The Burmese Invasion
In 1785, Burmese forces, backed by a Muslim rebel army, invaded Siamese territory and began their deadly march, looting and enslaving the local population, leaving burned towns in their wake. An army of 144,000 split into nine columns and attacked Thailand from multiple directions.
Siam had, at that point, just lost its official leader on Phuket. The island's governor, Phaya Phimon, had died two months before the invasion, and no new ruler had yet been appointed. Power effectively fell to his widow — forty-five-year-old Lady Chan.
Lady Chan
Lady Chan came from the noble line of Chom Rang, then the head of Ban Takien and governor of Thalang. There were five children in the family, and Lady Chan was the eldest, while her loyal sister Mook was the youngest. Her first marriage had been overshadowed by the death of her daughter in childhood. But after her divorce, her second husband was Phaya Phimon, who'd been appointed governor of Thalang in 1775. As an outsider to the region, it was specifically through his marriage to the governor's daughter that Phaya Phimon cemented his position, making his wife Phuket's first lady. That's precisely why, after his death, the island's residents turned to Lady Chan for leadership.
According to the traditional account, Lady Chan was in Pak Phra when the invasion began. One version has her there on military business, meeting with a supply commissariat; another, closer to the traditional stage plays, has her under arrest in Pak Phra over a debt owed to the crown. Either way, the Burmese kept methodically advancing, eventually capturing Pak Phra as well. Fleeing along with everyone else, Lady Chan made her way back home to Thalang. Rumors of varying reliability had already reached the local population, and the result was a panicked certainty that even Bangkok had already fallen to the Burmese — a rumor the invaders themselves had deliberately started.
The Decision to Fight
A council was called, at which Lady Chan proposed fighting. Risky as that decision was, fleeing to the mainland was no less dangerous — Burmese patrols were combing the coastline, catching anyone who tried to escape the island in order to execute or enslave them.
Phuket's population at the time of the invasion numbered around 14,000, of whom only 2,000 were capable of fighting, and just a few hundred were professional soldiers. The rest of Phuket's militia was a motley mix — traders, fishermen, farmers, and miners. Backed by her younger sister Mook, Lady Chan made the bold decision to hold the line at Thalang Fort, built nearly a century earlier by the Frenchman René Charbonneau. The fort was well armed with cannons and held decent stockpiles of gunpowder, grapeshot, and muskets, along with a month's worth of provisions. Around 600 residents of Phuket — men, women, and children — took shelter inside.
The Burmese fleet landed on Nai Yang Beach in northwest Phuket and seized Bang Sakhu (a town south of today's airport). A Burmese force of around 3,000 pushed inland along a canal (klong) leading to Thalang. That waterway empties into the sea near Layan Beach, north of Bang Tao — and locals still call it the "Burmese Soldiers' Canal" to this day.
The Siege of Thalang: 25 Days of Resistance
Once the Burmese reached the fort, they realized their small-caliber cannons couldn't breach its walls, so they settled in for a siege while quietly preparing for a surprise assault.
Aware that the enemy outnumbered them badly, Lady Chan resorted to trickery. She ordered the women to dress in soldiers' uniforms and march along the fort's walls to give the impression of a much larger garrison, and had large numbers of fake muskets made from bamboo, propped muzzle-out through the fort's firing slits. The ruse worked: uncertain of their own advantage, the Burmese kept delaying their assault day after day.
Meanwhile, Lady Chan's followers staged nightly raids, destroying enemy supplies and disrupting their lines of communication.
After 25 days of fierce siege, the Burmese, starving and running short on supplies, withdrew. Official accounts put enemy losses at 300 to 400 men.
Heroic Epic or Bitter Victory?
In Thai historical tradition, Lady Chan and Lady Mook are portrayed as national heroines whose resolve and cunning saved Phuket. Viewed from a more objective historical distance, though, the victory looks more like a Pyrrhic one. Yes, the Burmese retreated — but the island itself was left devastated: villages burned, crops destroyed, trade at a standstill. Hundreds died of starvation or were carried off into slavery. In the years that followed, Phuket remained in decline, its people living in constant fear of a new invasion.
According to Phuket's legends, the Burmese left because of the courageous leadership of Lady Chan and her sister Mook. The real reason, though, was likely the decisive military command of King Rama I, who crushed the main Burmese army near Bangkok in the north, then swiftly sent forces south to liberate the peninsula — defeating the Burmese and Malay rebels at Ligor (present-day Nakhon Si Thammarat).
Conclusion
Even so, the story of the Heroic Sisters has gone down in history as a symbol of women's courage and resourcefulness. King Rama I formally honored Lady Chan with the title Thao Thepkrasattri, and her sister Mook with the title Thao Sisunthon. Their legacy was memorialized in 1967 with the erection of the Heroines' Monument in Phuket, and the island's two main roads were named after them.
The story of Lady Chan and Lady Mook isn't just a war tale. It's an epic of strength of spirit, leadership, and courage — of a woman who, with no official authority and no army of her own, managed to rally her people and beat back one of the most formidable enemies in the region's history.
