Joseph William Torrey, Rajah of Ambong & Maroodu

 
Joseph William Torrey, the "Yankee Rajah," was the only American amongst three Westerners awarded the dignity of Rajah by the Sultan of Brunei. Born in 1828, Torrey worked in publishing and the military before moving to Australia in 1853 where he worked as a clerk and merchant. He married in 1854 and had two daughters. After divorcing, he returned to the US with his daughters, who were raised by their grandparents, as Torrey sailed for Hong Kong. There, he became a newspaper editor and a shipbroker, remarried in 1863, had two more children, and purchased a ship, the Ellen.

In 1865, Torrey and Thomas Bradley Harris bought a concession in Northern Borneo from US Consul Charles Lee Moses. The Sultan had granted Moses a 10-year lease to develop the land, but Moses sold it for profit. With Chinese investors, Torrey and Harris established the American Trading Company of Borneo with the aim of founding a colony. Torrey renegotiated with the Sultan, who awarded him the dignity of Rajah of Ambong and Maroodu “with the rights....belonging to Sovereign Rulers.” The colony of Ellena, disease-ridden and underfunded, was abandoned in 1866 — leaving Harris dead of Malaria and Torrey impecunious. Fortunately, he found a buyer in Baron Gustav von Overbeck.

Torrey was US Vice-Consul in Thailand from 1877-80 and attended the visit of President Grant to King Chulalongkorn. In June 1885, the King asked Torrey — resident in the US since 1883 — to serve as his chief adviser, but Torrey died a few days later. His body was attired as an East Indian grandee and his coffin was surmounted by a crown of flowers in the gold and red colors of the flag of Ellena.