1. Prince Tisavarakumara, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab was the founder of the modern Thai educational system as well as the modern provincial administration.
19 Facts About Damrong Rajanubhab
1. 2.
Damrong Rajanubhab was an autodidact, a historian, and one of the most influential Thai intellectuals of his time.
3.
Damrong Rajanubhab 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, he worked at building army schools as well as modernizing the army in general.
4.
When King Chulalongkorn began his administrative reform program in 1892, Prince Damrong was chosen to lead the Ministry of the North, which was converted into the Ministry of the Interior in 1894.
5.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab was among the most important advisors of the king, and considered second only to him in power.
6.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab went to Europe in search of a European general advisor for the king by way of the Suez Canal.
7.
In December 1891, during a lunch hosted by the British ambassador to Egypt, Damrong Rajanubhab met Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, who had edited the first issue of Revue de Droit International et de Legislation Comparee, which had appeared late-1868 with contributions from many noted scholars.
8.
The King had been impressed by the way Damrong Rajanubhab organized the re-equipment of Thai artillery in his military capacity and how he successfully managed three schools and then the education ministry.
9.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab was appointed Minister of the North in 1892 as part of a larger reform of the government.
10.
Damrong Rajanubhab changed the character of the department by retiring older officials and replacing them with men loyal to him, more formally training hereditary provincial nobles for their administrative responsibilities, and taking a meritocratic approach to promotion, insisting that paths of promotion should be open to clerks.
11.
Damrong Rajanubhab reorganized the ministry into a superintending Central Department, a Legal Department to deal with border incidents and extraterritoriality, and a Department of Provincial Administration.
12.
Damrong Rajanubhab attempted to prune the ministry of departments that were not relevant to provincial administration.
13.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab finally resigned in 1915 from his post at the ministry, officially due to health problems, since otherwise the resignation would have looked like an affront to the monarch.
14.
Damrong Rajanubhab became the first president of the Royal Institute of Thailand.
15.
Damrong Rajanubhab was given the title Somdet Phra Chao Borommawong Thoe Krom Phraya Damrong Rajanubhab by King Prajadhipok in recognition to his work.
16.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab is credited as the father of Thai history, the education system, the health system and the provincial administration.
17.
Damrong Rajanubhab had a major role in crafting Bangkok's anti-democratic state ideology of "Thainess".
18.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab wrote countless books and articles, of which only a few are available in English translation:.
19.
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab received these honours and medals from the Honours System:.