Jim Thompson was a legendary American businessman who helped revitalize the Thai silks and textile industry in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He developed a thriving silk business in the years before he went missing in the jungles of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia – a man whose flair for the tasteful and graceful led him to build a house in which objects of great value and beauty can still be seen displayed in appropriate surroundings.
WORLD WAR 11 ACTIVITIES
James H.W.Thompson known to friends and strangers alike as Jim was born in Greenville Delaware, not far from Wilminton on March 21st 1906, the youngest of 5 children in a family prominent in Deleware society. Upon graduating in Princeton in the class of 1928, he studied architecture and during the 1930’s practised as an architect in New York City, his speciality was Country Houses of traditional design, of which he built a considerable number along the East Coast.
In 1940 he enlisted in the army. During WW2, he was recruited and served as a commissioned officer in the office of Strategic Services. After Victory in Europe Day, Thompson transferred to Ceylon. He was about to be deployed in Thailand when the surrender of Japan officially ended WW2. Thompson arrived in Thailand several weeks after victory over Japan to take charge of the Bangkok OSS office. Leaving the US Army in 1946, he returned home to bring his wife back to Thailand. She did not agree to this and divorced him. Thompson returned to Bangkok, embarking on a renovation of the Oriental Hotel with a number of partners. |
RETURN TO PRIVATE INDUSTRY
A civilian once more, Thompson devoted himself to revitalizing a cottage industry of hand-woven silk, which had for centuries been a household craft in Thailand but was dying out. Thompson located a group of weavers in the Bangkok neighbourhood of Bankura and provided color-fast dyes, standardized looms, and technical assistance to those interested in weaving on a piece-work basis.
Besides inventing the bright jewel tones and dramatic color combinations nowadays associated with Thai silks, he raised thousands of Thailand’s poorest people out of poverty, making millionaires out of his core weavers by giving them shares in the Thai silk Company. Thompson’s determination to keep his company cottage-based was significant for the women who made up the bulk of his workforce. By allowing them work at home, choosing their hours and looking after their children while weaving they retained their position in the household while becoming breadwinners.
As Thompson was building his company, he also became a major collector of Southeast Asian Art which at the time was not well known internationally. He built a superb collection of Buddhist and secular art not only from Thailand but from Burma, Cambodia and Laos, frequently travelling to those Countries on buying trips.
In 1958 he began which was to be the pinnacle of his architectural achievement, a new home to showcase his art collection. Formed from parts of 6 antique Thai houses, his home sits on the Klong (canal) across from Bangkura, where his weavers were then located. The Jim Thompson House, now a museum, is the 2nd most popular tourist attraction in Bangkok, surpassed only by the Grand Palace in visitor attendance. |
DISAPPEARANCE
Thompson went for an afternoon walk in the Cameron Highlands on Easter Sunday 1967, and disappeared. Many hypotheses have been put forward to explaing his disappearance, but what actually happened to him remains a mystery |
