Historical Diversion: Rajah Charles Brooke's Lost Descendents

Recently Leo sent me an interesting Borneo Post article, entitled "Tracing her roots in Sarawak". Those of you based in Kuching may have read it. Basically an American woman from Richmond, Virginia, by the name of Deborah Falls Lockhart, traced her ancestry to the Second Rajah, who had had an illicit relationship with a Malay woman from the Simanggang area (now Sri Aman).

Such exciting stuff, don't you think? We certainly never read about this aspect of the White Rajah regime during our school history lessons.

Anyway read it for yourself. I would have hyperlinked it to the Borneo Post website, but I can't seem to find the article there ... so I thought it would be easier to reproduce it here for your reading pleasure. Remember, I did attribute it to the journalist and paper :-)


Tracing her Roots in Sarawak

by Doreena Naeg

IT TOOK her 30 years to realise her dream of visiting Sarawak, the country her great, great grandfather once ruled. With the help of the Internet, she learned more about the Land of the Hornbill half a globe away her home in the US.

Deborah Falls Lockhart, 54, savored the dream, which she shared passionately with her family. It was like a fairytale that could only happen in the movies. A simple, middle-class American family suddenly discovering they are descendents of a ruling family in a faraway land sounds a tad fantastic to be true.

But that’s exactly the historical blood-link with Sarawak on the part of Lockharts from Richmond, Virginia. Deborah is the great, great grand daughter of Charles Brooke, the second Rajah of Sarawak.

“My mother used to tell us stories of my great, great grandfather and his family in the island of Borneo,” Deborah recalled.

And she and her siblings would listen spellbound to such narratives from the then mysterious East.

Charles Brooke had a secret affair with a Malay woman, Dayang Mastiah, from the rural town of Simanggang, now known as Sri Aman.

It was a relationship doomed from the start. Sad and tragic, two lovers were forbidden to have a relationship by social taboos — he was a caucasian from an aristocratic (in Sarawak’s context) family while she, a native from a small village in the Second Division.

Their lives were worlds apart and to make matter worst, he was a Christian and a married man with a family.

There was no way the relationship could have any ending, much less a happy one, but Dayang Mastiah did bear Charles a child, called Isaka (his real name).

Nobody knew about Isaka’s existence until an American writer unearthed the story and wrote about it many years after the Brooke era.

Isaka was not supposed to exist. Ranee Margaret, Charles’s wife, was adamant the child remained unknown since he was a threat to her two sons — Betram and Vyner — inheriting the Raj.

The Ranee arranged for the child to be adopted by an Anglican priest, Reverent Pastor Dykin, who brought him back to the United Kingdom and raised him at the Barator House, Sheetor. Isaka was renamed as Esca.

Rev Dykin, together with his family and Esca, migrated to Canada where the love child of Charles Brooke grew up. Esca married a Canadian named Edith Webster Ottawa and the couple was blessed with three daughters, and a son, named Cyril who had only one child, Barbara Anne Brooke.

Esca’s family-line did not stop there. Barbara had two daughters, Kathleen and Deborah and a son, Mark, who bears a strong resemblance to Esca.

Deborah never doubted the credibility of her family tree — she had no reason to. There was a booklet on the history of the Brookes being passed around the family members that gave her the background knowledge she needed.

Together with her sons, she surfed the Internet for more information about the Brookes and her ancestors. What she learned deepened her desire to see the faraway land, supposedly liberated by her ancestors.

“Once we started the search, people from all over gave us feedback on the Brookes. It’s sort of joined up the dots. That helped us a lot in our quest.”

She also poured over old publications in the museum archive for more background information before making her maiden voyage to Sarawak.

The knowledge that she was a descendant of an affair that took place generations ago did not deter her; in fact, the intrigues of her heritage fuelled her curiosity. She wanted to know and see for herself the environment, people and place that gave her life.

Nor is she ashamed of her past, having accepted her fate. In fact, looking back, Deborah is humbled that her linage had played a big role in the history of Sarawak.

Deborah’s children, Charles David, 24, Colin Richard, 22 and Garrett, 19, were as enthusiastic as their mother, if not more, about the trip to Sarawak.

“Our friends in college find it too fantastic to be true; they just couldn’t believe it,” said Colin, rationalising his family is too ordinary — like any typical American family — to have any connection with a ruling family.

After years of research and contemplation, Deborah and her husband, Greg, and their three boys packed their bags and headed to the Far East in June, 2009.

“It is both a family vacation and a journey of discovery,” she confessed.

On her first trip to the Far East, Deborah made it mandatory to visit the place her ancestors had helped build and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Though a total stranger to Kuching, she was swept by a sense of belonging when she disembarked from the plane at the airport.

It was strange, Deborah recalled, but the feeling of nostalgia was eminent and she never felt like a stranger in this unfamiliar land.

Apart from the warmth and friendliness of the local people, there was also this feeling that somehow, somewhere, a special relationship had always linked her to the place.

“No one knew about my relationship with Sarawak except my travel agent and a few people in the Sarawak Tourism Federation but yet when we went around and shopped, there were many people who asked us if we could take pictures with them. It was as if they knew.”

Deborah knew finding her roots in Sarawak would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if she didn’t have any guide, so she sought the help of her travel agent who then, arranged for local historian, Lim Kian Hock, to meet her.

Lim is also the advisor to the Sarawak Tourism Federation.

“We didn’t know what to expect and thought it would be in our best interest if someone could clue us in on my ancestors’ story,” Deborah said.

Besides sight-seeing, the Lockharts also looked forward to meeting the other side of their family but due to time constraint, were only able to meet one of them. The meeting took place in Kuala Lumpur before the family arrived in Sarawak.

Deborah also wished to have a peek at her great, great grandfather’s birth certificate though she did not put too much hope in it because of the circumstances surrounding his birth.

“It would be nice to see it though I’m fully aware of its possible non-existence.”

Although they had a tight schedule, the Lockharts toured the places built by the Brookes — the former courthouse, now the tourism complex, the Astana, the Sarawak Museum and Gambier Street where they shopped for souvenirs.

They also met Lim and president of the Sarawak Tourism Federation, Wee Hong Seng.
Lim briefed them on the country’s history and what the Second Rajah had contributed to its physical structures.

“The country and its people are exactly what I have imagined all this while — warm and friendly,” Deborah confessed.

She plans to organise a family reunion of the Brookes in Sarawak and also return for a longer visit to reconnect with the Asian side of her family.


Events like these certainly make history come alive, don't you agree? And having read this makes me even more enthusiastic on my genealogy project. Maybe I'm descended from some ancient emperor of China :-)

To conclude, may I also warmly welcome the Lockharts to the Sarawak family!
xxx