Editing Stamford Raffles (section)

==Return to Britain and death==
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[[File:RafflesArms1.jpg|thumb|upright|Arms of Stamford Raffles]]
Upon arrival in England in poor health, Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles convalesced in [[Cheltenham]] until September 1824, after which he entertained distinguished guests in both London and his home. He also made plans to stand for [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]], but this ambition was never realised. They moved to a London address at [[Berners Street]] at the end of November 1824, just in time to have a war of words with Farquhar, who had also arrived in the city, in front of the Court of Directors of the East India Company regarding Singapore. Despite raising several severe charges against Raffles, Farquhar was ultimately unable to discredit him; he was denied a chance to be restored to Singapore, but was given a military promotion instead.{{Clarify|date=March 2021}}

With the Singapore matter settled, Raffles turned to his other great interests: [[botany]] and [[zoology]]. He was elected a member of the [[Linnean Society of London]] on 5 February 1825.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=October 1996|title=Picture Quiz|journal=The Linnean|volume=12|issue=3|pages=14–18}}</ref> Raffles was a founder (in 1825) and first president (elected April 1826) of the [[Zoological Society of London]] (ZSL) and the [[London Zoo]].

Meanwhile, he was not only not granted a pension, but was called to pay over £22,000 [[pounds sterling|sterling]] for losses incurred during his administration. Raffles replied by clarifying his actions: and he decided to move to his country estate, Highwood, North London, but before the issue was resolved, he was already much too ill.

He died of [[apoplexy]] at Highwood House in [[Mill Hill]], north London, on his 45th birthday, 5 July 1826. The most likely underlying cause of death is that of a dural arteriovenous fistula.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Killed Sir Stamford Raffles? |url=https://www.sma.org.sg/news/2019/August/what-killed-sir-stamford-raffles |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=www.sma.org.sg}}</ref> His estate amounted to around £10,000 sterling, which was paid to the company to cover his outstanding debt. Because of his [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|anti-slavery]] position, he was refused burial inside the local parish church ([[St Mary's Church, Hendon]]) by the [[vicar]], Theodor Williams, whose family had made its money in [[Jamaica]] in the slave trade.{{Citation Needed|date=January 2024}} A brass tablet was finally placed in 1887, but the actual whereabouts of his body was not known until 1914, when it was found in a vault. When the church was extended in the 1920s, his tomb was incorporated into the body of the building, and a square floor tablet with inscription marked the spot.

Raffles was survived by his second wife Sophia Hull and daughter Ella, and predeceased by his other four children in [[Bencoolen (city)|Bencoolen]].<ref name=InfopediaSophiaHull/>

Ella died in 1840, aged nineteen. Sophia remained at Highwood House until her death in 1858, at the age of 72. Her tomb and memorial may be seen in St Paul's Church graveyard, Mill Hill, close to the rear door of the church. All his other children remained buried overseas. Thirty-three years after his death, Raffles' substantial collection of Indonesian antiquities and ethnography was donated to the [[British Museum]] by his nephew, Rev William Charles Raffles Flint.<ref name="BritMus"/>