Neilson Hays Library Bangkok : simplebooklet.com

Background to the Bangkok Ladies LibraryThis is a slice of history on a paper napkin and,hopefully, it is an edible piece of cake. The followingessay looks at some of the political, technological andcultural changes in the past 150 years related to theNeilson Hays Library.H M King Rama IVknown as King Mongkut

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Scholar and KingFor a full treatment of King Mongkut, please refer to thearticle in Wikipedia. (click)American and European MissionariesKing Mongkut invited missionaries to Siam in the1850s. Prominent among them were members of theAmerican Presbyterian Mission; and the Neilson HaysLibrary is regarded as an American (US) foundation.The Presbyterians signed on for twenty five years inSiam and stayed for life. You find their names in theProtestant Cemetery, close to the Asiatique NightMarket on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.The Register of Burials is kept at the United ProtestantChurch —Christchurch — on the corner of Convent andSathorn Road.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok_Protestant_Cemetery

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Old Siam Ladies BazaarMissionary Ladies gathered in a loose congregation thatthey called The Ladies Bazaar. At that time, only a fewhundred foreigners lived in Siam and they lacked newsof the outside world as well as reading material. Theoriginal proposal, made in 1868, to arrange a collectionof books in one place, for general lending, attractedpublications in half a dozen languages. The number ofworks available slowly increased - both by donation andby subscription. However, the term library is too grandfor a simple book box at the back of a church hall whichwas maintained and supervised by volunteers.

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The World of the Bazaar Ladies 1860The world had changed in fifty years because ofindustrial revolution and technological innovation. Yet,that world needs explanation in the 21st Century. It is aforeign country. They did things differently there.Consider maps in 1860. Much of Africa is marked asunexplored. The sources of the River Nile, for example,would not be determined for another twenty years.

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In Europe, in 1860, there is no Germany or Poland orItaly. The largest country is Austria-Hungary. Russiawould be the largest land – if Russia counted as part ofEurope. There is still a Kingdom of the Two Sicilies onthe map, the Turkish or Ottoman Empire dominates theNear East. The Western Great Powers are vying withone another to expand into Africa and Asia, impelled byprofit, technological advances, and a sense of civilisingmission (or so they claimed).On the other side of the Atlantic, Mexico had a FrenchEmperor. In the space of forty years, land grabbers andfreebooters seized half of Mexican territory. While theEuropean Powers were carving foreign empires, theUnited States was expanding its backyard by virtue ofManifest Destiny, but not without internal dissension.The country was about to go to war with itself in 1861.The man who built the Neilson Hays Library building in1920, Dr Thomas Heyward Hays, was not quite sixyears old on 12 April 1861. He woke in the early hoursto the sound of heavy gunfire and had a ringside view ofthe bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay,South Carolina. The American Civil War had begun.

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Fort SumterMissionaries Thomas and Jennie HaysMany commentators have described Siam in the latter19th century, together with the living conditions ofexpatriate traders and missionaries. The founders of theNeilson Hays Library, as noted above, were Protestantmissionaries who served, principally, as doctor andnurse. The rest of the expatriate population worked asengineers, as military advisors, and as traders. In 1890,William Alfred Tilleke arrived in Bangkok fromColombo and began a law firm which has a longassociation with Dr Hays and the Neilson Hays Library—Tilleke & Gibbins. See John Hoskins’ History.

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This book contains much material about Bangkok at theend of the 19th century. Combined with the author'sHistory of the British Club, you meet the maincharacters who surrounded Dr Hays, and the booksrecounts how he came to construct the Neilson HaysLibrary building next door to the British Club.The library was seized during the Second World War, inFebruary 1942, and became a Japanese barracks andguard house. All books, records, and photographs werelost during the war; though some were subsequentlyrecovered. The British Club next door became theJapanese Officers' Sports Club.

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Thomas Heyward HaysDr Thomas Heyward Hays came to Siam in 1886, aged32, and worked as a physician and pharmacist. Hisfuture wife, Jennie Neilson, served as a nurse inPhetchaburi. Jennie immigrated to the US fromDenmark and changed the spelling of her name whenshe became a US citizen: the original spellingNIELSON is on her gravestone in the BangkokProtestant Cemetery. [From The Time of the Crocs, Danes in Siam, ByFlemming Winther Nielsen: PublisherScand-Media Corporation, Limited, 2013] Both Jennie Neilson and Thomas Hays accepted posts inSiam under the auspices of the American PresbyterianSociety. Thomas Heyward had grown up in the OrphanHouse, Charleston, South Carolina, within sight andsound of Fort Sumter. There is a Hays family butThomas Heywood was placed in the orphanage whenhis father died. His name commemorates the SouthCarolina signatory to the Declaration of Independenceon 2 August 1776, Thomas Heyward.

