Louis Thomas Gunnis Leonowens (25 October 1856 – 17 February 1919) was a British subject and youngest son of Anna Leonowens who grew up and worked in Siam (Thailand). Leonowens served as an officer in the Siamese Royal Cavalry, an agent for the Borneo Company in the teak trade of Northern Thailand, and founded a Thai trading company that still bears his name, Louis T. Leonowens Ltd.
Louis Leonowens was born to Anna Leonowens in Western Australia and spent time as a child in Penang and Singapore before his mother was invited to teach English to King Mongkut's children in Siam. From age seven he spent six years in Siam and made close friendships with Mongkut and his heir, Prince Chulalongkorn. After spending time across Ireland, the United States, and Australia, he returned to Siam where he became an officer before joining the Borneo Company in its teak trade.
As an agent for the Borneo Company, Leonowens became quite influential over the teak trade and became well-liked by the local inhabitants and the local kings. He protected the king of Lampang during the Ngiao rebellion and in 1905 he founded the Louis T. Leonowens Ltd. He left Siam for the last time in 1914 and spent his last years in the United Kingdom before dying from Spanish Flu in 1919.
His childhood in Siam would be adapted and used in the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, as well as other fictional works based on it.
Early life and education
Family
Leonowens was the son of Anna Leonowens (née Edwards) and Thomas Leon Owens. His mother, who would later become famous as the English governess to the royal Siamese children from portrayals in the 1944 fictionalized biographical novel Anna and the King of Siam and its various adaptations including the 1951 musical The King and I, was actually born and grew up in India, probably of Anglo-Indian ancestry. His father was an Irish-born, India-raised clerk; they married in 1849. The couple left India for Singapore, then part of the Straits Settlements, in 1852.
Before arriving in Siam
Louis Thomas Gunnis Leonowens was born on 25 October 1856 in Lynton, Western Australia, to Anna and Thomas Leonowens. In Lynton, his father was working for the Commissariat as a clerk. His family then moved to Penang in 1857 where his father was a hotel manager. The family's finances would worsen when the Agra bank collapsed due to the Indian mutiny. Thomas would die in 1859 from a stroke after he and other officers returned from shooting tigers; Louis was around 3 years old at the time. Together with his mother and older sister, Avis, they moved to Singapore. In Singapore, his mother would tell the British expatriate community there that she was a genteel Welsh woman, the widow of a British army officer who had unfortunately lost her fortune. Anna leonowens also established a school for the children of British army officers until she was invited by the King of Siam, Mongkut, to come teach English to his wives and children. Before Anna travelled to Bangkok, she sent Louis' older sister to be educated in Fulham, England.
Childhood in Siam
In August 1862, Louis arrived with his mother on board the Chao Phaya in Bangkok at age 7 where he would reside in the Royal Palace for the next 6 years. Louis would often write letters to her sister Avis who he missed dearly, often crying when he thought about her. When Anna arranged a joint birthday for Avis and Louis (who shared the same birthday: October 25) she wrote to Anna that "he got very merry and drank your health with all his smiles on his face". Their birthday was also attended by Thomas George Knox and his children. Louis would later marry one of Knox's daughters, Caroline.
Louis often went through sermons led by Dr. Bradley in which he often became restless until these sermons were cut to only being half an hour long. In contrast to his mother, Louis quickly adapted to his new life in Siam, often finding kindness from Mongkut. As a child in Siam, he was raised and schooled along with the children of Mongkut. During his 6 years in Siam.