Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) was a women’s suffrage advocate, author, and lecturer who became famous as the British governess to the wives and children of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam (now Thailand) in the 1860s. For those of you tuning in for the first time, welcome! Here’s the deal: Every weekday, we highlight the stories of iconic women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. We’re talking about women from around the world and throughout history. Each month is themed. This month we’re going back to school, highlighting educators and intellectuals.
This month, we're going back to school with stories of the most influential women educators in history.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
Today we’re talking about a worldly writer, teacher, and feminist. She advocated for a women’s right to have a seat at the political table. But she is perhaps best known for her role as the primary teacher to the wives and children of King Mongkut of Siam. Please welcome Anna Leonowens!
Anna Leonowens was born Ann Hariett Emma Edwards in India, in November of 1831. Anna came from a mixed-race family.Her father, Sergeant Thomas Edwards, was English. Her mother, Mary Anne Glascott, was the daughter of an Anglo-Indian marriage. When Anna was just 3 months old, her father died and her mother remarried an Irish-Catholic corporal, Patrick Donahue.
As a result of Patrick’s unit assignments, the family moved frequently, but settled in a city on the Western coast of India in 1841. Some of Anna’s childhood remains murky.
Anna and her older sister, Eliza, attended the Bombay Education Society’s girls school, which was known for admitting mixed-race daughters of deceased or absent military fathers. But in her memoirs, Anna wrote that after her father died, she and Eliza were sent to boarding school in England and returned to India as teenagers.
Whichever is true, it is clear Anna made a purposeful effort to hide her ethnic background and lower social class. On Christmas day 1849, Anna married Private Thomas Leon Owens, who was an army paymaster’s clerk from Ireland. On the marriage license, Thomas combined his middle and last names, making them the “Leonowens”. After her marriage, Anna cut off all ties to her family in India.
in December 1850, Anna gave birth to their daughter Selina but the baby only survived 17 months. In 1852, Anna and Thomas emigrated to Australia. While on the boat, their son Thomas was born. Tragedy struck again when baby Thomas died at 13 months old. During their four years in Australia, Anna and Thomas had two more children; a daughter named Avis in 1854 and a son named Louis in 1856.
The following year in April 1857, the family moved to Malaysia, where Thomas found work as a hotel keeper. When he died suddenly two years later, Anna was left alone with very little money and two small children. She decided to relocate to Singapore. She also decided to construct a new identity, that of a Welsh-born widow of a British army major.
In 1862, Anna jumped at the opportunity to work as a governess for King Mongkut of Siam, what’s now known as Thailand. She sent her daughter to boarding school in England before traveling to Bangkok with her son to take up her post.
The role of governess was usually meant for women whose social status matched their employer’s. Anna’s fabricated high-born identity came in handy.
King Mongkut was intrigued by the West. He wanted to modernize Siam, while preventing European colonization. Anna’s responsibility was to teach the king’s children, especially the Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, English, as well as science, and literature.
For five years, Anna also educated the king’s reported 39 wives and 82 children on Western culture. They fondly referred to her as “Mem”.
Although Anna was critical of the king’s use of slavery and his cruel treatment of his many wives, she still acted as an informal secretary and help with his correspondence to Western powers as he tried to modernize Siam.
In 1867, Anna and her son traveled to the United States during a leave of absence and ultimately ended up staying there when King Mongkut died in 1868. To support her family, she briefly opened a school for girls on Staten Island and regularly published travel articles in The Atlantic Monthly.
Anna moved to Halifax, Canada in 1878 when her daughter married the general manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Her son-in-law’s position meant money was no longer an issue. With this newfound financial freedom, Anna spent much of her time fundraising for the establishment of the Victoria School of Art and Design, which later became known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She is credited for founding it in 1887. It was the first degree-granting art school in Canada.
Anna also became a staunch advocate for women’s suffrage in the Canadian government and accepted high-level positions in Halifax’s Local Council of Women and the Woman’s Suffrage Association. While in Halifax, she took time to travel around the world to countries such as Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom and publish articles and books about her travels.
In 1897, Anna reunited with Prince Chulalongkorn, who had since succeeded his father on the throne. He told Anna that he had abolished slavery and was ruling over a free country. But Chulalongkorn also expressed his dismay with her cruel portrayal of his father in her books: English Governess at the Siamese Court and The Romance of the Harem.
Anna stood by her depiction of the king and his court, but these books are highly controversial in Thailand. Critics say Anna exaggerated her close relationship with the king, his mistreatment of his concubines, and the extent of her duties with the children.
Anna spent the remainder of her days in Montreal with her daughter and grandchildren. She was a Sanskrit teacher at McGill University and taught up until she was 78.
In 1911, Anna suffered a stroke. She died four years later, at the age of 83.
If today’s episode sounded familiar, it’s because Anna’s story has since become embedded in popular culture. She was the inspiration for Margaret Landon's 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, which has been adapted to the stage and the movie screen several times, often with the title, “The King & I.”
All month, we’re going back to school, talking about women who shaped the world of education.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you on Monday!