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T H Hays later studiedmedicine and pharmacy. Hewas a self-made man whobecame rich in Siam. Hewanted his money to stay inthe country where he earnedit and his Last Will andTestament established aTrust to support the NeilsonHays Library, as well as agirls’ school, a boys’school, and a leper hospital.Although the American Revenue claimed he owed taxesto the US Government, Thomas Heyward Hays, in oneof his few surviving letters, told the Revenue to ‘go tohell’ – which was stronger language in 1923, perhaps,than it is today. Jennie had worked as a nurse inPhetchaburi where she met Thomas. They married andlived on Silom Road, Bangkok, in the compound of the old Bangrak Hospital - a site which no longer exists butthere remains a Bangrak Vaccination and Health Center in Yannawa District.They took an interest in the Bangkok Ladies Librarywhich was a legacy of the Bazaar Ladies.

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The future Neilson Hays Library did not yet have apermanent base; also, there appears to have been ahiatus in library activities during the years 1890 to 1894.Jennie Neilson Hays reactivated the Library Committeeand served on the Board from 1895 to 1920. The newChristchurch, United Protestant Chapel, housed thebook collection for a time after 1905. Subscriptions paidfor a wooden building on Surawong Road in 1914. Thepresent building opened in 1922, after Jennie’s death.Local journalists and magazine editors occasionallyconfuse the name of the library (as well as the spellingof Neilson). First called the ‘Bangkok Ladies Library’by the Bangkok Ladies Bazaar members, it became theBangkok Library Association in 1911 and the NeilsonHays Library in 1922—when the memorial buildingopened at its present location on Surawong Road. Youmay also see the older spelling Suriwongse—but thefinal syllable is silent in Thai.

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Mixed HistoriesAll historical narratives are necessarily speculative andtentative.Sir Max Hastings; The Secret War; 2015The history of the Neilson Hays Library does not have afirm paper trail as its basis, because, as stated above, allrecords held in the library were lost or destroyed,including the library catalogue and the Hays photoalbums. The Americans and Brits of the LibraryAssociation were interned in a prison camp. Survivingmaterials come from private hands and the originalarchitectural drawings surfaced in an attic in Turin. There is a Neilson Hays Library building, completed in1922, on Surawong Road, in the Bangrak District ofBangkok. You can see the exterior, which today stillclosely resembles a photograph from The Bangkok Timesof June 1922 entitled ‘A grand palace on a small scale.’Tourist maps feature the library and a brown plaqueoutside confirms it to be an Historical Site. Go inside thebuilding and you find an interior dating from October2018: after 18 months of necessary restoration work, thefoundations of the building were secured and the interiorof the library reshaped. It is now closer to the original1920 plan of three separate spaces.

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Quick Historical RecapOn 25 February 1942, the government of Thailand,under the military dictator Plaek Phibunsongkhram(แปลก พิบูลสงคราม), declared war on the United Statesand the United Kingdom. Thai troops seized Anglo-American assets and interned citizens of the UK and theUSA. The Thai government deemed Neilson HaysLibrary to be American and the adjacent British Club tobe as its name states. Having sequestered the books,records, and movables from the library, the Thaiauthorities awarded the building to their Japanese allies.The British Club became the Japanese Officers’ SportsClub and the Neilson Hays Library served as a guardhouse and barracks, until the Japanese surrender inAugust 1945. The library needed complete renovationand did not reopen for more than two years; also, itnever recovered most of the books and furniture. Allrecords and photographs disappeared along with theSpecial South East Asia Collection numbering 3000books. For this reason, there is little chapter and verse toquote from – with a few exceptions.

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Plaek PhibunsongkhramDoctor Thomas HeywardHays commissioned thelibrary building in 1920 as amemorial to his late wife,Jennie Neilson Hays, whohad served on the BangkokLibrary AssociationCommittee for twenty fiveyears. The Italian architectMario Tamagno completed the building work in eighteen months and the LibraryAssociation moved from its temporary wooden premisesinto the fine Neo-Classical building. On 26 June 1922, itofficially became The Neilson Hays Library under theauspices of Dr Hays but with an independent Boardcomprised of twelve women. Dr Hays created a Trust tosupport the library and the terms of his last will andtestament are written into the amended libraryConstitution of 1927. He died on 2 February 1924.Although believed lost, the architect’s daughterdiscovered her father’s original drawings for the libraryin 1989. The detailed drawings had been stored in anattic in Turin. She presented them to the LibraryCommittee during a Thai-Italian celebration week.

