Memorials located in Thailand may be found in our South East Asia Index.

For hundreds of years tin mining on Phuket Island, situated on Siam’s (since the 1930s known as Thailand) west coast provided a rich source of income, initially from rather primitive methods. Tin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was mainly used for making spear tips, body armour and was regarded as a semi precious metal, it was so valued that the original name of the island (in the Thai language) was changed from Ta-Lang to Phuket which means the “Cape of Tin”. At the temple of Wat Phra Nang Sang, located on the Thepkrasatri Road in Thalang Town are three large statues, reputed to be the largest in the world made from tin. The bellies of the statues each contained a smaller statue giving their formal name of “The Three Kings” but locally known as the “Monks in the Belly”.

From about 1870 the demand for tin increased due to European industrial requirements and thousands of Chinese migrated to the region where the working conditions were atrocious. 2,500 migrant workers revolted in 1876 and the event is remembered at Wat Chalong where two temple abbots rallied the local population and put down the riots. Initially the tin industry had little effect upon the Cornish economy and the nature of the mining methods did not attract the hard rock miners from Cornwall. But when the land based deposits began to dwindle, Captain Edward Miles, an Australian, invented and developed the worlds first commercial offshore bucket dredge and from 1907 this method of tin mining made Thailand a significant producer which helped to spell doom for the Cornish tin industry. The cheap tin obtained from dredging through Australian companies, particularly the Tongkah Harbour Tin Dredging Company, operating in close cooperation with the indigenous elite competed successfully against the more expensive Cornish tin. Over the decades the islands topography was drastically altered by large scale open-pits and strip mining, causing environmental problems and frequent objections. As recently as 1985 a demonstration by 50,000 people resulted in the destruction of a tantalum plant (a valuable by-product of the processing system). Dredge mining in Phuket virtually ceased in the early 1990s and the island is now a popular holiday destination and its ruined coral reefs are gradually recovering. But there is still a limited amount of dredging. The massive dredging machines some over 60 years old, scoop up the seabed with huge buckets from a depth of over 100 metres. The pay-dirt is processed through revolving screens, passed over primary jigs, a hydro-cyclone, secondary jigs and then Willoughby jigs, the resulting stuff is 30% pure tin and is sent ashore where, after washing, the now 74% tin is sent to the smelter. With modern sophisticated processing methods and careful returning of the waste material to the seabed, the environmental impact is minimal. Many tourists to Phuket are under the impression that the industry has completely died out, however, the shops are full of Bronze and pewter souvenirs - particularly Buddha's - partly made from local tin.

A memorial to Captain EDWARD MILES has been recorded by CIP as a mark of respect to the Australian sea Captain turned tin miner who left his mark on the economy Cornish tin mining industry.

As there was no significant Cornish involvement in the tin industry in Thailand, no headstones have yet been traced to Cornish miners. However, there are the memorials in respect of those Cornish who lost their lives in Thailand during the Second World War.

The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and America prisoners of war as well as conscripted civilians, was a Japanese project designed to support the Japanese army in Burma. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians as well as 13,000 war prisoners died during its construction and were buried along the railway. Construction started in October 1942 and the 424 kilometres were completed by December 1943. The graves of those whose died during the construction and maintenance were transferred from camp burial sites and isolated sites into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma (Myanmar), all three cemeteries are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves commission. The remains of Americans were repatriated home.

Kanchanaburi cemetery is 129 kilometres west-north-west of Bangkok. There are 5,084 Commonwealth casualties together with 1896 Dutch war graves. Six interments have been identified as from Cornwall.

Chungkai cemetery is about 5 kilometres west of Kanchanaburi cemetery. Chungkai was one of the base camps on the railway and this war cemetery is the original burial ground started by the prisoners themselves, and the burials are mostly of men who died at the camp hospital. There are 1,427 Commonwealth and 314 Dutch burials of the Second World War in this cemetery. Five interments have been identified as from Cornwall.

As usual, we have included memorials located in Cornwall that relate to Thailand. One of the two memorials found is in respect of pet dogs, but the memorial is of interest as it was presented to Bodmin by PRINCE CHULA OF SIAM who resided in that town for many years. The other memorial commemorates EDWIN BOND who died in Thailand in 1923. These are included in our                            South East Asia Index.