Anna Leonowens and Hammerstein's 1951 hit musical "The King and I". During the course of her life, Leonowens also lived in Aden, Australia, Singapore, the United States and Canada. Among other achievements, she co-founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Anna Leonowens' mother, Mary Ann Glascott, married her father, Sergeant Thomas Edwards, a non-commissioned officer in the Honourable East India Company's Corps of Sappers and Miners, on 15 March 1829 in St James's Church, Tannah, Bombay Presidency, British India. Edwards was from London and a former cabinetmaker. She was born in Ahmednagar district, India, on 5 November 1831, three months
Anna Leonowens critical eye over court life; the account is not always a flattering one, and has become the subject of controversy in Thailand; she has also been accused of exaggerating her influence with the king. There have also been claims of fabrication: the likelihood of the argument over slavery, for example, when King Mongkut was for 27 years a Buddhist monk and later abbot, before ascending to the throne. It is thought that his religious training and vocation would never have permitted the views expressed by Leonowens' cruel, eccentric and self-indulgent monarch. Leonowens was a feminist and in her writings she