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papers from the offices of Tilleke & Gibbins. The bookpresented by The Crown Prince of Siam, Vajiravudh, isespecially prized. He became King Rama VI in 1910and sponsored Bangkok Nursing Home together withthe Neilson Hays Library. On his death at the age offorty four, in 1925, his brother Prajadhipok becameKing Rama VII but he abdicated after the Revolution of1932 and lived the rest of his life in England.The military dictatorship which assumed control ofSiam introduced many reforms. In 1938, the name ofthe country changed from Siam to Thailand. FieldMarshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram admired Italian andGerman fascism as well as Japanese militarism.Thailand became the sole ally of Japan in Asia duringthe Second World War.HM King Rama VI of SiamCopies of all documents areavailable to view on specialrequest. The last of the rarebooks are kept in a glass-topped case but they are inpoor condition. We believethey were stored in a damp basement at ChulalongkornUniversity, or Ina Jørgensenrescued some books and

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More Background HistoryRoyal Connection: The Bradleys and AnnaThe royal connection is that Mrs Bradley, principalfounder of the Ladies Library Association, taughtEnglish to King Rama IV’s children – of whom therewere many. Her husband advised the King on schoolsand modern education and medicine. It was MrsBradley who recommended a poor widow in Singaporefor a post as governess. Anna had married an East IndiaCompany clerk by the name of Leon Owens. Suddendeath, often from cholera, was a fact of Asian life andher husband died of apoplexy in Penang. Anna, at theage of 26, was left a widow with children. She needed ajob. She must have been an engaging woman with astrong personality; you can read it in her writings whichare racy. She was a romancer and a survivor. NO, shedid not write Anna and the King of Siam – that was abook by Margaret Landon, published in 1944, whichRogers and Hammerstein picked up for a musical TheKing and I. King Rama IV, King Mongkut, bore noresemblance to the Russian actor Yulius Brynner whoplayed the role on Broadway and in the movie.

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Mongkut’s son, KingChulalongkorn, correspondedwith Anna and Anna’s sonLouis who grew up at theSiamese court The King gavehim a commission as acavalry officer. King RamaV, Chulalongkorn, was agreat reformer and abolished a number of feudal Siamese customs; though whetherAnna was an influence on him is questionable; hisfather had determined on reforms before his death in1868. Anna Leonowens served as a governess at the court ofKing Mongkut for almost six years from 1862 to 1867.She wrote The English Governess at the Siamese Court,published in 1870. In doing so, she may have breached an understanding that what goeson behind closed palace doorsis never mentioned outside.Yet, King Chulalongkorn knewof her plans to write adescription of court lifetogether with an accountKing Rama VAnna Leonowens

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of cruel, medieval practices which he and his fatherabolished. Anna endured the behaviour of royal childrenwho treated her with a mixture of amusement andcontempt. Dan Beach Bradley, husband of theaforementioned Mrs Bradley, noted Anna’sperseverance and admired her for being governess to theungovernable.Here is a short extract from the original Wikipediaarticle on Anna Leionowens: In 1862, Anna Leonowens accepted an offer made bythe consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, to teach thewives and children of Mongkut, King of Siam. The kingwished to give his 39 wives and concubines and 82children a modern Western education on scientificsecular lines, which earlier missionaries 'wives had notprovided. Leonowens sent her daughter Avis to schoolin England, and took her son Louis with her to Bangkok.She succeeded Dan Beach Bradley, an Americanmissionary, as teacher to the Siamese court. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Leonowens

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Enduring Legacy of King Mongkut and KingChulalongkorn in ThailandKing Mongkut deserves to be known for much betterreasons than as a caricature in a Broadway show. Hewas a highly educated man who became a monk andwalked around Siam for twenty years. Although first inline to the throne after his father Rama II – a literateman who supported poets and Thai arts – Mongkut waspassed over on the death of his father in favour of hishalf-brother by a concubine. The half-brother becameRama III; he looked like a warrior king and the Burmesecontinued as a military threat until the Anglo-Burmesewars distracted them from Siam. Mongkut retired fromcourt and took the saffron robe – for twenty seven years.Mongkut ascended the throne in 1851 at the age of 47.He reigned until 1868, yet he was not initially sole Kingof Siam. Having no children of his own, he chose hisyounger brother to be Minor (Rex Siamensis Minor)King Pingklao; but, making good the dearth ofoffspring, he fathered 82 children in 15 years. Hisfavourite son succeeded him as Rama V,Chulalongkorn.

