Purachatra Jayakara


Purachatra Jayakara, Prince of Kamphaengphet was a Prince of Siam and a member of the Siamese Royal Family. He founded the House of Chatrajaya, his descendants still use this royal surname. He was a son of King Chulalongkorn of Siam. He was often called the Father of the Thai radio and the Father of the Thai railways, due to his contributions in both fields.

Biography

Prince Purachatra Jayakara was born on 23 January 1881 in the compound of the Grand Palace. He was the 35th son of Chulalongkorn and Consort Wat. He received the education in Suankularb Wittayalai School. In 1894, he attended Harrow School, England. Then attended School of Engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge, and engineering at Chatham. And he attended studying in France and Netherlands in the School of engineering of digging dam-canals. After graduating, he went back to work in England. He became the officer of the Institution of Civil engineer.
He came back to Thailand in 1904. He worked as the military engineer, and officer of the Siamese Royal Army. He had served for 17 years. He developed the Siamese Department of Engineering militaries in his knowledge he got from the western. Later he retired himself and moved to Singapore with his family in 1933. He resided there until his death on 14 September 1936, at the age of 55.

Royal duties

Thai railways

In the reign of King Chulalongkorn. He gave the Siamese railway offices in control of the foreigners, for administration in the railways system around Thailand. Until his death in 1910, starting the new reign of King Vajiravudh. He requested his stepbrother, Prince Purachatra Jayakara to be the Head of the Northern railway department. Later in 1917, King Vajiravudh include the railways of the Northern line and the Southern line into the Royal Railway department and had Prince Purachatra Jayakara as the president. He developed and well-administrated the railway system. He expanded the rail lines around the northern and southern territory. Moreover, he created the north-eastern territory's line, started from Nakhon Ratchasima Province to Ubon Ratchathani Province. And the eastern line, started from Chachoengsao Province to Sa Kaeo Province which ended at Aranyaprathet District. He brought the diesel engine to use in Siam, as the first country in Asia to do so.
Later, King Vajiravudh dissolved the road department and included into the Royal Railway Department. Prince Purachatra Jayakara was responsibility for creating all the roads and bridges around the country, such as the Kasatsuk Bridge the first railway bridge in Thailand, Ratchadaphisek Bridge in Lampang Province, Phra Buddha Yodfa Bridge and Rama VI Bridge.
In 1921, he served as the commander of the railway department. He brought the engine of searching crude oil, firstly in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province where the people there found many amounts of crude oil. He hired the American Geologist to worked as surveying in geological system, for finding crude oil and coal around Thailand.

Transportation and Communications

He was the first to bring the communication system into the country. He set up a small radio for trial broadcasting and first broadcast in 1930. He established the first radio broadcasting station called Phayathai radio station. He was the first person of Siam to establishing the communication broadcasting system in the country. Then he became the Ministry of Commerce and Transport. He considered about establishing the television broadcasting transmission, which would have made Siam the first country in Asia to experiment with television, and had contacted an American company to provide and install equipment; however, because of the Siamese Revolution of 1932, the project was cancelled. Furthermore, he created the telegraph offices around the country, for mailing services, parcel, and postal services. He created the communication services from Thailand to many foreign countries.
In the transportation systems, he interested about the flight operation systems. He demonstrated flying, later acknowledged as the first Thai people embarking. He then established the flight operation systems business aviation, including the international aviation, for commercial aviation international services.
On 1 April 1926, he became the Minister of Commerce and Transport, which were both included into the one ministry. After the Siamese Revolution, he usually did the royal duties and royal ceremonies represented his half-brother, King Prajadhipok, before his abdication.

Marriage and issue

Prince Purachatra Jayakara, the Prince of Kamphaengphet had 7 consorts, and 12 children; 4 sons and 8 daughters.
He firstly married on 16 November 1904 with his cousin, Princess Prabhavasidhi Narumala, daughter of Prince Chaturanta Rasmi, the Prince Chakrabadibongse, King Chulalongkorn's younger brother. The couple had 4 children; 1 son and 3 daughters;
He secondly married with the Chiang Mai's princess, Princess Ladakham of Chiang Mai had 2 daughters;
Mom Pian Chatrajaya na Ayudhya, had 1 daughter;
Mom Pued Chatrajaya na Ayudhaya, had 1 son;
Mom Buaphud Chatrajaya na Ayudhya, had 1 son and 1 daughter;
Mom Chamlong Chatrajaya na Ayudhya, had 1 daughter;
His style was The Prince of Kamphaengphet, translated as Krom Muen Kamphaengphet Akarayothin on 29 January 1904. Later elevated by King Prajadhipok from Krom Muen to Krom Phra, the second level of the Krom ranks.

Ancestry