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.

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. He was also a founding member of the Souvenir Indochinois (1917), perpuating the memory of indigenous soldiers fallen during World War I. 

Gravelle had married on 24 January 1923 a prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, Ratt Poss, a young relative of King Sisowath also known as Malee (‘Jasmine’ in Khmer), and the ​“Golden Dancer” pictured by George Groslier in a famous painting. They’ve been living together since the 1900s, and had nine children together. 

Fondation Charles Gravelle website.

Publications 

(under pen name Paul Lechesne, after mother Marie-Marguerite Lechesne’s (1841−1920) maiden name)

1. Notations Lointaines. Indo-Chine: Réflexions (1905), actualités (1906), Paris, 1907; facsimile Hachette-BNF, 2013.
2. [as Charles Gravelle] Preface to George Groslier’s Danseuses cambodgiennes anciennes et modernes, Paris, 1913.
3. Le Devoir de la France en Indochine, Thouars, Imprimerie Nouvelle, 1914.
4. [as Charles Gravelle] ​“Discours à la reunion du Comite cambodgien de la Societe des Amis d’Angkor,” Phnom Penh, 20 April 1915.
5. [as Charles Gravelle] Quatre conferences sur Angkor, 1921.
6. Indochine seconde. Régions Moïs (Kontoum-Darlac), Paris, 1924; facsimile Hachette-BNF, 2018.