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In 1852, Mongkut welcomed non-proselytisingmissionaries to come from Europe and the US to Siam.His view on Christianity has been quoted in more thanone version. ‘What you teach people to do is admirable,but what you believe is incredible.’ As observed above,Dan Beach Bradley became an influential figure at courtand devoted his life to education and medicine in Siam.A wing of Bangkok Christian Hospital, on Silom Roadin Bangrak, is named after him.On the political front, the major powers circled aroundSiam. The British had colonised Singapore and Malayato the south. Then, over a period of 50 years, to the westthey subdued Burma and added it to India. To the east,French Indo-China continued to expand into Cambodiaand Laos. Siam was squeezed in the middle.

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The British effected the Bowring Treaty in 1854 givingthe British an advantage in trade – and British citizensthe privilege of extra-territoriality. In that year, QueenVictoria offered to build the first railway line in Siam.King Mongkut suspected the thin end of a wedge anddeclined gracefully; but he corresponded with Victoriafor 15 years and with American Presidents. His Englishreads well and when he found himself stuck for words,on occasions, he resorted to Latin. How to convey thenotion of a tutelary spirit? – genius loci; householdspirits - lares et penates.Mongkut’s scientific curiosity, by chance, led to hisdeath. He visited the marshes to the south of Hua Hin toobserve a solar eclipse. He died of malaria contracted inthe swamp, leaving his 15 year old son as heir. And afurther curiosity, from the modern point of view, is thegeneral state of medical knowledge in 1868: malariameans bad air. The obsolete miasma theory held thatdiseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or the BlackDeath—were caused by a miasma, a noxious form ofbad air, also known as night air. The theory held thatepidemics were caused by miasma emanating fromrotting organic matter. Malaria nets filtered bad air, andthe mosquito connection was not proven until 1898.

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Did the Neilson Hays Library receive aRoyal Nod of Approval?There is no charter and grand seal; the library began as asmall affair – a book box at the back of a church hall.Given Dan Beach Bradley’s observations on KingMongkut’s wish for modernisation and education inSiam, it is likely that the king was in favour of a library.His grandfather saw the end of the Old Kingdom in1767, and the destruction of Ayutthaya together with itsvast collection of ‘samut’ – texts written on bananaleaves and bamboo as well as handmade paper.Libraries are good things, worthy of preservation andreconstruction. Mrs Bradley and her daughter proposedthe establishment of a lending library in 1868, a centuryafter the fall of Krung Tai (Ayutthaya, Old Capital).Dan Beach Bradley remained close to King Mongkutand served as a teacher and medical advisor. Dr ThomasHeyward Hays, the creator of the Jennie Neilson Haysmemorial building, came to Siam in 1886, and, likeBradley, never left. They are both buried in theProtestant Cemetery. Thomas Hays practiced as a doctorand pharmacist. In addition to becoming SurgeonGeneral to the Royal Thai Navy, he acted as Physicianin Ordinary to His Majesty King Rama V.

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So, Dr Hays had a close, personal connection with theRoyal Family. King Chulalongkorn’s son, Crown PrinceVajiravudh, certainly knew the library because hepresented one of his own books to Dr Hays in 1904together with a letter expressing the hope that Mrs Haysmight include it in her library collection. This book, andthe letter inside it, was returned to the library in 1946; itsurvives in a glass case. Crown Prince Vajiravudhbecame HM King Rama VI in 1910 and sponsoredschools and the Bangkok Nursing Home. He presented awriting desk to the new library building in 1922.In short, there was a royal connection between theoriginal library founders, the Bradleys, and theconnection subsequently passed to Thomas HeywardHays who became the principal benefactor of theNeilson Hays Library in 1922; but Royalacknowledgement of the library was tacit. SeveralRoyals have served on the Library Committee (inabsentia) and King Rama VI sent a personalrepresentative to the funeral of Thomas Heyward Haysin 1924.

