Pierre de Milard (often referred to as Chevalier Milard, also spelled Chevalier Millard; 1736–1778) was a
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
officer, who became a senior officer and noble in the
Royal Burmese Armed Forces
The Royal Armed Forces ( my, တပ်မတော်,See (Maha Yazawin 2006: 26), (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 236), (Hmannan Vol. 2 2012: 2) for example. ) were the armed forces of the Burmese monarchy from the 9th to 19th centuries. It refers ...
. He had a key role in supporting the Burmese military efforts against
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and
Qing China. He was lavishly rewarded for his efforts, and made the governor of
Tabe. De Milard was very close to King
Hsinbyushin
Hsinbyushin ( my, ဆင်ဖြူရှင်, , ; th, พระเจ้ามังระ; 12 September 1736 – 10 June 1776) was king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Al ...
. Suffering from a long illness in his last years, the Burmese king asked de Milard on a few occasions to sleep in the same room in order to guard against possible attempts on his life.
Brief
In 1756, Pierre de Milard was a member of a French navy force of two or three warships sent to
Syriam to provide reinforcements and supplies to the forces of
Hanthawaddy in the
Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War. The force was to join the
French officer Sieur de Bruno who was helping defend the city of Syriam against a Konbaung attack. However, the Konbaung leader
Alaungpaya
Alaungpaya ( my, အလောင်းဘုရား, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). By the time of his death from illness during his campaign in Siam, this f ...
managed to capture Syriam in July 1756. The two French ships with reinforcements and supplies were also captured by Alaungpaya when Alaungpaya forced Bruno to write a letter to trick them. The French captains were killed and the sailors forced to join the Burmese army.
![MyanmarMandalay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/MyanmarMandalay.png)
Chevalier Milard was among the soldiers who were forced into the Burmese army. He was only 20 years old when he was captured. The incorporated French troops with their guns and muskets played a key role in the later battles between the Burmese and the Mons. They became an elite corps, which was to play a role in the Burmese battles against the
Siamese (attacks and capture of
Ayutthaya from 1759 to 1767) and the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
(battles against the Chinese armies of the
Qianlong Emperor from 1766 to 1769).
Ultimately Chevalier Milard was nominated Captain of the Guard and Master of the Ordnance for the
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
.
Milard was involved in the reopening of contacts between the Burmese and the French as Burma was looking for supplies of weapons for its conflicts with the Siamese and the Manchu Chinese. Commercial contacts resumed in 1770 and Milard arranged the visit of the French envoy
M. Feraud and the re-establishment of the French shipyard in
Rangoon.
Milard was very close to the Burmese ruler
Hsinbyushin
Hsinbyushin ( my, ဆင်ဖြူရှင်, , ; th, พระเจ้ามังระ; 12 September 1736 – 10 June 1776) was king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Al ...
and for some time slept in the same room as him in order to protect him against possible attacks linked to a succession dispute.
Chevalier Milard was also noted for his charitable activities towards schools and churches, thereby promoting Western education in Burma. He died in 1778. He was buried near the village of Ngayabya in the
Sagaing district
Sagaing District is an administrative district in southern Sagaing Division, Burma (Myanmar). . His tombstone, written in Latin and Burmese was transferred by the Archaeological Department of Burma in 1924 for preservation. His tombstone records that he fought for the Burmese kings in his campaigns against
Hanthawaddy Pegu,
Ayutthaya and
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...
as "Captain of the Feringhis" ("Captain of the French"), with the title of ''Thiri Yazathu Khyawhthin'',
baron (''myosa'') of Tabe in the Sagaing district.
''History of Burma'' By Harvey G. E. p. 231
/ref>
See also
* France-Burma relations
Notes
References
* Coupland, Sir Reginald ''British Empire History. Burma Editor Sir Reginald Couplan
*Findlay, Ronald and O'Rourke, Kevin H. (2007) ''Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium'
*Harvey G. E., ''History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824'', Asian Educational Services, 2000 ,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milard, Pierre De
French soldiers
Military history of Myanmar
1736 births
1778 deaths