keep up the good work dr bob,fascinating stuff.looking forward to more.
keep up the good work dr bob,fascinating stuff.looking forward to more.
British Power in Siam
The Bowring Treaty one of was the first treaties between Siam and any European power. I'm not going to post all of it because it's pretty long and boring, just the parts that shine some light on the Siamese Court, the then power of the British Empire, and the differences between the rights of (some) foreigners in Siam back then and foreigners in Thailand now. That's still quite long, mind you, but I think it's interesting. I posted some of this earlier in the thread but on re-reading I saw that I'd left most of the interesting stuff out.
The Siamese King referred to in this article as Phra Bard Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut Phra Chora Khiu Chau Yu Hua ( พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรมหามงกุฎฯ พระจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หั) is better known to many foreigners as King Rama IV and probably even better known, though not usually by name, as the King played by Yul Brynner in "The King and I".
Phrabhat Somdet Phra Chao Yu Hua (พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว) is the formal title of the King of Thailand. It's normally just translated as "King" or as the 3rd person pronoun when referring to the King but actually means something like "The most excellent feet of his Royal Highness the most high Lord which are above my head". It's similar to the formal and mandatory phrase which is still used when beginning any address to the King, "ขอเดชะฝ่าละอองธุลีพระบาทปกเกล้าปกกระหม่อม ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า," "In the presence of your Majesty's mighty splendour, may it please the dust beneath the dust beneath your feet which dust is above my head, I, the slave of the Lord Buddha (Lord Buddha in this case refers to the King)..."
Sir John Bowring
King Mongkut, Rama IV
King Mongkut, Rama IV, as seen by Hollywood
Last edited by DrB0b; 26-01-2010 at 01:07 PM.
The Above Post May Contain Strong Language, Flashing Lights, or Violent Scenes.
The Order of The White Elephant is Thailand's highest award for service to the nation. It was instituted by Rama V and has 8 classes, the highest being Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, the lowest being the Silver Medal (Seventh Class) of the White Elephant.
The Graphic (London, England), Saturday, July 17, 1880
Below is the modern version of the Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, The pendant, on a red sash with small yellow, blue, and green trims is worn over the left shoulder to the right hip. The star is worn on the left breast.
1TB ? Cannot believe, stop the yabaa.Originally Posted by DrB0b
Or learn how to archive informations.
Dr.Bob..............I've never seen anything like this before. All of them are fascinating flashbacks. Thank you very much for your efforts on this.
What? Terabyte drives are cheap and widely available. Keeping information on an external drive IS archiving it and a terabyte is not that much when it comes to ebooks, videos, scans and graphics. Get with the times, you old fart, time to replace that valve-powered monstrosity you use with something newer, maybe you should ask your great-grandson about these new-fangled transistors.
1TB seems a bit high for documents, maybe DrB doesn't know how to do scanning in 200dpi
Thanks for the continuance, Bob. Appreciated.
Although the title of this piece says Indo-China it's actually mostly about the North of Thailand and adjacent areas of Burma. The town referred to as Zimme in the article is Chiang Mai, Zimme is the Burmese name for Chiang Mai. The town referred to as Kiang Hsen is Chiang Saen. Khiang Hai is Chiang Rai.
This article is also a great "ripping yarn" in the classic 19th Century British Empire Boy's Own style, even to the point of carrying separate, always full, teapots on each elephant so that nobody need ever be without a nice cup of tea. I particularly liked the mention of Mr John C. Davis, the celebrated dacoit (bandit) hunter and Deputy Commissioner of the Frontier District, currently recuperating from malaria. I'm going to have to find out more about him.
There are also some nice early examples of product placement here, pride of place is given to "Kopp's soup, Liebigs Essence of meat, Warburg's Tincture, Eno's Fruit Salts, Cockle's Pills, and Dover's Powder". All, along with the ever-useful laudanum, no doubt an essential part of any White Man's baggage while travelling in the fever-stricken East
The author, Holt S Hallet was a British railway engineer. He undertook the journey described below as part of a survey to build a railway from Southern Burma to Southern China and Northern Thailand. I've added his obituary below.
London. The Graphic. 1886 (I don't know the rest of the date)
Obituary: Mr. Holt Hallett, 1911 The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).
Last edited by DrB0b; 27-01-2010 at 12:06 AM.
Firstly, don't stop posting these scans, they are amazing, bugger that there are only 750 hit, they are fascinating.
This bit about transvetites??? I think some of the British did this during the 1930's...no, I am not taking the piss, I clearly recall that my grandmother used to dress my old man in girls clothes when he was a baby, and it was quite a "normal" thing to do...not sure if it was due to poverty or what, but it is something that stuck in my mind...I am sure they were in dresses, or skirt like things until they were about four years old...as they were in the Borders, maybe it was a cheap form of kilt!
But I clearly remember them talking about how the young boys were dressed as girls!
Yep, please continue...fascinating stuff. Cheers.
This is interesting not only because of the cremation itself but also because of one of the people involved in the ceremony.
There is a well known story about King Rama V. He's famed for liberalising Siam and reducing the traditional and rigid etiquette of the Siamese Court. The story is that his beloved Queen Sunanda, 19 years old and pregnant at the time, and her 2 year old daughter, Princess Karnabhorn Bejraratana, boating on the Chao Praya River one day, fell into the water and drowned. Although there were many people nearby who could have saved them court etiquette prevented anybody but the King from touching either the queen or the princess and so they died. This led the King to drastically modify the rules of court etiquette. This article is a description of a part of the funeral ceremonies for the Queen, Sunanda Kumariratana, and her infant daughter.
The first person in the group of Victorian portraits below, named as Swangwadhana Phra Paramaraja Devi, is Queen Consort Savang Wadhana. Savang Wadhana, a daughter of King Rama IV, was a consort of King Rama V and while not officially a Queen was the highest ranking Royal Consort.
She bore several children to King Rama V of which the youngest was Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songhkla. Prince Mahidol later married Sangwal Chukramol, a commoner who had been brought up in relative poverty by an aunt who made a living selling home-made sweets and hand-rolled cigarettes. At the age of 7 Sangwal was sent to live with another relative, a nanny to the royal family. This is how she gained entry to Royal Circles, eventually becoming the much loved Mae Fah Luang (The Great Mother from the Sky, a nickname given to her in honour of her many helicopter trips to far-flung villages and hill tribes).
Sangwal and Prince Mahidol gave birth to one daughter and two sons of whom one, Prince Ananda Mahidol, became King Rama VIII, while the other son, Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej, became King Rama IX.
Their daughter, the current King's late sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana, was named after Savang Wadhana.
Queen Savang (official title Somdej Phra Sri Savarindra Phra Boroma Raja Thevi) died in 1955, by that time, as the grandmother of two Kings, she was generally referred to as Somdej Phra Phan Vasa Ayyika Chao, The Queen Grandmother.
I've added extra images below to better illustrate the story.
Queen Sunanda
The Queen Grandmother Savang Wadhana
The Queen Mother Sangwal as a Child
Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songhkla, Prince of Siam. Father of King Rama VIII and King Rama IX
Mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayudhya with her children, Princess Galyani Vadhana, Prince Ananda Mahidol, and, in the centre, Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej
Last edited by DrB0b; 27-01-2010 at 11:12 AM.
Good thread.
Good on ya Dr Bob.
Extraordinary whee do you find these gems?
Excellent history, Bob. Looking forward to some more articles.
I agree,
Boon Mee.
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