In 1821, John Crawfurd undertook a diplomatic mission to the courts of the King of Siam and the Emperor of Cochinchina. In Bangkok, Crawfurd met an indifferent reception whilst in Hue he was refused an audience altogether owing to the emperor’s strict isolationist policy. However, he did make the first British diplomatic contact with the Lao kingdom of Vientiane. In 1822 Crawfurd briefly stopped in Singapore and in 1823 was made Resident of Singapore, leaving in 1826 on another Anglo-Indian mission to the court of Ava in Burma. Crawfurd’s Journal of an embassy from the Governor-General of India to the courts of Siam and Cochin-China, published in 1828 and again in 1830, also included an account of his time in Singapore, and was the most detailed and authoritative work of the region thus far.

Capt Elliot's view shows Singapore as it was in around 1824, only five years since its establishment by Sir Thomas Stamfod Raffles and already a fast developing port. Robert James Elliot entered the Royal Navy as a cadet at the age of twelve, promoted to Lieutenant at eighteen and served in the East Indies. He voyaged to India, China and the Red Sea, during which time he made numerous sketches that in turn made there way into various publications. In the same year the Journal of an embassy was published, Elliot co-established the London Sailors' Home in Well Street, Docklands to provide accommodation, employment information and professional guidance for working sailors of all nations.