Johannes, Count van den Bosch (2 February 1780 – 28 January 1844) was a Dutch

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

and politician. He was

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(1830–1833), commander of the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherl ...

, Minister of Colonies, and

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

. He was an officer in the Military William Order.

Biography

Johannes van den Bosch was born on 2 February 1780 in Herwijnen in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

(the present-day

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

), to the physician Johannes van den Bosch Sr. and his wife Adriana Poningh.J. graaf van den Bosch
''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved on 18 January 2015. Van den Bosch enrolled in the army of the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

in 1797 and was, at his own request, sent to Batavia in the

as a lieutenant a year later. At the time, the emphasis was put on asserting commercial interest, and Dutch control over the Indonesian archipelago was limited. As an adjutant, Van den Bosch remained close to the consecutive Governor-Generals, and was involved in the transformation from trade colonialism to territorial colonial expansion. In 1808, he had a conflict with the new Governor-General, Herman Willem Daendels, after which he was honourably discharged from service at the rank of colonel. He and his family were sent back to Europe in 1810. On his way back to the Netherlands, Van den Bosch was captured by the British and remained a captive until 1812. Upon arriving in the Netherlands, he joined the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

tasked with restoring the authority of the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by the stadtholders of, and then the heirs apparent of ...

, William Frederick. He was recommissioned in the army as a colonel and, in the name of the Prince of Orange, captured

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

and Naarden. In 1818, Van den Bosch was involved in the establishment of the Society of Humanitarianism, under the auspices of Prince Frederick, and was put on inactive in the military in order to focus on the society. The society considered labour to be the only means to combat poverty. In

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

, it founded the 'free colonies' of Frederiksoord, Willemsoord and Wilhelminaoord, where the poor from big cities would learn to care for themselves in a disciplined manner. In 1827, Van den Bosch was tasked with restoring Dutch control over the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

as commissioner-general. He left the society and arrived on

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

in December that year, and would stay in the colony for eight months. During this period, he took several initiatives concerning trade and banking, focussed on stimulating economic activity and scope of the colony. Among other things, he introduced a regulation which would make the

Constitution of the Netherlands The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of 24 August 1815 () is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the Constitution, fundamental law of the Netherlands, Netherlands proper (the territo ...

apply to the colony as well, and used it to attempt to improve the living conditions of slaves. Only shortly after his return in 1828, Van den Bosch rose to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

and was appointed

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies (, ) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese forces between 1942 and 1945, followed by the ...

. In this capacity, he is most famous for the introduction of the cultivation system in 1830. This system forced Javanese farmers to use a fifth of their farmland for export goods such as coffee, sugar and indigo. Van den Bosch returned to the Netherlands on 18 May 1834 and was appointed Minister of Colonies on 30 May. As Minister, he demanded increasingly high financial results from the colonies, often to the detriment of the interest of individual farmers and slaves. In 1839, he received criticism from the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the opaqueness of his policy on loans between the government and the Netherlands Trading Society. Van den Bosch voluntarily stepped down from office on 1 January 1840, upon which he was granted the title Count van den Bosch by royal decree, as well as the honourable title of

. He entered the House of Representatives for

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

in 1842 and would remain there until his death. Count van den Bosch died on 28 January 1844 at his estate 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 ...

, as a result of a short disease.

Titles

* 17 June 1835: elevated into the Dutch nobility with the title of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

* 25 December 1839: created

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

( Dutch: ''Graaf'')

References

*The information in this article is based on that in its Dutch and German equivalents. *The

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon or was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the . Joseph Meyer (publisher), Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing hous ...

External links

Dutch Parliament: J. graaf van den Bosch

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosch, Johannes van den 1780 births 1844 deaths People from Lingewaal Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies Royal Netherlands East Indies Army generals Royal Netherlands East Indies Army officers Ministers of colonial affairs of the Netherlands Counts of the Netherlands Dutch military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Biography

Titles

See also

References

External links