The British had already occupied the Dutch East Indian possessions of Ambon and the Molucca Islands. They had also recently captured the French islands of Réunion and Mauritius in the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811. Stamford Raffles, an official of the British East India Company who had been forced to leave the Dutch settlement at Malacca when the Netherlands were annexed, suggested to Lord Minto, the Governor-General of India, that Java and the other Dutch possessions should be captured. With the large forces which had been made available to him for the Mauritius campaign, Minto enthusiastically adopted the suggestion, and even proposed to accompany the expedition himself.