William George Stirling, the Assistant Protector of Chinese in Singapore between 1921 to 1931, amassed a collection of secret society artefacts now called the William Stirling Collection. Many of the items were either seized during the implementation of the 1889 Societies Ordinance, reproduced by Stirling as research materials or handed down by William Pickering, the first Chinese Protector.Stirling’s lecture on March 8, 1926 in London on secret societies discussed the role of the Chinese Protectorate, the reasons why Chinese immigrants in Singapore joined secret societies, the origins of the Hung Society in China and the initiation ceremony of the Ghee Hin Kongsi.
