Anna Leonowens accepts an offer to teach at the Siamese court
- When
- 1862
- Where
- Singapore
- Episodes
- 1
In 1862, Anna Leonowens accepted an offer to teach the wives and children of King Mongkut of Siam. The offer was made by Tan Kim Ching, the Siamese consul in Singapore, following a suggestion from William Adamson. Tan recommended Leonowens, who was seeking work to support her children, to educate the royal family without attempting religious conversion.
Episodes
Background and detail
Recommendation. William Adamson of The Borneo Company suggested Anna Leonowens to Tan Kim Ching. Tan recommended Leonowens, who was living in Singapore and looking for work to support herself and her two children. Leonowens had previously opened a school for the children of British officers in Singapore to support her family.
Acceptance. In 1862, Leonowens accepted the offer made by Tan Kim Ching to teach the wives and children of Mongkut. The court hired her based on this recommendation. Her influence at the Siamese court later became the subject of great controversy in Thailand.
People involved
- Anna Leonowens · Teacher
- Tan Kim Ching · Consul in Singapore (appointed first Siamese Consul in Singapore in 1863)
- King Mongkut · King of Siam
- William Adamson · Suggester
Sources
- Anna Leonowens Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
- Tan Kim Ching Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-23
- Mongkut Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.