Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff

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Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff 1742

Gustaaf Willem Baron van Imhoff (German Gustav Wilhelm Freiherr von Imhoff ; * August 8, 1705 in Leer (East Frisia) , † November 1, 1750 in Batavia ) was Governor General of the Dutch East Indies .

origin

His parents were Wilhelm Heinrich von Imhoff (1663-1725) and his wife Isabella Sophia Boreel (1667-1728), she was the daughter of the mayor of Amsterdam Jacob Boreel (1630-1697). His father was an East Frisian councilor, Drost zu Leer, and a Saxon envoy in Stockholm, London and Berlin. He came from the East Frisian line of the old Nuremberg patrician family Imhoff .

career

Van Imhoff went on January 19, 1725 as a sub-commissioner in the service of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia (now the Indonesian capital Jakarta) and was promoted to "First Commis" in 1727. In the same year he married Katharina Magdalena Huysmann.

In 1730 he received the office of Secretary of the Government of India and in 1732 that of an "Extraordinary Council". In 1732 he was sent to Sri Lanka , then Ceylon, to remedy the grievances caused by the officials of the society.

During a stay in Sri Lanka in 1738 he had a catechism and a Bible in the Sinhalese language printed in Colombo at his own expense and distributed among the population. A stay on Malabar in 1739 gave him another opportunity to distinguish himself.

After a stay in Europe, where he traveled to report, he returned to Indonesia in 1740 with the rank of "Ordinary Council". Here he got into a dispute with Adriaan Vackenier , who had become Governor General in 1737. The Chinese living in the country planned an uprising in 1740 with the aim of taking possession of the island. Van Imhof managed to put down this uprising with military force. Vackenier gave the Chinese people the order on October 9, 1740 massacre . During a council meeting on December 6, 1740, Vackenier had Van Imhoff and two other councilors arrested and brought to Europe for conviction.

When he arrived in Europe, Van Imhoff learned that he had been appointed Governor General of Batavia by the “ Assembly of Seventeen ” in December 1740. He used his thirteen-month stay to write a presentation of the conditions in the Dutch East Indies for the company.

From May 1743 back in Batavia, he granted the Chinese residents greater freedom in trade and extended this to the Spanish possessions in America, especially Mexico . He also issued new police regulations and made improvements in the military.

After being appointed general of the infantry in 1748, he expanded the company's territory to include large areas in 1749, as he had done in 1747. He died unexpectedly on November 1st, 1750 and was buried in the Dutch church.

family

He married Catharina Magdalena Huysman (1708-1744) in Batavia in 1727 , a daughter of the General Director of the Dutch Indies, Anthony Huysman (1668-1728) and Catharina Pelgram . The couple had a son who died young. At Imhoff's express request, the two surviving children were legitimized with the Javanese Helena Pieters on July 7, 1757, from whom the Imhoff line in the Netherlands descends.

  • Portrait (after Jan Maurits Quinkhard )

  • Martin Holtzhey's medal (1742)

  • Engraving by Pieter Tanjé (1745)

  • Sea shell with engraved entry of Gustav Wilhelm von Imhoff in Batavia

Afterlife

Some ships of the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij were named after him. The latter became ingloriously known for its demise with German internees during the Second World War.

literature

Web links

Commons : Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ means Dutch East Indies
  2. ↑ the source names 24,000 people
  3. ^ Territories of the princes of Mandora
  4. Jump up ↑ Territory of the Mantaram Empire
  5. ↑ the source also mentions November 1, 1751 as the date of death
personal data
SURNAME Imhoff, Gustaaf Willem van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Imhoff, Gustaaf Willem Baron van (full name); Imhoff, Gustav Wilhelm Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor General of the Dutch East Indies
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1705
PLACE OF BIRTH Empty
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1750
Place of death Batavia