BANGKOK, Thailand – The British embassy held a party at the British Club in Bangkok to commemorate the so-called Bowring treaty of 1855 which established consular jurisdiction for British nationals in Thailand. Signed between Sir John Bowring, the colonial governor of Hong Kong and Siamese plenipotentiaries, the treaty also gave British subjects the right to live permanently in Bangkok and to enjoy multilateral trade liberalization with agreed tariffs on imports and exports.
The party was attended by 200 invitees and was hosted by deputy head of mission Dave Thomas and head of consular services Joanne Finnamore-Crorkin. Mr Thomas said that official Anglo-Siamese relations were now 170 years old, even though British traders and the East India Company had been visiting Siam since the early 17th century. He added that the treaty survived until the first world war and was a model for other Siamese deals with European nations as well as the United States.
Mrs Finnamore-Crorkin said that 2024 was a record year for consular assistance work in Thailand. There were over 2,000 cases of distress, including arrests, detentions and deaths, as well as a similar number of notarial (documentary) services and over 600 emergency travel documents issued. She also revealed that just over one million British visitors entered Thailand during 2024, including 99,687 “residents” mainly in Bangkok and tourist-orientated provinces.
