Embassy of the United Kingdom, Bangkok

The British Consulate General in 1875

The British Legation, c. 1908

In 1856, following the coming into force of the Bowring Treaty, Charles Batten Hillier became the first British Consul in Bangkok. The mission originally rented premises in the area of Bang Kho Laem District, but was soon gifted a piece land on the bank of the Chao Phraya, next to the Portuguese Consulate, by King Mongkut. This was a gesture of generosity, as well as restitution for an incident where Siamese officials punished a British subject of a crime, violating the extraterritoriality provided by the new treaty.[1] Construction of the new building was finished in 1876.[2] By then, the newly built Charoen Krung Road also ran past the property, opposite the river.

The consulate was raised to the status of a legation in 1895, and by the 1900s came to house several buildings, including the minister's residence, two jails and two courthouses. A flagpole, the tallest in Bangkok at the time, was raised in 1892 to replace an earlier one blown down in a storm. Made of steel and ordered from Hong Kong, its cost of £500 earned the vice-consul responsible a reprimand from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Works for unnecessary extravagance. A statue of Queen Victoria was raised on the site in 1903.[2] The statue was officially unveiled by Crown Prince Vajiravudh during a ceremony held on 23 March 1905.[3][4]

When Minister Ralph Paget arrived in 1902, the area, by then known as Bang Rak, had become very busy and the legation was exposed to much pollution and noise from nearby rice mills, river and road traffic, as well as noisy neighbours which included a temple whose bells sounded every morning and a bar situated opposite run by an Italian lady named Madame Staro. Paget made suggestions for the relocation of the legation, but the government's response was unenthusiastic. It wasn't until 1922 that a new plot of land of about 12 acres (4.9 ha) in the Phloen Chit area was acquired from the Thai Chinese businessman Nai Lert. The old compound was sold to the Siamese Government, which used it as the site of Bangkok's General Post Office, for about £110,000. This was enough to pay for both the land and the construction of new buildings (completed in 1926), as the new site was in a rural swampy area—a fact which made the move highly unpopular at the time. Queen Victoria's statue and the flagpole were relocated to the new site, and a war memorial was also erected in 1923. The minister's (now ambassador's) residence served as the compound's main building.[2]

The legation was re-established as the British Embassy in 1947, with Geoffrey Harrington Thompson becoming the first British Ambassador to Thailand.[2] Several additional buildings have since been built, but the compound remained an oasis of greenery amidst its surroundings, which by the late 20th century had developed into part of the commercial city centre, containing luxury hotels, offices, apartments and shopping malls.[5]

The Central Embassy shopping mall now stands on what used to be the front third of the embassy grounds.

In 2006, as part of its plan to downgrade several embassies and consulates to divert funds to other activities, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office sold about 9 rai (1.4 ha; 3.6 acres) or about a third of the embassy's estate—the portion fronting Phloen Chit Road—to Tiang Chirathivat Real Estate Company, whose owners also operated Central Group. Queen Victoria's statue and the war memorial were relocated to accommodate the sale, which subsequently developed the land into the high-end Central Embassy shopping centre.[5][6]

In 2017, the Foreign Office sold the remaining 23 rai (3.7 ha; 9.1 acres) of embassy land. The auction was again won by Central Group, who reportedly offered in the range of 2–2.2 million baht per square wa (4 m²), placing the total price at over 18 billion baht (£420 million) and making it the highest-priced real estate deal in Thailand ever.[7] The office issued a statement confirming the sale, to a joint venture of Central and Hongkong Land, in January 2018. The embassy is being relocated to AIA Sathorn Tower, an office building on Sathon Road.[8] The war memorial has been relocated to the British Club, but Queen Victoria's statue will be transferred along with the site.[9] By August 2019, the ambassador's residence was reported to have been demolished to make way for redevelopment.[10]