Damrong Rajanubhab

Who was Damrong Rajanubhab?

Ditsawarakuman Damrong Rajanubhab was the founder of the modern Thai education system as well as the modern provincial administration. He was also an autodidact historian, and one of the most influential intellectuals of his time.

Born as Phra Ong Chao Ditsawarakuman, a son of King Mongkut with Consort Chum, a lesser royal wife; he initially learned Thai and Pali from private tutors, and English at the Royal School with Mr Francis George Patterson. At the age of 14, he received his formal education in a special palace school created by his half-brother, King Chulalongkorn. He was given posts in the royal administration at an early age, becoming the commander of the Royal Guards Regiment in 1880 at age 18, and after several years working in building army schools as well as modernizing the army in general he became the deputy commander-in-chief of the army in 1887. At the same time he was chosen by the king to become the Minister of Education in his provisional cabinet. However, when King Chulalongkorn began his administrative reform programme in 1892, Prince Damrong was chosen to lead the Ministry of the North, which was converted into the Ministry of the Interior in 1894.