Anna Leonowens

The real woman behind The King and I built a new life – and new legends – in Nova Scotia

Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) led a remarkable life full of intrigue and adventure and is probably best known as the governess to the King of Siam (now Thailand). She was the inspiration behind the 1951 movie, The King and I.

She often hid her background but we know she was born in India in 1831. Her father was an enlisted man with the East India Company and life was extremely difficult. Anna, over her entire life, never admitted to her humble beginnings.

Anna also seemed to have muddied the facts about her marriage. She claimed she married a Major Leonowens in 1851. She actually married a Private Thomas Leon Owen in 1849. They had 4 children, two of which did not live past the age of two. The family immigrated to Singapore in 1857. Just two short years later, in 1859, Thomas died, leaving Anna a widow with two children to care for. 

She needed work and an income so in 1862 when King Mongkut of Siam, advertised in Singapore, for a governess for his wives and children, Anna applied and was offered the position. She moved to Siam with her son Louis. Her daughter, Avis, was sent to England. She worked at the court as a teacher and as language secretary to the King. 

In 1868, while Anna was away on sick leave in New York, the King died and she was not invited to resume her position in Siam. Anna now began a literary career, publishing a few books on her travels and on her time spent in the royal court of Siam. Never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, Anna’s stories brought her world-wide fame and recognition. She also did public lecture tours which helped her move into literary circles where she could exercise her views on education and feminism. At one time she taught Sanskrit at Amhurst College in Massachusetts. 

In 1878, Avis married Thomas Fyshe, general-manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia in Halifax. This marriage brought financial security to the family and Anna was able to resume her travels, even visiting Russia. She published more travel articles and books and was an ardent supporter of women’s education. Anna spent nineteen years in Halifax and in 1887 she was instrumental in establishing the Victorian School of Art & Design (now the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design).

The Halifax Suffrage Association (HSA) was established in 1895 with Anna as its first president. Leonowens would become one of the region’s most visible leaders in the women’s rights movement.

In 1901, she moved to Montreal where she taught Sanskrit at McGill University. She died in 1915 and is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal. 

As a note of general interest, Boris Karloff, actor and star of Frankenstein, was Anna’s grandnephew. Karloff was the grandson of Anna’s sister Eliza, but Anna refused to acknowledge any connection. She would steadfastly keep to the invented stories of her background.