Description
Autograph Postal Card, signed ‘Jenni B. Nielson, Petchaburi’, addressed to the Post Master, General Post Office, Bangkok, asking for her mail to be sent to Wang H’Lang until further notice. Postal Card, UPU 4 atts surcharge, 3 x 5 inches, fine. Bangkok, 3 May.[c.1887]. A recent discovery. Jennie Nielsen, was a Danish nurse, who came to Bangkok in 1884 and initially started a boys’ school in Phetchaburi province. After falling severely ill, she received treatment in Bangkok by the American doctor, Heyward Hays, who was in charge of the Siamese Navy Hospital. Dr. Hays successfully cured Nielsen and the two were married in 1887. In 1892, Nielsen and her husband, along with Scottish doctor Peter Gowan, founded one of Thailand’s first modern pharmacies, the British Dispensary. Jennie was also active within culture and arts and she was one of the pioneers of the Bangkok Ladies’ Library Association where she served as president three times. Jennie unexpectedly passed away in 1920. To honour his late wife, Dr. Hays built The Neilson-Hays Library in her memory. The library, located on Surawongse Road, is still in operation today and has one of the largest collections of English language titles in Bangkok open to the general public.