the british were the most important europeans in colonial singapore, as they were the colonial rulers of the island. a number of british settlers arrived after its colonial status changed in 1867. interracial marriage was very common in colonial days. even men who had european wives sometimes had local paramours. european women who moved to south-east asia tended to die young. british men took asian partners and their offspring would be eurasian. some who had british nationality preferred to settle in britain or other parts of the commonwealth, especially australia. many british and other european men of retirement age, instead of going back to cold europe, would settle in australia with asian women, with fewer staying on in singapore. apart from being warmer than europe, australia was less judgemental than europe or colonial singapore to mixed marriages and mixed offspring. independent singapore's second president, benjamin sheares, was a eurasian of english lineage. e. w. barker, the former law minister, was of mixed- portuguese, irish, japanese, scottish, malay and german descent. author rex shelley was of mixed english, portuguese, malay and buginese ancestry. national swimmer joseph schooling is a third-generation singaporean, and is of eurasian ethnicity. his parents are colin and may schooling. may is a chinese malaysian and a singapore permanent resident; while colin, a businessman, was born in singapore. colin's grandfather was a british military officer who married a local portuguese-eurasian in singapore. the last name schooling is believed to be an anglicised surname that originated in germany.