What’s in the Name: Rosyth Road, Glasgow Road, Parry Road, Dix Road
When I was much younger, I noticed that the roads in my estate had English-sounding names like Rosyth Road, Dix Road, Parry Avenue, Hillside Drive, Highland Close, Leith Park etc. It was explained to me that Singapore was previously a British colony and naturally the British named the places they stayed with their native names. However I did not see colonial-styled houses in Kovan area and it also did not explain why some sections of Kovan were named in local dialects like Poh Huat Road, Jalan Tani etc.
Well as it turned out, those English named roads were indeed British owned, but not for residential purpose. The land was previously owned by a British company, Singapore United Rubber Plantation Limited (SURPL) for growing of crops. Road names in the area took after names of places in Scotland or names of senior staff of the plantation company.
Ng Yew Peng in his book, “What’s in the Name?” summarised it.
Dix Road: Probably named after R A Dix (died 1942), Manager of SURPL. He was a member of the Rural Board from 1928 to1935. It remained a private road in the plantation until 1953, when the Rural Board decided to convert it to a public street.
Glasgow Road: Named after Glasgow, the biggest city of Scotland.
Leith Road / Park: Named after Leith which is a district to the north of Edinburgh city at the mouth of the water of Leith. It was a major port in Scotland from the 12th century. Leith Road was repaired by the Rural Board in 1953 and declared a public street in 1956.
Highland Close / Road / Terrace / Walk: Highland refers to the highlands of Scotland.
Lowland Road: Low relative to Highland Road in the same area; it was often flooded due to its terrain. This road was repaired in 1950 and was declared a public street in 1952.
Parry Avenue / Road: The roads were probably named after one of SURPL Director, E H Parry.
Rosyth Road /Avenue: Rosyth road was named after Rosyth, a town on the Firth of Forth in Fife, Scotland. Rosyth Avenue was named in 1953.
Ng Yew Peng’s book “What’s in the name? How the Streets and Villages in Singapore Got Their Names” is available at Amazon and the National Library (Singapore Collection).
