Jacobus Pieter Thijsse (25 July 1865 – 8 January 1945) was a Dutch conservationist and botanist. He founded the Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands. Along with

Eli Heimans Eli Heimans (28 February 1861 – 22 July 1914) was a Dutch nature educator and conservationist. Along with Jacobus Thijsse he popularized outdoors nature education through his writings. Heimans was born in Zwolle to a Jewish family of textile dy ...

and Johannes Bernink, he was active in a period of revival of biological education known as ''biologisch reveil.'' Thijsse was the son of infantry sergeant Jacobus Thijsse and Catharina Johanna Priester. He grew up in Maastricht, Grave and Woerden. In 1877 the father retired from the army and the family moved to Wagenaarstraat in Amsterdam where Thijsse went to the Municipal School. Here he was taught by

Coenraad Kerbert Coenraad is a Dutch given name. Notable persons with that name include: * Coenraad van Beuningen (1622–1693), diplomat for Dutch Republic *Coenraad Beyers (1893–1975), South African historian, archivist, and herald * Coenraad Bloemendal (born ...

who took him on walks in the parks. In 1883 he qualified as a teacher of modern languages and taught in primary schools in Amsterdam. In 1890 he headed the French School in Den Burg on Texel. Here he started studying the plants, birds, and insects. Thijsse married Helena Christina Petronella Bosch in 1891 and they had two sons. In 1892 he met Eli Heimans and they began to work together. In 1901 he became a natural history teacher at the Kweekschool but he suffered from lung infection. In 1902 he moved to Bloemendaal. In 1896, along with Heimans and J. Jaspers, he started a magazine called the living nature which became very popular and had 1000 subscribers in a short time. Some of them included Johannes Bernardus Bernink, G. J. Meinen, J. Ceton and others. In 1901 he was a cofounder of the (later Royal) Dutch Natural History Association. In 1925, on the occasion of his 60th birthday he was honored by his friends with the gift of

Thijsse's Hof Thijsse's Hof (The garden of Thijsse) is a wildlife garden in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands. It was created in 1925 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Jac. P. Thijsse, naturalist and nature conservationist. It is the oldest wildlife garden in ...

(Thijsse's Garden), a

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an Biophysical environment, environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater t ...

Bloemendaal Bloemendaal () is a municipality and town in the Western Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands. It is located just west of Haa ...

near

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

. This was the first wildlife garden in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest worldwide. In the late 1920s and 1930s, the

Verkade Royal Verkade (Dutch: Koninklijke Verkade) is a Dutch manufacturing company, owned by a Turkish conglomerate. The company is headquartered in Zaandam and was one of the oldest existing family companies in the Netherlands. In November 2014, the com ...

company hired Jac. P. Thijsse to write a series of collector albums on flora of the Netherlands. The albums were illustrated by picture cards which could be collected with the purchase of Verkade products. These albums were very popular among the Dutch population before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The "Jac. P. Thijssepark" in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

, another wildlife garden, was named after him. He was placed 87th on

De Grootste Nederlander ''De Grootste Nederlander'' ('The Greatest Dutchman') was a public poll held in 2004 by the broadcasting company KRO of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting, ''Publieke Omroep''. The series has the BBC's ''100 Greatest Britons'' TV format. During t ...

(The Greatest Dutchman) list in 2004.

References

External links

* 19th-century Dutch botanists 20th-century Dutch botanists 1865 births 1945 deaths Dutch conservationists People from Maastricht {{Netherlands-botanist-stub