LuangAnuphasphuketkarn (Tan Chin Guan)
Tan Chin Guan,born on 4th November, 1888, He was the son of Tan Check Ut, the Hokkien Chinese who migrated and settled home in Thailand during the reign of King Rama 5, and settled down in Kalai District, Phang Nga province. Mother of Tan Chin Guan was Mrs. Khom Na Phattalung, she was from Phang Nga. He had six sibling including himself. His father passed away when he was only 9 years old, he was raised by his mother with his siblings.
Education – Nine years before his father passed away, he began his education at Wat Mongkolnimitr (Wat Klang) school, where he was taught by the revered Wisutti Wongsajarnyarnmanee (Plao). When he was 14 years old, Chin Guan’s brother Chin Hong sent him to China to study the Chinese language then he returned back to Thailand after finished studying.
Work– When he returned, he joined Chin Hong in his tin mining business. After a while, when he felt he had amassed the skills to run a business himself, he left his brother and set up a mining company with 4-5 friends.
Their first venture was an open cast mine which had been very lucrative for the previous owner. But for Chin Guan and his partners, it was a disappointment.
Undeterred by this setback, he tried different mining methods, switching from open cast mining to ground sluicing and shaft mining. A hands-on manager, he almost suffocated in a shaft one time when he went down to search for a tin vein. He spent so much time in the shaft that the oxygen in the air became so depleted that he could not even light a candle.
With his inquiring mind and his drive to amass knowledge, he kept searching for better ways to mine tin. When he learned that a new method, gravel pump mining, was becoming popular in Malaysia, he took a trip there to learn more. Convinced that this was the way to go, he began gravel pump mining in Phuket in 1927.
Although this method did not bear fruit immediately, Chin Guan was unfazed. He experimented, buying a ship’s generator and using it to power the pump instead of the more usual reciprocating diesel engine. He discovered that this reduced costs. He resolved to build a power station. On 9th January, 1930, an opening ceremony was held and the power station was fired up.
Somdej Prajao Baromwongtuer Chaofah Boripat Sukhumpun Krom Pranakornsawan Worapinit, the Prince of Nakorn Sawan, presided over the opening ceremony and in commemoration, named the mine “Muang Chaofah”.
He was still thirsty for knowledge, and made frequent trips to Pe-nang to study new mining techniques. Once the Chaofah mine had become successful, he decided, in 1938, to invest in one of the new tin dredgers and had it shipped to Baan Hinlad in Phang Nga province. He was the second Thai to own a dredger, the first being Phra Aramsakornket.
To ensure the smooth operation of tin mining, several other industries were necessary. Chin Guan therefore established a smelting plant, a sawmill, a lumber mill and, for the miners, a rice mill and an ice plant. He also moved into other businesses unrelated to tin mining – a soap plant, a brewery, rubber and coconut plantations, and a ferry service between Phuket and Kantang in Trang Province.
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Titled – Despite being very successful attempting in the mining business, Tan Chin Guan was also an active philanthropist. For his charitable works, Tan Chin Guan supported many public donation such as contributing the land for establishing Bansuanmaprao School which is named Hongsyokbumrung School in the present, Building Anuphaskridsadaram Temple at Kratu subdistrict, donating land for Mission Hospital, and support the areas where there is no memorial by many times of aid donations to public sector. He was also a founder of the Mining Industry Council. With all these charity activities, he received the title of Luang Anuphasphuketkarn in 1931.
More honours were to follow. In 1953, Luang Anuphasphuketkarn received from His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Royal Thai decoration of Companion (Fourth Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant (Captain rank).
Family – Luang Anuphasphuketkarn married his wife Looi Hoon in 1903 when he was 27 years old. At that time, he had just started out in business and was struggling, but Looi Hoon was always by his side. She passed away in 1953, but not before the couple had 10 children. One of these died in childhood. The others are or were:
- Yupa Hongsyok (Deceased) married to Mr. Soon Seng Hock (Deceased);
- Virat Hongsyok (Deceased) married to Mrs. Boonsri (Scott);
- Veerapong Hongsyok (Deceased) married to Mrs. Jintana ( Sae-ju);
- Kanit Hongsyok (Deceased) married to Mrs. Pensri (Sawaspak-dee);
- Yuwadee Chareonpitak (Deceased) married to Mr. Tawee Chareonpitak (Deceased);
- Anek Hongsyok married to Mrs. Sukanya (Deceased);
- Narong Hongsyok married to Mrs. Yaowaluk (Pokapol);
- Yupawadee Samutrassadong married to Mr. Naret Samutras-sadong (Deceased)
- Sanit Hongsyok (Deceased) married to Mrs. Bigui (Deceased)
Luang Anuphasphuketkarn was a father who love his children equally, as indicated when he made them all shareholders in his company. He also sent them to study at renowned schools in Penang and, later, in the United States of America. This was considered a great privilege for children from a middle class family; at that time it was usually only children of the nobility who had such opportunities. Once they graduated, he trained them to work with his employees until they became capable managers.
Luang Anuphasphuketkarn not only taught his children how to work and how to manage, but also how to value what they earned and to spend it wisely and effectively. By his example, he also showed them how to contribute to society through his philanthropic works. These included:
Donating land for construction of Baan Suan Mapraw School. Today the school, in Mai Khao Subdistrict, is called Hongsyokbumroong School.
Constructing a temple in Kathu Subdistrict named Wat Anuphas Krisdaram.
Donating land for construction of the Mission Hospital in Phuket Town.
He also gave money to a number of charities, and was a founder of the Mining Industry Council, and its first chairman.
At the beginning of 1962 Luang Anuphasphuketkarn fell ill and traveled to Bangkok for treatment. His condition improved and he returned to Phuket to recuperate, but this was only a temporary respite. His illness returned and he passed away on 2nd October 1962, at the age of 74.
His legacy lives on, though, in his hard-working children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who still work for Anuphas & Sons company and its subsidiaries to this day.
