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| Thai King Chula Longkorn (1853-1910). |
The three
British involved all happened to be founding members of the Gymkhana Club. The
Centenary Book has this to say about them.
W.R.D.
Beckett. Born 1864. British Consul at Chiang Mai 1896-1903. Transferred to
Bangkok. Married Ivy Goring 1911. Leonowens accused him of failing in his duty
when he did not leave Chiang Mai during the Shan rebellion. He was a good
organiser and the driving force behind the C.G.C. the Chiang Mai foreign
cemetery and the Queen Victoria Memorial. Died 1917.
Louis T.
Leonowens, arrived in Siam with his mother, Anna, in 1862 aged about 7. In 1867
they left and he was sent to school in Dublin. When he was fifteen he ran away
and crossed the Atlantic to rejoin his mother. For the next ten years, he had
an assortment of jobs in America and Australia. Then, somehow, in 1881 he found
his way back to Bangkok.
His
childhood friend, King Chulalongkorn, appointed him as a captain in His army.
In 1884 he married Caroline, sister of Fanny, daughter of Knox the British
Consul who was one of the first Europeans legally married to a Siamese.
In 1886
he went to Raheng (Tak) as agent for the Borneo Company. In 1889 he replaced
Dr. Cheek in Chiang Mai. In 1893 Caroline died. Leonowens started drinking
heavily and upset other Europeans by flaunting his harem which he had inherited
from Dr. Cheek. He was also accused of improper business dealings and resigned
in 1895. He was described by his contemporaries (who otherwise liked him) as
impossible to deal with.
In 1899, aged
42, he married Rita, aged 20, and they went to live in Lampang. In 1902 the
Shan Rebellion, which began as a small defensive affray at Muang Long, brought
about by the tactless way in which Siamese officials oppressed the Lao and Shan
people and in particular the unfair and onerous taxes that were levied, rapidly
escalated with the sacking of Phrae.
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| Louis T. Leonowens. |
Leonowens
spent more and more time in England and paid his last visit to Siam in 1914. He
died in 1919 in London and was buried in Upper Norwood cemetery. On the death
of Rita, according to her husband's wish, most of their money was left to
charities in Siam, the country he loved so much. The main recipients were the
British Nursing Home, Chulalongkorn University and McKean Hospital.
T.H.
Lyle, was appointed British Vice Consul at Nan in 1896. In 1907 he became
Consul at Chiang Mai. Only 5'2" and often unwell he bravely joined in all
activities. His hour of glory came during the Shan Rebellion when
single-handed, he negotiated with the rebels, who were British subjects, at
Phrae and Lampang. He persuaded many of them to lay down their arms and go
home. He married in 1910, left Chiang Mai in 1913, and was subsequently
knighted. His widow married T. Carlisle who had joined the consular service at
the same time.
R.W.Wood
in his book, De Mortuis, writes of Captain Jensen.
JENSEN,
Capt. Hans Markward. Danish, born 1878 died 14 October 1902 aged 24, killed in
action. Seconded from the Danish army, he was a captain in the Thai Provincial
Gendarmerie, a corps of military police raised in 1897 to keep the peace in
rural areas. In 1902 the Shans rebelled; they were immigrants from Burma long
settled in the North, mainly as mining labour, the alleged cause of their
rebellion being government oppression.
They
attacked Phrae, which was undefended, beheaded the Thai Governor, sacked the
town, and marched on Lampang where Captain Jensen was in command. He
successfully beat off the rebels but was killed leading his men in the pursuit,
at Phayao.
For his
action at Lampang he was awarded by King Chulalongkorn immediate promotion to
Major and a reward of baht 10,000; he died before he could receive either, but
his widowed mother thereupon received a Thai Government pension of baht 3,000
until her death in 1938. his gravestone is an obelisk, also a gift of King
Chulalongkorn.
The Dane Who Saved the Northern Thailand
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| Captain Hans Jensen. |
Hans
Marqvard Jensen, Captain, was killed in battle south of Phayao, Northern Siam,
(renamed Thailand in 1939) on October 14, 1902, when only 24 years old. Some
long-time residents, commonly referred to as ‘farang,’ and a few newcomers know
the name and talk about him, shaking their heads, and sometimes shuddering.
