Anna Leonowens' Life Travels

“It is not easy to combine the song of the lark with the jaws of the crocodile.” – John MacNaughton (Mrs. Leonowens)

It is impossible to write an accurate account of Anna Leonowens because most records came from Anna herself and most of what she said about her life was never the exact truth. As a consequence, written here is a collage of her experiences in a generally chronological order.

Anna Leonowens was born on November 6, 1831 in Ahmednugger, India and was named Ann Harriet Emma Edwards, though she would later claim she was born in Wales and went by Anna Harriet Crawford. Her first big adventure happened when she was only fifteen and was caused by her refusal to marry a soldier.

She sailed away from colonized India with her friend Reverend George Percy Badger to study Ancient Egypt and Babylon. When she returned, she married Thomas Leon Owens, whom she called Leon. While it is known that they traveled, where exactly they went is remembered only through word of mouth narration. Some believe it was around India while others say they went to England and Australia before ending up in Singapore. Leon died away in Singapore from a heart attack or heat stroke just after a tiger-hunting excursion, or so the story goes. Anna claimed he died in her arms. She was left with her daughter Avis and her son Louis to support. She taught in the environs of Singapore until she received a letter that would make her life legendary.

The King of Siam (Thailand) wished for her to teach his children English and his wives English customs. Anna sent Avis to a boarding school in London, England and traveled with Louis to Siam. The six-year period in Bangkok, Siam is the most well known part in Anna’s life. It was made popular in the mid-twentieth century in American and Canadian culture through various books and movies, such as Anna and the King, The King and I, Anna and the King of Siam.

It is hard to believe these stories usually end when Anna leaves Siam because she accomplished so much more in her later years. She traveled with Louis to England and reunited with Avis. She sent Louis to boarding school in Dublin, Ireland to give his life some structure. After he left for school, she received a letter inviting her to visit her friend Dr. Francis Cobb and his wife in America.

So Anna and Avis traveled to Boston and then to New York City. During her time in the States Anna began to write about her time in Siam; she also joined the Rights for Women movement. Her stories became famous and she went on tour in America giving lectures and interviews. Her published books include The English Governess in the Siamese Court: Recollections of Six Years at the Royal Palace at Bangkok (1870), The Romance of the Harem (1873), Life and Travel in India: Being Recollections of a journey before the days of Railroads (1884), and Our Asiatic Cousins (1889).

When daughter Avis married Thomas Fyshe, a young accountant, all three moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. During her stay in Halifax, Anna Leonowens started a new Rights for Women campaign and worked to better the living conditions for female prisoners. She traveled to Russia to write an article for The Youth’s Companion magazine on the experiences of the common people in Russia after the assassination of Czar Alexander II.

Anna Leonowens was also the founder of the now internationally recognized Nova Scotia Collage of Art and Design (NSCAD) University. The institution was originally called the Victoria School of Art and Design in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee; it was founded on October 31, 1887.

After so many accomplishments, Anna Leonowens traveled once more to Europe where she may have met up with her son Louis again and encountered two more grandchildren. She then returned to Halifax and moved with her daughter and family to Montreal. It was there that she died at the age of 84 on January 19, 1915. Her legacy, however, still lives.

Rasmi Nair