He successfully used his influence with the colonial government to stop the occupation forces' pillaging of Buddhist shrines around Yangon, and with the help of his son-in-law Maung Khaing, spent the rest of his life restoring the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Born in Martaban (Mottama) in 1776, Htaw Lay was the eldest child of a leading ethnic Mon noble family in Lower Burma.

[4] In the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), Htaw Lay was one of the commanding officers responsible for the defense of Yangon (across the river from Dala) against the British invaders.

(The British had returned Lower Burma in exchange for an agreement to pay an indemnity of one million pounds sterling as well as to cede Arakan, Assam, Manipur, and the Tenasserim coast south of the Sawleen.

Smim Bawor[7] (also known as Thamein Baru (သမိန်ဘရူး)[8] and Maung Sat (မောင်စပ်)), a descendant of the Hanthawaddy royalty, revolted at the encouragement of the British.

[3][7] At any rate, Htaw Lay and his extended family, along with about 2,000 other refugees,[note 3] fled Lower Burma and settled at Moulmein (Mawlamyaing) on the Tenasserim coast (modern Mon State, south of the Salween and Taninthayi Region) that Ava had just ceded a year earlier.

The two former governors made an alliance by marrying Ma Htu, daughter of Htaw Lay and Maung Khaing, son of Myat Phyu.

[11] He retired from office in 1853 right after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in order to devote full-time to restore the shrines in Yangon, which the British had just seized.

He was joined by his son-in-law Khaing, whom the colonial government had just appointed governor of Dala (and shortly after as sitke of Yangon).

The most egregious act of desecration, to the Burmese, was the British commanders' decision to have their sepoys make 1.8 m wide, 45 cm long and 60 m deep penetrations into the pagoda, ostensibly to assess its utility as an arsenal.

[13] Htaw Lay had written to the British commander and to the India Office in London to stop the desecration but his pleas were ignored during the war.

[14][9] But after the war he found a more receptive ear with the incoming colonial administration led by Commissioner Arthur Purves Phayre.

He got the Phayre government to stop the looting of the treasure chambers of Buddhist shrines by the occupation troops, and to provide some compensation for the damages done to the Shwedagon.

[15] In particular, Governor-General of India James Broun-Ramsay of Dalhousie on his last visit to Yangon in 1855 was impressed by the progress made at the Shwedagon, and with Htaw Lay and Khaing.

[12] Both Htaw Lay and Khaing were also awarded the title of KSM (Kyet-tha-yay-saung Shwe-salwe-ya Min), the highest honor for public service bestowed by the colonial government.

Maj. Gen. Tun Hla Oung, the colonial era Police Commissioner, was Htaw Lay's two times great-grandson.