Imagine,
alone and dying in the middle of nowhere, and him only 24. The talk is mostly
based on guesswork and theories, but in two articles I will provide some facts
about Hans and his life—he deserves it.
In 1902 a
small parcel was sent from the town of Odense, Denmark, to Siam. It arrived in
Bangkok Harbor onboard one of The East-Asiatic Company’s (EAC) regular ships
early in November 1902.
Mr.
Guldberg of the company knew that Captain Jensen was dead and on the 18
November the parcel was forwarded to ‘The Danish Majesty’s Acting Consul
General, Mr. d’Abaza’ When opened, it “proved to contain six tins of Van
Hoyten’s cocoa and a pair of new patent leather boots.”
His
favorite beverage and needed footwear never received; a micro snapshot of the
young man behind the ‘declared hero of war’ renown. We don’t have many such
images of him personally, although a few will be mentioned later, but we do
know more of the frame of his young life, and it is one of the sagas of the
farangs in Siam-Thailand. His name has been recalled through the years, and
never completely forgotten.
Hans was
born in Vindegade 54, Sct. Knuds Parish, Odense, on April 3, 1878. Vindegade is
a part of one of the very old districts in the town center, quite near the
birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and the idyllic ‘The King’s Garden’.
His
father, Rasmus Jensen, was registered in the census papers as a carpenter, his
mother Marie, as a housewife. Hans had an older sister, too. The family lived
in the front house on the plot and had a maid. Besides being a carpenter, his
father also owned a small farm in Bolbro, at that time in the outskirts of
Odense.
As a
young man, Hans was first trained as merchant-clerk, then went on to do his
compulsory military service. From the military archives we then learn that Hans
served in The Royal Life Guards in Copenhagen. He was accepted at the officers’
academy and appointed second lieutenant the eighth of October 1898.
It is
mentioned that Hans Marqvard Jensen was E.K 3a [egnet for krigstjeneste]. In
translation it reads: ‘Fit for service in war’. And into war he went, to one of
the most isolated places of Northern Siam.
Why was
Hans offered the job and why did he accept this faraway position? Perhaps a
love of adventure, but we don’t know his inner or personal motives. There are
no signs of coercion—from personal problems such as debt for example.
Furthermore, he was single. Hans’ father died shortly before he left for Siam
that might have influenced his decision.
But what
we do know is that around the turn of the century there were close and cordial
personal relations between members of the Royal House in Bangkok and the Royal
House in Copenhagen. The East-Asiatic Company (EAC) had major teak concessions
and other businesses in Siam, and was closely related to both Royal Houses;
they acted as liaison and had a material interest in peace and stability.
King
Chulalongkorn, Rama V (1853-1910) was absolute monarch and the great modernizer
of Siam, from railroads to schools. The country itself could provide neither
skilled labor nor technicians and engineers. The King was wary of colonists,
since the neighbor to the west, Burma, was a British Colony, Laos to the north
and east, French.
For
skilled labor, technicians and other professionals, the king often preferred
foreign expert help from minor countries without colonial aspirations. For
example the admiral of the Siamese fleet Andreas Richelieu was a Dane, son of a
pastor in Jutland. He later became a member of the board of directors of EAC.
The
commander of The Royal Provincial Military Police was another Dane, the highly
respected Colonel, later General, Gustav Schau. He had many Danish officers in
his service. With all these close interconnected relations it could well be
imagined that the tall, blond young man was patted on the shoulder by high
ranking superiors and encouraged to accept some years of service in the Far
East.
Hans
Marqvard Jensen arrived in Bangkok onboard an EAC freighter around Christmas
1900. The road from Lampang to Chiengrai, Kilometer 130. It was around
Christmas 1900 that Hans Marqvard Jensen arrived in Bangkok. He was ready to
start his career as newly appointed Premier Lieutenant in The Royal Thai
Provincial Military Police, or ‘Gendarmerie’ as it was then often called.
