Orders, Decorations and Medals

Thailand, Order of the White Elephant, 1st type, Officer’s breast badge by Benson, London, silver-gilt and enamel, rosette on ribbon, in worn velvet covered case of issue, extremely fine £80-100

White Elephant, Officer, Edinburgh Gazette 4 September 1908, ‘.... conferred upon him by His Majesty the King of Siam, in recognition of valuable services rendered by him.’

Awarded to Captain Thomas Marshall Derham Esquire, who is believed to have been the Captain of the Siamese Royal Yacht, awarded the order on the occasion of a visit of King Chulalongkorn to King Edward VII in 1907.

Thomas Marshall Derham was born in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight in 1854. At the time of the award, Derham’s home address was ‘Archer Villa, East Cowes, Isle of Wight’. He died in the Isle of Wight on 21 March 1929, aged 74 years.

With original Thai bestowal document and accompanying translation, to ‘Captain Thomas Derham’, dated 2nd August 1907, with envelope, together with a related letter from The Siamese Legation, dated 23 April 1908; the permission to wear document, to ‘Thomas Marshall Derham, Esquire’, dated 29 August 1908, together with a related letter from the Foreign Office, dated 7 September 1908; a post card photograph of the royal yacht (?) and copied gazette extract. Also with a Thai 1 baht silver coin (worn) of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).