Obituaries

Dacre Raikes, OBE, who died on March 27th, 2013 aged 87 was a member and past British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) Chairman. He was a very well respected member of the Bangkok community.

Dacre fought in the Second World War between 1943 and 1946 with the Royal Navy.  He was the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand Chairman from 1967 to 1969 and played a major role in the chamber’s development from the 1950s through to the 1980s having joined the Borneo Company initially in Chiang Mai in 1951. With the increased activity of the Chamber and the resignation of the Borneo Company as Secretary in 1969 the Chamber opened its first office employing three staff. Until 2011 he was a regular attendee at the BCCT Annual Christmas Luncheon and numerous other events during the year.  He was kind and considerate with an infectious sense of humour. He enjoyed music both Western and Thai and had been President of the Bangkok Music Group. He was also an honorary member of the Siam Society and the British Club Bangkok.  He was widely respected in Thai and non-Thai business circles and will be greatly missed.

“The train ran about three times a week in the early fifties and there were some flights but you had to move the cows and sheep off the runway before a plane could land.”

“You couldn’t stay late in your office in the mid to late fifties because of the lack of light, so we used to go and play tennis”.

Dacre was British Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Deputy President of the Board of Trade of Thailand from 1967 to 1969. He fondly remembered these times:-

“Board of Trade meetings were ridiculous – there was this farang presiding over multi-millionaire Chinese businessmen, so I just sat back and allowed my aura to spread around the room….with our business usually discussed in private after the meeting”

Dacre was an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and a Member of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand