Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


	S.P. Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 11/1 Soi 3 Bamrungburi Rd., T. Prasingh, A. Muang., Chiang Mai 50200 Tel. 053 - 814 455-6 Fax. 053 - 814 457 E-mail: guidelin@loxinfo.co.th

LISTENING TO THE DEAD
The Chiang Mai Foreign Cemetery

by Graeme Monaghan

For many, walking through a cemetery may seem a little morbid or even macabre. Whilst there are some who take a genuine delight in such pastimes and some who do not, personally I feel that it can be another opportunity to communicate with history, and discover much of what has happened in years gone by.

Such a place to acquire some of this knowledge is the Chiang Mai Foreign Cemetery on the Chiang Mai-Lamphun Road, not far from the city and adjacent to the Gymkhana Club. I might add here, that if this is your intention, it is essential that you buy a copy of �De Mortuis� for 100 baht at the caretaker�s office before you enter. It is a book written about the cemetery and those interred there, by the renowned Dick Wood, (himself now a resident). I did, and was able to walk through the grounds and acquaint myself with some of the unique history of the involvement in the area by foreigners both recent and long ago. It is worthy of note that the sale of the book, De Mortuis, is the only means the current committee has of raising funds for the upkeep and maintenance of this valuable, and sacred, piece of history.

The land itself was granted by Royal Deed of Gift of His Majesty, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in July 1898, given under custody of the British Consulate, and remains so to this day. One of the stipulations of the Royal Gift was that �the land may never be sold�.

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries the majority of non-Thais living (and dying) in this area were associated with the logging trade. The taking of teak timber from Burma and Northern Thailand was a powerful trade for many years, although fortunately in more recent years a more commonsense approach to this plundering has prevailed and the trade is under the strict control of the Thai Government. The other �trade� to inevitably follow on from the logging was, of course, evangelism, where some folk go to great lengths to try to convince others that �my religion is better than your religion� and do so with considerable zeal. Despite the latter calling, the cemetery is not a Christian cemetery but is set aside purely for the interment of non-Thai people.

The very first person to be interred there was an Englishman named Major Edward Lainson who departed this life in 1900. In a colourful career he had served with Lord Kitchener in Egypt, seen service in India, and was a Russian interpreter. He died of dysentery aged only 43 years.

Dysentery was not the only scourge of these early arrivals in the area and the book tells us that there were deaths from blackwater fever, typhoid, malaria and, naturally enough, cancer. Over the years �murder� has also been a means of the passing of several now resting in the cemetery and, curiously enough, I knew two of the victims, although one only fleetingly. I was having a drink with Keith Tate (Grave No. B37), three nights before he was tragically gunned down in August of 1998.

Also Evelyn Guy Stuart Hartley and Lillian Hamer both met their deaths by gunshots from unknown assailants in 1956 and 1959 respectively.

Surely one of the most colourful characters to rest in the Foreign Cemetery is the Reverend Daniel McGilvray. An American evangelist he spent a total of 53 years in Thailand, the last 44 of those years in Chiang Mai, until his death in August 1911. He certainly must have been a man with great devotion to his god, as for his first year here he lived in an open hut and was regularly gawked at by crowds of Thais who came to stare at the strange man with the huge white beard. According to Dick Wood�s book he was referred to as �kolas�, a Burmese word meaning �came swimming� or more literally, �from across the sea�. Of his many tribulations caused by his introduction of Christianity was the resentment of the Chao Luang (local ruler with absolute power even though a Royal appointee) who had two of the reverend�s converts arrested and executed for simply being Christians. But the good preacher stuck to his guns and was eventually able to provide medical services, build schools and convert many. Only three weeks before his death, at age 83, he had ridden 20 miles (32 km) to a service. Quite a feat in those days of little or no roadways.

Another colourful story is that of Captain Hans Markward Jensen, a Danish soldier seconded into the Thai Provincial Military Police to try to maintain peace in the northern provinces. The Shans, Burmese immigrants working as mining labourers in Northern Thailand, had rebelled against Government oppression in 1902. They had already sacked the township of Phrae, beheading the governor in the process, and then marched upon Lampang. With Captain Jensen in command, the Shans were beaten off, but he then decided to pursue them, and was killed in action at Phayao. For his deeds he was promoted to Major by King Chulalongkorn and given a reward of 10,000 baht, (no doubt a fortune in those days), although he never lived to receive either commendation. However, his widowed mother was given a lifetime grant of 3,000 baht per year until she died in 1938. An obelisk, also given by the King, marks his grave and there is also a memorial to him at Phayao where he died.

Though the occupants of the Foreign Cemetery are predominantly British and American, many other nationalities rest there including Australian, Dutch, Canadian, German, French, and one Indian. Also there is one Thai also. She was Mrs. Boon Wood, wife of William Alfred Rae (WAR) Wood (his being a story all of its own) and qualified to rest next to her husband, in the cemetery�s only mausoleum, because she had obtained British nationality. She joined her husband in November 1982, twelve years after his departure.

I must not forget dear old Queen Victoria who, although she does not rest there, her statue, cast in bronze, overlooks those who do from the northern corner of the cemetery. Although it arrived, via a most circuitous route, in Thailand from England in 1903, and stood at the British Consulate gates for many years, it was transferred to the cemetery in 1980 when the consulate was closed. There is much more to see and cogitate over than the space I have to write this story, so if you are intending to visit, then a copy of Mr. Wood�s book is a must.

Listening to the dead can be a fascinating experience, as they have much to say.