James Low (4 April 1791 – 1852) was a Scottish military officer with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

who was known for his writings on the Thai language and the art and culture of the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Life and career

Low was born on 4 April 1791 at

Kingskettle Kingskettle or often simply Kettle is a village and parish in Fife, Scotland. Encompassed by the Howe of Fife, the village is approximately southwest of the nearest town, Cupar, and north of Edinburgh. According to the 2011 Census for Scotlan ...

in Fife, Scotland to Alexander Low and his wife Ann Thompson. He graduated from Edinburgh College and was then nominated for a cadetship in the East India Company's

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

in 1812. He was accepted and embarked from Portsmouth on the East Indiaman Astell, which reached

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in July 1812. During the first five years, Low acquired military competencies and language skills. The company's policy was that their officers had to be capable of basic communication with the Indian soldiers under their command. In May 1817 Low was appointed adjudant, and then promoted to the rank of lieutenant in August of the same year. In January 1819 Low moved to the East India Company's settlement in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

and spent the rest of his career in and around the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

. In 1820 he was given command of the Penang Local Corps until the corps was disbanded in 1827. Since Low had received a mathematical and philosophical education at Edinburgh College, he nurtured an interest in the study of languages. The posting to Penang offered the opportunity to acquire language skills in both

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

and

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

. The knowledge of Thai was particularly important in the light of events on the

, to which the Burmese had sent their last military expedition against Siam, directed at its west coast territories. Subsequently, the British at Penang found themselves in the middle of a conflict between the Siamese Governor, known as the Raja of Ligor (

Nakhon Si Thammarat Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat prov ...

), and the

Sultan of Kedah The Kedah Sultanate (كسلطانن قدح) is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Uni ...

, who had fled to Penang instead of providing the support which had been requested from him by the Raja of Ligor. Low's was the second mission to Siam, following

John Crawfurd John Crawfurd (13 August 1783 – 11 May 1868) was a Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat, and author who served as the second and last Resident of Singapore. Early life He was born on Islay, in Argyll, Scotland, the son of S ...

's first mission that was mainly concerned with resolving the legal status of Penang. The second mission of 1824 under Low's command was prompted by the British declaration of war on Burma. Its aim was to enlist the support of the Raja of Ligor, who was in command of most of the Siamese territories on the west coast of the peninsula including Kedah, for the planned British move up the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

. Low described the events of the mission in a report on his ''Public Mission to His Highness the Rajah of Ligor'', and in more detail in his ''Journal of a Public Mission to the Rajah of Ligor''. Low also produced a map of Siam, Cambodia and Laos. After his mission to Ligor, he was posted to Tenasserim where he produced more maps and landscape drawings. In 1826, Low was promoted to captain and was sent on other missions to the Malay state of

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

. Shortly after, he was appointed Superintendent of Lands in

Province Wellesley A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

in Penang, a post he held until 1840 when he was made Assistant Resident of Singapore. He finally retired in 1845 but returned to Edinburgh only in 1850, where he died two years later.

Scholarship

Although Low's main responsibility as an officer of the East India Company was to settle disputes with local chiefs in the interests of the British—a task he did not always succeed in fulfilling—he was also a pioneer in the study of Thai language, literature and art by Westerners. The lack of textbooks inspired him to produce ''A Grammar of the Thai or Siamese Language'' (1828), and he published a collection of works ''On the Government, the Literature, and the Mythology of the Siamese'' (1831–36) as well as articles on Thai Buddhist art, Buddhist law, local histories and ethnic minorities of the Malay Peninsula. He also studied inscriptions and translated parts of Thai Buddhist scriptures, and the Malay historical text from Kedah, ''

Merong Mahawangsa Merong Mahawangsa is a legendary warrior and a ruler who is said to be the first king of Langkasuka, or modern day Kedah. His tale is mentioned in the Kedah Annals, where it mentions him as a hero who became the first king of Langkasuka. The leg ...

''. Low's ability to observe and then describe in detail a variety of aspects of Thai art and culture helped to make his mission journal an interesting source for the study of everyday life and cultural practices in 19th-century Siam. Low had a strong interest in Thai art, and amassed a large collection of fine paintings and drawings from

southern Thailand Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded ...

. Part of his collection of Thai drawings and paintings was acquired by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1866 and is now held in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. Another part is held in the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

in London. Although not much research has been done on Low's art collection, it is a popular source of inspiration for Thai designers.

Life and career

Scholarship

References

Further reading