This
institution was formed by the government of the absolute Monarch King
Chulalongkorn in 1897, with a Dane, then Lieutenant Colonel Gustav Schau, as
its first commander in chief. It also included many Danish officers in the
ranks.
The
overall task of the corps was to keep some order in the provinces, where no other
real force, such as police, existed. Murders, gang robberies and theft,
especially of cattle and teakwood, were rampant. Smuggling of opium, too, was
widespread, thereby bypassing the government’s monopoly on this trade. The
Sovereign needed to establish his authority, especially in the disputed and
very unruly areas of The North.
The young
Premier Lieutenant of 22 years was first stationed at the corps facilities in
Nakorn Ratchasima, then (and often still) known as Korat. From there, he went
to Prachinburi, Ayutthaya, and finally Chiang Mai in early 1902. He must have
lived a disciplined and Spartan life.
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| King Chula Longkorn and his Danish Captain Jensen. |
Among
‘extras’ Hans possessed were two sitting Buddha images, a Richard Andree’s
famous World Atlas, a native sword, one cigarette case, an open box of cigars
and ten photographs in frames; presumably images of the family back in Odense,
Denmark.
In the
spring of 1902 Bangkok had virtually no control over the situation in The
North. The region was at that time not fully integrated into Siam. Furthermore,
many migrant workers, mainly belonging to the Shan tribe from Burma, felt
oppressed and humiliated by the Southern Siamese officials. Consequently they
started a rebellion.
From the
mines where they were working, they went to the provincial town of Phrae,
looted the place, and killed the governor and at least 20 officials. After some
skirmishes with gendarmes and militia, who eventually ran away, they got hold
of a large number of efficient German Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles and some
ammunition.
Then they
marched on Lampang, south of Chiang Mai, a much bigger and wealthier provincial
town. Geographically Lampang was sort of the ‘key’ to The North. These
historical details to establish the context, in which Marqvard Jensen played
the major role, became the Hero of Lampang — and died.
 |
| Lampang Map (2012). |
Marqvard
Jensen managed to beat off the Shan, he himself in the frontline of the
battles, lasting for days, around in town, encouraging, stopping mutiny and
sidetracking infighting. When also the Shan leader got killed, the survivors
ran away, beaten.
A few
days later Marqvard Jensen decided to pursue the Shan back towards Phrae, and
set out with a small contingent of gendarmerie. At kilometer 130, near the
village of Ngao, south of Phayao, they were engaged by another group of Shan
from Laos, and as bad luck would have it, he got shot in the left side of the breast
and died.
His
troops then fled. What was left of the allegedly mutilated body was picked up
the next day and taken back to Lampang, but there were no further attacks on
this important town.
The
Ministry of The Interior in Bangkok recognized Marqvard Jensen’s victory and
bravery by for many years decorating the Entrance Hall with an enlarged photo
of him. I have no doubt that the Minister knew and acknowledged that the
defense of Lampang broke the back of the Shan rebellion.
After
this battle, regular army troops were hastily sent up from central Siam and
some order restored. The Burmese Shan were British subjects, and in the event
of their success, the colonial power might well have felt tempted to occupy
Northern Siam. In fact, there were strong rumors to that effect.
On the
16th of October 1902, an official memorandum, a Death Certificate, was
forwarded from Captain August Kolls, liaison officer of the Gendarmerie, to the
acting Danish Consul General, Mr. d’Abaza. The memorandum states that “Captain
Hans Marqvard Jensen was shot to death on the 14th of October, 1902 at Muang
Ngao, Nakon Lampang”. Somewhere along the way he had been promoted to Captain.
 |
| Jensen Memorial in Chiang Mai. |
The story
doesn’t quite end here, though. King Chulalongkorn went out of his way to honor
Hans Marqvard Jensen. He donated the tombstone, formed as an obelisk, still to
be seen at the graveyard for foreigners in Chiang Mai. He also decided to award
Hans’ mother, Marie Jensen, an annual pension of 3,000.00 Tikal’s per year,
half of her sons’ salary.
She was a
widow, and in accordance with Siamese traditions, her only son should have
taken care of her in old age. She enjoyed the pension, administered by EAC,
until she died in 1938.