Suwaphan Sanithawong (สุวพรรณ สนิทวงศ์)

Thai. Name of a Momratchawong, who was the eldest son of Saai Sanithawong (fig.). He was born on 12 November 1863 and passed away on 21 January 1926. He joined the royal court at the age of 7, but at the age of 9 he was then chosen to be sent abroad to be educated as a physician, in order to succeed his father in this profession. In 1884, he finished his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and returned to Siam, where he joined his father at the royal court where the latter at that time was court physician, becoming his assistant both in medical and military matters, receiving the rank of Major. When his father in 1890 received the concessions to dig Khlong Rangsit Prayoonsak, i.e. the Rangsit Canal (fig.), in order to connect the Chao Phraya River in Pathum Thani, to the North of Rattanakosin, with Nakhon Nayok, Suwaphan also left the court and joined his father as an assistant, helping him to realize the project, which became his father's personal endeavor and legacy. Though the canal was not officially named after Saai, to honour him and his son as the team in charge of the project, a statue of both Suwaphan and his father Saai (fig.) now stands in a Buddhist temple located along the canal, in close proximity to the Northern Bangkok University in Pathum Thani, and the local people here do refer to the canal as Khlong Chao Saai (คลองเจ้าสาย), i.e. the ‘Prince Saai Canal’. Suwaphan was also known by the nickname Yai (ใหญ่), i.e. ‘Big’. 回