Year 1901

The Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements

Tuesday, 31st December 1901

The Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements (SS), comprising of Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore. On 1st Jan 1901, Singapore's Local Mean Time (Singapore Mean Time) + 6hr 55m 25s (103 degrees 51.16 seconds East of Greenwich Royal Observatory near London, England) was adopted by the Straits Settlements (SS) and the Federated Malay States (FMS) as the Standard Time. This was introduced because railway, postal and telegraphic services were becoming more common and a single standard time will ease scheduling problems. Singapore was chosen because it was the administrative HQ for the SS and the FMS then.