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{{short description|British army officer and forester}} | {{short description|British army officer and forester}} | ||
{{other people|James Williams}} | {{other people|James Williams}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=February | {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} | ||
{{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
| name = James Williams | | name = James Williams | ||
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==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
Williams was born at St Just, Cornwall, the son of a Cornish mining engineer who had returned from South Africa and his wife, a Welshwoman. He was educated at [[Queen's College, Taunton]].<ref name = "TimesObit">{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Lieut.Colonel J. H. Williams - "Elephant Bill" |department= Obituary|date= 31 July 1958 |page= 10|issue= 54217 |column= D}}</ref> Like his elder brother he studied at [[Camborne School of Mines]] and went on to serve as an officer in the [[Devonshire Regiment]] of the British Army in the Middle East during the [[First World War]] and in [[Afghanistan]], 1919–20. During this time he served with the [[Imperial Camel Corps|Camel Corps]] and as transport officer in charge of [[mule]]s. After demobilisation he decided to join the [[Bombay-Burmah Trading Corporation]] as a forester working with elephants to extract teak logs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CORNISH/2003-02/1044247734|title=Jim Williams|accessdate=30 April | Williams was born at St Just, Cornwall, the son of a Cornish mining engineer who had returned from South Africa and his wife, a Welshwoman. He was educated at [[Queen's College, Taunton]].<ref name = "TimesObit">{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Lieut.Colonel J. H. Williams - "Elephant Bill" |department= Obituary|date= 31 July 1958 |page= 10|issue= 54217 |column= D}}</ref> Like his elder brother he studied at [[Camborne School of Mines]] and went on to serve as an officer in the [[Devonshire Regiment]] of the British Army in the Middle East during the [[First World War]] and in [[Afghanistan]], 1919–20. During this time he served with the [[Imperial Camel Corps|Camel Corps]] and as transport officer in charge of [[mule]]s. After demobilisation he decided to join the [[Bombay-Burmah Trading Corporation]] as a forester working with elephants to extract teak logs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CORNISH/2003-02/1044247734|title=Jim Williams|accessdate=30 April 2009}}</ref><ref>Account of the author on cover of ''Elephant Bill'', Penguin Books, 1956</ref> | ||
He served in World War I in the Devonshire Regiment; he was in the [[Imperial Camel Corps|Camel Corps]], and later Transport Officer in charge of mules. He had read a book by Hawkes, ''The Diseases of the Camel and the Elephant'', and decided he would be interested in a postwar job in Burma. So in 1920 he was in Burma as a Forest Assistant with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation which milled [[teak]], and used 2000 elephants. Initially he was at a camp on the banks of the Upper [[Chindwin River]] in Upper Burma. He was responsible for seventy elephants and their [[oozy|oozies]] in ten camps, in an area of about {{convert|400|sqmi|km2}} in the Myittha Valley, in the [[Htigyaing Township|Indaung Forest Reserve]]. The camps were 6 to {{convert|7|mi|km}} apart, with hills of three to four thousand feet high between them. To mill them, one tree was killed by ring-barking the base, then felled after standing for three years, so it had seasoned and was light enough to float. The logs were hauled by elephant to a waterway, then floated down to [[Rangoon]] or [[Mandalay]]. Elephants were essential to the harvesting of teak, a single healthy elephant could be sold for $150,000 (2000 U.S.), and thousand of elephants were sold this way.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Croke|first1=Vicki|title=Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II|date=2015|publisher=Random House Trade|location=New York|isbn=978-0812981650}}</ref> | He served in World War I in the Devonshire Regiment; he was in the [[Imperial Camel Corps|Camel Corps]], and later Transport Officer in charge of mules. He had read a book by Hawkes, ''The Diseases of the Camel and the Elephant'', and decided he would be interested in a postwar job in Burma. So in 1920 he was in Burma as a Forest Assistant with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation which milled [[teak]], and used 2000 elephants. Initially he was at a camp on the banks of the Upper [[Chindwin River]] in Upper Burma. He was responsible for seventy elephants and their [[oozy|oozies]] in ten camps, in an area of about {{convert|400|sqmi|km2}} in the Myittha Valley, in the [[Htigyaing Township|Indaung Forest Reserve]]. The camps were 6 to {{convert|7|mi|km}} apart, with hills of three to four thousand feet high between them. To mill them, one tree was killed by ring-barking the base, then felled after standing for three years, so it had seasoned and was light enough to float. The logs were hauled by elephant to a waterway, then floated down to [[Rangoon]] or [[Mandalay]]. Elephants were essential to the harvesting of teak, a single healthy elephant could be sold for $150,000 (2000 U.S.), and thousand of elephants were sold this way.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Croke|first1=Vicki|title=Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II|date=2015|publisher=Random House Trade|location=New York|isbn=978-0812981650}}</ref> | ||
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;Film project | ;Film project | ||
A film ''Bandoola'' was planned in 1956 by [[Burt Lancaster#Directing and producing|Hecht-Lancaster]] and [[United Artists]]; it was to have been filmed in [[Ceylon]] from November that year with [[Ernest Borgnine]] and [[Sophia Loren]] in the leading roles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lorenarchives.com/chronicles_1956.html |title=Sophia Loren Archives: 1956 |accessdate=12 July | A film ''Bandoola'' was planned in 1956 by [[Burt Lancaster#Directing and producing|Hecht-Lancaster]] and [[United Artists]]; it was to have been filmed in [[Ceylon]] from November that year with [[Ernest Borgnine]] and [[Sophia Loren]] in the leading roles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lorenarchives.com/chronicles_1956.html |title=Sophia Loren Archives: 1956 |accessdate=12 July 2011}}</ref> | ||
;Bibliography | ;Bibliography | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||