|
The British Club Bangkok was founded on 23rd April (St.George’s Day) 1903 by a small group of British businessmen and diplomatic civil servants, in order to create a social club in the style enjoyed by their peers in the British Colonies throughout Asia.
Siam (as Thailand was then known) was a very different place to now and Bangkok was far, far smaller, consisting of Rattanakosin Island and a sway of development lining both sides of the Chao Phaya River such that places well known today like the Victory Monument, Klong Toey and Don Muang were just distant rice fields, accessed only by narrow Klongs (canals). Bangkok Muang (town) had no bridges over the river; only two railway lines (one from Hua Lamphong to Nakhon Ratchasima, and another from Hua Lamphong to Paknam) both single track; two tram lines which ran from the Grand Palace to Thanon Tok and to Hua Lampong; very few actual roads; and no Banks! It did, however, boast two English language newspapers, The Bangkok Times and the Bangkok Daily Mail. The British Empire consulate was on the Chao Phaya River adjacent to the present Portuguese Embassy and the Siamese currency of the day was the Tical and exchanged at the rate of 13 to £1 Stirling.
The founding fathers, as it was solely a male preserve, were drawn from the British Diplomatic Mission and various companies like The Borneo Company, Louis T. Leonowens, The Anglo-Thai Company and Tilleke & Gibbins, the latter of which would play a significant role in the later years of club history as well. It was initially set up as a debenture membership and was restricted only to the directors and senior managers of those companies, other minions only allowed in as guests.
By July of that year, sufficient funds had been raised to open a ‘clubhouse’. A small wooden house was chosen which located on Suriwongse Road in the Ban Tavoy amphoe (district) on the edge of the city (which became Bang Rak in June 1908). This road was connected to the New Road (Chareon Krung) being the major thoroughfare from the city down to the old Bangkok Port at Bangkholaem. The building had the Danish owned Siam Electricity Company’s Tennis Club on its east side and had a small Klong (canal) running along it’s west side leading down to Klong Silom, waterways still being the main mode of transportation in those days.
Membership of The British Club Bangkok grew steadily and by 1908 it stood at around 100. Those members felt the existing premises were too small thus it was decided to build a purpose-built clubhouse and the new building, our current clubhouse, was opened in 1910. The Club continued to prosper and grow and in January 1919 the land area was doubled by the acquisition of the Siam Electricity Company’s Tennis Club that gave the club ten Tennis courts in front of the clubhouse lawn. This land area (8.75 Rai or 14,000 sq.m.) remains the club’s footprint to this day.
The Club’s growth over the next few decades was mirrored by Bangkok’s own growth as many new Roads were built, Klongs filled in and the tramway was extended down the side of the Klong Silom out of the back gate of the club. Klong Toey was now a busy market area as was Pratumnam. Don Muang was now an airfield and Bangkok officially became a Changwat (province). Our land was also graced by the opening in 1922 of the Neilson-Hays Library a short distance from us along Suriwongse Road.
The height of club life was Saturday lunchtime, it being a half-day, when the directors of the various companies all took up their own seats in ‘The Bar’ and woe betide anyone who sat in their seats! Imports of Whisky and Gin gave the main tipple of the day and Thailand’s first beer, Singha, joined this in 1933. A monthly cinema club was set up but food was limited to sandwiches and biscuits as the club was still without kitchens. The British Club Bangkok was the social hub of British interests in Siam for nearly forty years.
However, British interests in Siam and thus those of the club were cut short in December 1941 when the Japanese invaded Siam and The British Club Bangkok ceased operation until 1946. The Club was turned into an Officer’s mess and those members who had been unable to escape were interned in one of a number of camps set up in and around Bangkok. Although British and US bombers did bomb Bangkok, there was no report of the club ever being hit, however the departing army in 1945 did excessive damage to the fabric of the property. The Club was lucky in one aspect; its two land leases were mortgaged to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank thus survived the war and enabled The Club to eventually claim back the property afterward.
|