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Wider World ViewsThe fishing village called Bangkok (Village of the WildPlum Trees) had been the focus for regrouping andconsolidating Siamese forces after the fall of Ayutthayain 1767. Originally commanded by General Thaksin,Bangkok was a convenient staging post; but the easternside of the Chao Phraya River was more readilydefensible. After the death of Thaksin, the new king – King Rama IChakri – moved his seat of government across the riverto the newly-constructed city of Krung Thep MahaNakhon in 1782. The old name Bangkok stayed lodgedin the minds of foreigners, as it does to this day, and yousee the sign BANGKOK at the two internationalairports.The name KTM (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon ) is ofteninterpreted as ‘City of Angels’ or Los Angeles. Well,that sounds better than ‘Citadel of a kind of DivineBeing.’ Anyone sufficiently interested may want tocheck the word ‘deva’ on the internet. The closeconnection between Hinduism and Thai Buddhism is amatter for other, larger books.

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Bangkok grew steadily at roughly the same time asWashington DC (founded 1790) but it is not theyoungest major capital city in Asia. China, of course,had been a huge manufacturing and military power forcenturies, though it became weak and creaky under theonslaught of Colonial Powers – which included theUnited States and Russia and soon Japan. A newer kidappeared on the block in 1868 while the BangkokLadies Bazaar members talked about a library.The fishing village of Edo (Estuary or Bay) became thenew ‘East Capital’ of Japan – Tokyo. The EmperorMeiji moved out of his sacred retreat at Kyoto andbegan a drastic program of development along Westernlines. Before 1854, Japan had been a hermit land forover two centuries - a land where the Emperor reignedfrom Kyoto while a General or Shogun governed.Commodore Perry sailed into Edo Bay in 1853 carryinga letter from President Millard Fillmore. He capturedJapanese attention by firing his naval guns. ‘Would youlike guns, Hiyashi?’ Well, Yes. Were these shots theseeds of Pearl Harbor? Western pundits predicted thatSiam would be the first Asian nation to industrialise.They were wrong – it was the rank-outsider Japan.

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Siam, renamed Thailand in 1938, managed to avoidconflict with its neighbours – except the French. In 1893a short war occurred after which France annexed Laosfrom Siam. The French navy forced its way up the ChaoPhraya River and trained its guns on the Grand Palace.The fort at Paknam fired on the French which resultedin many Siamese casualties. In 1907, France took thewestern provinces of Cambodia from Siam and madethem part of Indo-China.King Rama VI sent Thai troops to the Allied WesternFront in 1917. All German assets in Siam were seizedand became escheat to the Crown.In January 1941, the Thai government sought revengeagainst the French who were weakened by invasion athome. Japan mediated before the end of January and theThai dictator Pibun Songkhram ordered the constructionof Victory Monument in Bangkok.The events of December 1941 are contentious. Ostensibly, the Japanese government requested passageof arms so that their forces could attack the British inMalaya and Burma. When the Japanese landed atSongkhla, Thailand, in the early hours of 8 December,their carrier-borne air force had not yet reached PearlHarbor on 7 December – the time difference betweenHonolulu and Bangkok being 17 hours.

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Imperial Japanese forces entered Thailand with theintention of conquering Malaya and Burma. Their airforce attacked Don Meuang air field to suppress thesmall Thai air force and help the Thai government tomake up their minds. Japan offered the restoration ofthree Cambodian provinces to Thailand, three Malayanprovinces, and the whole of Lao (The French put asilent 's' on the end to make it Laos but it rhymes withhow now brown cow).So, Thailand became the ally of Japan and earned a sliceof the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

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The British were not happy with this arrangement andbombed Bangkok from Burma. The bombing continueduntil Japan overran Burma.Later in the war, The American Air Force bombedBangkok using their new B-29 Superfortresses based inIndia. That was in June 1944 and the war still had a yearto run. By that time, Thais had become disillusionedwith the war. Hostilities officially ended in August 1945after the surrender of Japan. A large number of Japaneseremained in Thailand. Thailand in World War II

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The Neilson Hays Library reopened in October 1947after complete interior refurbishment. The entrancefrom Surawong Road closed and the inner vestibulebecame a reading room and then the Rotunda Gallery.After another 50 years, the building needed exteriorrenovation - particularly to the foundations. Publicsubscription and corporate donations raised a large sumof money to save the historic building. The interior wasalso altered and the original teak floor replaced.The Neilson Hays Library celebrated the centenary ofits construction in June 2022, though the LibraryAssociation dates back to 1869.May it continue.Library Reopened

Neilson Hays Library Bangkok

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