U Saw, also known as Galon U Saw, was a leading Burmese politician who served as Prime Minister of British Burma during the colonial era before the Second World War. He is also known for his role in the assassination of Burma's national hero Aung San and other independence leaders in July 1947, only months before Burma gained independence from Britain in January 1948. He was executed by hanging for this assassination.
U Saw stands on the gallows at Insein prison in Rangoon, on May 8, 1948, as the hangman's assistants manacle his hands behind him
The British colonial rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of Burma as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally independence. The region under British control was known as British Burma, and officially known as Burma from 1886. Various portions of Burmese territories, including Arakan and Tenasserim, were annexed by the British after their victory in the First Anglo-Burmese War; Lower Burma was annexed in 1852 after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The annexed territories were designated the minor province of British Burma in 1862.
British naval forces entering the harbour of Rangoon in May 1824
District Courts and Public Offices, Strand Road, Rangoon, 1868. Photographer J. Jackson
Photograph of the arrival of British forces in Mandalay on 28 November 1885 at the end of the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Photographer: Hooper, Willoughby Wallace (1837–1912)
In this rendering, British officers take King Thibaw onto a steamship en route to exile in India. He would never see Burma again.