Louis T. Leonowens

Louis Thomas Gunnis Leonowens (25 October 1856 – 17 February 1919) was a British subject who grew up and worked in Siam (now 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. 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 worsened when the Agra bank collapsed due to the Indian mutiny. Thomas died 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 told 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 also established a school for the children of British army officers until she was invited by King Mongkut of Siam 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 resided in the Grand Palace for the next 6 years. Louis often wrote letters to his sister Avis whom 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".

In July 1863 at age 8, he accompanied Mongkut on his yacht the Royal Sovereign upstream the Chao Phraya river to Ayutthaya. Similarly in 1865 at age 10, he went with Mongkut to Phra Pathommachedi, Nakhon Pathom. During his time with the King, Louis was often gifted items and affection. He wrote to his sister about Mongkut saying, "I like the King. He gave me some gold leaf for you which I send", "I have got a gun and a sword, and a beautiful boat the King gave Mama and a paddle too with which I row Mama to the Palace". U.S. consul James Madison Hood described Mongkut as "having regarded [Louis] as an adopted son" at a dinner which Madison attended with Mongkut, his suite and Louis. He first took a ship to Ireland where he said goodbye to the Wilkinsons before travelling to Queensland, Australia. During this time, Anne grew anxious about the whereabouts of her son until she heard that he arrived in Rockhampton in June 1875. Louis set off with two friends to the Palmer gold fields near Cooktown, which was undergoing a gold rush. He did not search for gold but instead became a police officer around the mines for 4 years due to his strong body. In 1881, Louis moved to Kanni Waikerie along the Murray river northeast of Adelaide, where he worked as a stockhand on Leonard Percival's station. Louis then wished to return to his mother in the U.S. and asked her for money to do so, which she denied stating that Louis, who was 25, needed to save up his own money. Instead, he travelled to Bangkok. and continues to do business as a marketing and distribution company.

In 1986, Louis T. Leonowens Ltd. merged with Muller & Phipps (Thai) Ltd. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S.-based international marketing and distribution company, Getz Bros & Co., Inc. Louis T. Leonowens (Thailand) is a member of Getz Group of Companies.

World War I and death Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, LondonAfter the establishment of Louis T. Leonowens Ltd., Louis gradually retired to his office in London. However, he and Reta remained very friendly to their friends in Bangkok including Chulalongkorn and other Europeans. They often played sport, attended musical societies and watched horse races. Louis attended the wedding of his nephew James Fyssche in Bangkok to Miss Mattice. From 1906, Louis and Reta began spending more of their time away from Siam in England. In 1908, the couple visited Penang for a business trip. For his daughter Anne's debutante ball, he gifted her several dresses among others. Louis made his last trip to Siam in 1914, 4 years after the death of Chulalongkorn. When the First World War began in the middle of 1914, Louis fell into a more depressed state. When his son George (age 26) and 2 nephews came over to Britain with the Canadian army for the war, Louis held a party for them. During the war, Reta devoted herself to the hospitals in London but Louis never joined the army due to him being aged 58. His son George survived the war and lived until 1953. They had one son, Thomas ("George") Knox Leonowens (1888–1953) and a daughter, Anna Harriett Leonowens (born 1890, Mrs Richard Monahan). Reta May (1880–1936) married Leonowens in 1900. They had no children.

Depiction in media

Louis Leonowens' time as a young boy in Siam has been portrayed numerous times by several actors from at least three different countries, including the United States, England and Wales. This is due to these stories mostly focusing on Anna Leonowens' time in Siam, which Louis was a boy then. Films he was portrayed in include:

Anna and the King of Siam (1946) by Richard Lyon; The King and I (1951 musical) by Sandy Kennedy; The King and I (1956 film) by ; Anna and the King (1971 TV series) by Eric Shea; 1985 Broadway revival of The King and I by Jeff B. Davis; Anna and the King (1999 film) by Tom Felton; The King and I (1999 animated film) by Adam Wylie (voice); 2015 Broadway revival of The King and I by Jake Lucas; 2017 Broadway National Tour of The King and I by Graham Montgomery;

Louis is also the subject of the 1976 book Louis and the King of Siam by William Syer, which covers both his childhood in Siam and his life through to his death.