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Charles Gravelle

Portrait of Charles   Gravelle

Charles Gravelle (b. Charles Jules Paul Darnis-Gravelle, 21 Sept 1864, Courtenay, France — 26 Oct 1929, Phnom Penh) was a French lawyer, the first director of Banque de l’Indochine (Phnom Penh branch), a patron of Cambodian arts who supported George Groslier in the founding of the Albert Sarrault Museum, now National Museum of Cambodia (NMC), and the president of the Comité cambodgien de la Société d’Angkor (Cambodian chapter of the Angkor Society for Conservation of the Ancient Monuments of Indochina) in the early years.

He started his Indochinese banking career in 1888 in Haiphong, was appointed head of the Hanoi branch in 1897, demoted back to Haiphong after ​“being embezzled by Chinese comprador Abock”, according to the French local media. Back in Hanoi in 1901, then head of the Tourane (Da Nang) branch from 1902 to 1905, and again from 1923 to his retirement. Previously, he had worked in Pondicherry (then a French outpost in Southern India.

A close friend to Groslier and first Angkor conservator Jean Commaille, Gravelle went countless times to the ancient Khmer temples, gathering photographs and notes for a projected book on Angkor that he never completed. In addition to his business activities, he was involved in corporate social responsibility, launching the Société Protectrice de l’Enfance in Phnom Penh to help children from mixed couples who were often deemed as orphans when the European parent had left or failed to acknowledge their birth. He was also a founding member of the Souvenir Indochinois (1917), perpuating the memory of indigenous soldiers fallen during World War I.

Gravelle married on 24 January 1923 Ratt Poss ភាស់ រ័ត្ន (?) [or Malis RATT POS (?), b. 10 Sept. 1890, Phnom Penh) a dancer of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia and a younger relative of King Sisowath also known as Malis ម្លិះ (‘Jasmine’ in Khmer), and the ​“Golden Dancer” pictured by George Groslier in a famous painting dated 1911. They’ve been living together since the 1900s, and had nine children together [or 7, if Malee had 2 children from a previous union].

 

1) Charles Gravelle in Ta Prohm, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle]. 2) With pupils of the Société protectrice de l’enfance in Phnom Penh, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle].

 

1) Charles Gravelle in Ta Prohm, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle]. 2) With pupils of the Société protectrice de l’enfance in Phnom Penh, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle].

1) Charles Gravelle in Ta Prohm, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle]. 2) With pupils of the Société protectrice de l’enfance in Phnom Penh, date unknown [photo Fondation C. Gravelle].

Publications

[often under pen name Paul Lechesne, after the maiden name of his mother, Marie-Marguerite Lechesne (1841 – 1920)]

  1. [published as Paul Lechesne] Le devoir de la France en Indochine, Bibliothèque de la Société des études coloniales et maritimes, 1904.
  2. [as Paul Lechesne] Notations Lointaines. Indo-Chine: Réflexions (1905), Actualités (1906), Paris, Librairie Mondiale, 1907; facsimile Hachette-BNF, 2013.
  3. Preface to George Groslier’s Danseuses cambodgiennes anciennes et modernes, Paris, 1913.
  4. Enquête sur la question des métis and Les métis et l’œuvre de la protection de l’enfance au Cambodge, Phnom Penh, 1913.
  5. Le Devoir de la France en Indochine, Thouars, Imprimerie Nouvelle, 1914.
  6. “Discours à la reunion du Comité cambodgien de la Societé des Amis d’Angkor,” Phnom Penh, 20 April 1915.
  7. Pondichéry et ses environs, Paris, 1920.
  8. Quatre conférences sur Angkor, Paris, 1921.
  9. Gingi, suprême solitude, Paris, 1921.
  10. [as Paul Lechesne] Loti revient à Angkor: Victor Hugo salue les ruines, Quinhon (Annam), Imprimerie de Quinhon, 1921.
  11. Angkor. Les impressions de Monsieur Joseph Prudhomme, 1921.
  12. [as Paul Lechesne] L’Annam, avril 1923: agriculture, commerce; le Laos assassin; le crédit possible; la question chinoise; en parcourant le budget de 1923; dans l’ordre moral; conclusion; commentaire du rapport eéconomique de l’Annam pour 1923; recours aux statistiques; le pétrole; le problème des étoffes, Quinhon (Annam), Imprimerie de Quinhon, 1923.
  13. [as Paul Lechesne] L’Indochine seconde. Régions Moïs (Kontoum-Darlac), Quinhon, 1924; facsimile Hachette-BNF, 2018.
  14. [as Paul Lechesne] L’art Annamite, Quinhon, 1925.
  15. [as Paul Lechesne] Les Mois du centre indochinois, Quinhon, 1925. 

References