Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of (British) colonial Singapore, standing beside the Singapore River in the administrative and financial centre of the island city-state. Below the statue, a plaque reads: "On this historic site Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first landed in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and with genius and perception changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a great seaport and modern metroplis".

Sir Stamford Raffles, born at sea in the West Indies on 5 July 1781 as Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, was responsible for founding the British East India Company's settlement on Singapore island in January/February 1819, the achievement for which he is best remembered.

Raffles first served in the East Indies as lieutenant-governor of Java in 1811, and later as lieutenanet-governor of Bencoolen in west Sumatra (present-day Bangkulu) in 1818. On 6 February 1819, he concluded a treaty with Sultan Husain Shah and Temenggong Abdul Rahman of the Riau-Johor empire, to establish a settlement and free-trade port on the island of Singapore, which was administered jointly by the Malay and British authorities until 2 August 1824, when the British Resident of Singapore (John Crawfurd) concluded another treaty with the Malay rulers by which Singapore became a British possession.

The name of Raffles is remembered in Singapore today in the names of streets and institutions such as Raffles Place, Raffles Institution/College, Raffles Hotel, Raffles Lighthouse, Raffles Quay, etc.