Charlotta Elisabeth van der Lith (21 November 1700, in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

– 5 August 1753, in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

), was a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

owner in Dutch Surinam; married to three

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

s in 1724–1737 and the leader of the opposition party of the settlers, Cabale, in 1742–1753.

Life

Daughter of the Lutheran priest Diederich van der Lith (1660–1723)

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and Elisabeth Baldina Helvetius (1679–1748). Married in 1722 to Hendrik Temminck (1680–1727) governor in Surinam; in 1729 to Charles Emilius Hendrik de Cheusses, (1702–1734), governor in Surinam; in 1737 to Joan Raye (1698–1737), governor in Surinam; in 1742 to Antoine Audra, priest; and in 1748 in Paramaribo to priest Martin Louis Duvoisin (d. 1751). Lith became a successful planter through the plantation she inherited from her father. She remained in the governor's residence after the death of her first two spouses and every time married the new governor upon his arrival. From 1742, she acted as the leader of the Cabale party, created by the Dutch colonists, leading the opposition against governor Jan Jacob Mauricius; in 1747, Cabale party under the leadership of "the famous madame du Voisin" appointed the lawyer Solomon du Plessis (1705–1785), father of Susanna du Plessis, to speak for them in the Netherlands, which led to the deposition of Mauricius in 1751.

References

*
Lith, Charlotta Elisabeth van der (1700-1753)
Huygens Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (formerly Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis)
Anna de Haas, Lith, Charlotta Elisabeth van der
at , 13/01/2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lith, Charoltta Van Der Surinamese businesspeople People from Paramaribo Dutch emigrants to Suriname 1700 births 1753 deaths 18th-century Surinamese women 18th-century Surinamese people 18th-century Dutch businesspeople Dutch slave owners Surinamese planters 18th-century women landowners 18th-century women farmers 18th-century planters Dutch planters Dutch women landowners Women slave owners