H.G. Kennedy

Henri George Kennedy was a Student Interpreter at the British Consulate in Bangkok when he met pioneer photographer J. Thomson and went with him in his famous travel through Cambodia in January-May 1866.

Fluent in Thai (Siamese), H.G. Kennedy is credited to have saved Thomson's life when the latter contracted high fever during the journey. While several French officials in Cambodia suspected him to be a British spy, it seems that Kennedy, then a young expatriate, was merely attracted by the adventurous travel.

The British mission in Bangkok had been established in 1856, in a building on Charoen Krung Road by the Chao Phraya River that became the UK Embassy in 1947, until its demolition for urban development in 2017.