In 1785, Burmese forces, backed by a Muslim rebel army, invaded Siamese territory and began their deadly march, looting and enslaving the local population, leaving burned towns in their wake. An army of 144,000 split into nine columns and attacked Thailand from multiple directions.
Siam had, at that point, just lost its official leader on Phuket. The island's governor, Phaya Phimon, had died two months before the invasion, and no new ruler had yet been appointed. Power effectively fell to his widow — forty-five-year-old Lady Chan.
Lady Chan
Lady Chan came from the noble line of Chom Rang, then the head of Ban Takien and governor of Thalang. There were five children in the family, and Lady Chan was the eldest, while her loyal sister Mook was the youngest. Her first marriage had been overshadowed by the death of her daughter in childhood. But after her divorce, her second husband was Phaya Phimon, who'd been appointed governor of Thalang in 1775. As an outsider to the region, it was specifically through his marriage to the governor's daughter that Phaya Phimon cemented his position, making his wife Phuket's first lady. That's precisely why, after his death, the island's residents turned to Lady Chan for leadership.
According to the traditional account, Lady Chan was in Pak Phra when the invasion began. One version has her there on military business, meeting with a supply commissariat; another, closer to the traditional stage plays, has her under arrest in Pak Phra over a debt owed to the crown. Either way, the Burmese kept methodically advancing, eventually capturing Pak Phra as well. Fleeing along with everyone else, Lady Chan made her way back home to Thalang. Rumors of varying reliability had already reached the local population, and the result was a panicked certainty that even Bangkok had already fallen to the Burmese — a rumor the invaders themselves had deliberately started.
The Decision to Fight
A council was called, at which Lady Chan proposed fighting. Risky as that decision was, fleeing to the mainland was no less dangerous — Burmese patrols were combing the coastline, catching anyone who tried to escape the island in order to execute or enslave them.
Phuket's population at the time of the invasion numbered around 14,000, of whom only 2,000 were capable of fighting, and just a few hundred were professional soldiers. The rest of Phuket's militia was a motley mix — traders, fishermen, farmers, and miners. Backed by her younger sister Mook, Lady Chan made the bold decision to hold the line at Thalang Fort, built nearly a century earlier by the Frenchman René Charbonneau. The fort was well armed with cannons and held decent stockpiles of gunpowder, grapeshot, and muskets, along with a month's worth of provisions. Around 600 residents of Phuket — men, women, and children — took shelter inside.
The Burmese fleet landed on Nai Yang Beach in northwest Phuket and seized Bang Sakhu (a town south of today's airport). A Burmese force of around 3,000 pushed inland along a canal (klong) leading to Thalang. That waterway empties into the sea near Layan Beach, north of Bang Tao — and locals still call it the "Burmese Soldiers' Canal" to this day.
The Siege of Thalang: 25 Days of Resistance
Once the Burmese reached the fort, they realized their small-caliber cannons couldn't breach its walls, so they settled in for a siege while quietly preparing for a surprise assault.
Aware that the enemy outnumbered them badly, Lady Chan resorted to trickery. She ordered the women to dress in soldiers' uniforms and march along the fort's walls to give the impression of a much larger garrison, and had large numbers of fake muskets made from bamboo, propped muzzle-out through the fort's firing slits. The ruse worked: uncertain of their own advantage, the Burmese kept delaying their assault day after day.
Meanwhile, Lady Chan's followers staged nightly raids, destroying enemy supplies and disrupting their lines of communication.
After 25 days of fierce siege, the Burmese, starving and running short on supplies, withdrew. Official accounts put enemy losses at 300 to 400 men.
Heroic Epic or Bitter Victory?
In Thai historical tradition, Lady Chan and Lady Mook are portrayed as national heroines whose resolve and cunning saved Phuket. Viewed from a more objective historical distance, though, the victory looks more like a Pyrrhic one. Yes, the Burmese retreated — but the island itself was left devastated: villages burned, crops destroyed, trade at a standstill. Hundreds died of starvation or were carried off into slavery. In the years that followed, Phuket remained in decline, its people living in constant fear of a new invasion.
According to Phuket's legends, the Burmese left because of the courageous leadership of Lady Chan and her sister Mook. The real reason, though, was likely the decisive military command of King Rama I, who crushed the main Burmese army near Bangkok in the north, then swiftly sent forces south to liberate the peninsula — defeating the Burmese and Malay rebels at Ligor (present-day Nakhon Si Thammarat).
Conclusion
Even so, the story of the Heroic Sisters has gone down in history as a symbol of women's courage and resourcefulness. King Rama I formally honored Lady Chan with the title Thao Thepkrasattri, and her sister Mook with the title Thao Sisunthon. Their legacy was memorialized in 1967 with the erection of the Heroines' Monument in Phuket, and the island's two main roads were named after them.
The story of Lady Chan and Lady Mook isn't just a war tale. It's an epic of strength of spirit, leadership, and courage — of a woman who, with no official authority and no army of her own, managed to rally her people and beat back one of the most formidable enemies in the region's history.
Heroic Sisters: A Tribute to Female Courage and Ingenuity
Original text translated by Claude
