The Thai Red Cross Society was founded by King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn) in 1893 (B.E. 2436) after an international conflict with France. The institute was originally called Saphaa Unaalom Daeng which was later named the Red Cross Society of Siam and did not get its permanent headquarters until 1914 in the reign of King Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) when Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital was founded. It was the mandate of King Rama VI that the hospital is to be “most elegant, popular and marveled with the most modern medical equipments,…” the best hospital of the Orient, in order to be the most glorified memorial for King Chulalongkorn, the Father of King Rama VI. The hospital has been the leader in medical services, public health as well as medical science, and home to the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University which has been the center of medical research at national and international levels.

Keywords: History, Medicine, Public health, Red Cross