen and 40 gunners. However, a large part of its personnels were deployed to the Nicobars when the riots broke out. Only 170 were left. This forced Anson to withdraw all police and military garrisons from the outlying areas as well as to establish a small battalion composed of European and Eurasian residents to guard the street.
The position of the barricade is speculative. Anson did not clarify in his memoir. He merely mentioned that he 'erected a barricade in one of the streets of the town, and placed an armed police guard over it, to check one of the contending parties from making sallies upon the other, in that neighbourhood. This barricade I formed of carts, timber, and anything available I found at hand.'
'The following day, I erected barricades of chevaux-de-frise, and of large blocks of firewood, on the main street, over which guards of sepoys and special constables, were placed. Every available European, and some Eurasians, were sworn as special constables.'
NOTES:
A.E.H. Anson. 1920. About Others and Myself. London: J. Murray, 281.
