Jan Gerard Wichers (15 July 1745 – 3 October 1808) was a military officer and lawyer. He served as Governor of Suriname from 1784 until 1790.

Biography

Wichers was born on 15 July 1745 in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, Dutch Republic. In 1760, he started studying law at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

, and obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

on 15 June 1768. He enlisted in the army. In 1771, Wichers was appointed ''Raad Fiscaal'' (

Attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

) in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. In 1775, Jan Wicherides, his only child, was born as a result of an extra-maritial affair with the free negress Adjuba. Jan Wicherides would later become mayor of

Uithoorn Uithoorn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Uithoorn consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: De Kwakel and Uithoorn. ''Dutch ...

. On 24 December 1784, Wichers was appointed Governor-General of Suriname. In 1785, he was promoted

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

. In 1790, Fort Groningen was built. A city was planned around the fort, however the development of the town remained limited. Wichers wanted to promote a mixed race middle class, because he felt that the Europeans in the colony had little loyalty to Suriname. He had planned, but never executed, to give an award of ƒ100,- for every mixed race child who was

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

. On 15 June 1790, Wichers was succeeded by

Jurriaan François de Friderici Jurriaan François de Friderici (7 December 1751 – 11 October 1812) was a Dutch military officer and plantation owner. He served as Governor of Suriname from 1790 until 1802. In the 1770s, he was involved in the Boni Wars. In 1799, Suriname wa ...

. He returned to the Netherlands, and became a member of the Council of American Colonies in

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. In 1806, he became a member of the

Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde The Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (English "Society of Dutch Literature", often abbreviated ''MNL'') is a prestigious and exclusive literary society. The MNL was established in Leiden in 1766 and is still located there. At the moment, ...

. Wichers died on 3 October 1808 in

Vreeswijk Vreeswijk is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The municipality merged with Jutphaas in 1971, and is now the southern half of the town of Nieuwegein. The former village was located on the Lek River, near where ...

, at the age of 63.

Legacy

In 2012,

RTV Noord RTV Noord is a regional radio and television public broadcaster in Groningen, Netherlands. , its radio programs are broadcast on FM 97.5 MHz. It broadcasts TV and radio programming 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Some content is broadcast ...

aired a documentary about

Groningen, Suriname Groningen is the capital town of the Saramacca District, Suriname. Groningen only began to grow after 1960. Around that time the East-West Link, a road linking Albina via Paramaribo to Nieuw Nickerie was built. This let Groningen become acces ...

, the town founded by Jan Wichers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wichers, Jan 1745 births 1808 deaths Governors of Suriname Dutch generals University of Groningen alumni 18th-century Surinamese lawyers People from Groningen (city) Removing category:He is Dutch, not Danish