Dr Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp (17 May 1747 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

– 15 December 1811 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

) was a military officer, doctor, and philosopher who became a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Early life

The second son of Cornelius van der Kemp, a minister and Rotterdam's leading reformed clergyman, and Anna Maria van Teylingen, he attended the Latin schools of Rotterdam and

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

. He subsequently enrolled at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

in 1763 where he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, but when his elder brother Didericus was appointed as professor of church history he abandoned his studies. At an early age he attended the

, where he progressed rapidly, and where his brother was later a professor of divinity.

Army career

Soon after college van der Kemp joined the

Dragoon Guards Dragoon Guards is a designation that has been used to refer to certain heavy cavalry regiments in the British Army since the 18th century. While the Prussian and Russian armies of the same period included dragoon regiments among their respective I ...

rank of Captain of Horse and a Lieutenant of the Dragoon Guards. Ignoring his religious principles, he fathered an illegitimate child, Johanna ("Antje"), an affair to which he described as being “the slave of vice and ungodliness”, and afterwards brought up his child himself. In 1778 he fell in love with Christina ("Stijntje") Frank (d. 1791). He lived with her for a year before being reprimanded by 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 ...

on this irregular state of affairs. As a result, he both married Stijntje, on 29 May 1779, and quit the army after serving for sixteen years. van der Kemp, 1812, p. 4

Return to medicine

Returning to his medical studies, this time in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, he completed his

Medical Doctorate A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

within two years. He also prepared for publication a treatise in Latin on cosmology, entitled ''Parmenides,'' which was published in 1781. He returned to the

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 ...

, where he practised as a doctor first in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

and then near

. On 27 June 1791, his wife and daughter Antje were drowned in a yachting accident from which he only just escaped. As a result of this incident, he experienced an emotional conversion back to the reformed Christianity of his family. He served as a medical officer during the revolutionary campaigns in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and then as hospital superintendent at Zwijndrecht, near Dordrecht. While there in 1797, he came to hear of the formation of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

Missionary work

After making contact with the London Missionary Society, he helped found the Dutch version Nederlandsche Zendinggenootschap. He was ordained in London in November 1798 and began recruiting men for the society. He sailed from London in December 1798 as one of the first three agents sent by the society to

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

, arriving in March 1799. Whilst there in 1799 he published the first work in book-form in South Africa, which was an 8-page translation, into Dutch, of the London Missionary Society's letter that he brought out to the inhabitants of the Cape. Printed by V.A. Schoonberg most likely on J.C. Ritters press., "Early Cape Printing 1796-1802", South African Library Reprint Series, No. 1, South African Library, Cape Town, (1971) Once in South Africa, after working at Gaika's Kraal near

King William's Town Qonce, formerly King William's Town, is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River (Eastern Cape), Buffalo River. The town is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London, South Africa, ...

he journeyed beyond the eastern frontier of the colony to work among the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

under Chief Ngqika. From the Xhosa he received the name Jank' hanna (‘the bald man’). War between Cape Colony and the Xhosa soon drove him back and from 1801 onwards he worked exclusively within the colony, mainly with dispossessed Hottentots. In 1803 he established a mission settlement for vagrant Hottentots at

Bethelsdorp Bethelsdorp is a town in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, 20 km north-west of Port Elizabeth. History The town was established in 1803 by Rev. J.T. van der Kemp on the farm Roodepas ...

where local farmers accused him of harboring lawless elements. He countered with a list of alleged ill-treatment of the Hottentots by local farmers, but the evidence proved unsatisfactory and the farmers were acquitted. On 7 April 1806 he married Sara Janse, a freed slave 45 years his junior, and had four children with her. This situation and his attitudes caused great opposition from within the colony, and he was for a time ordered by the government to leave Bethelsdorp. Armed with a background in European and classical philology, he pioneered in the study of Xhosa and

Khoikhoi Khoikhoi (Help:IPA/English, /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally Nomad, nomadic pastoralist Indigenous peoples, indigenous population of South Africa. They ...

languages. He was recalled to Cape Town by the

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 ...

in 1811 and died soon afterwards. An early van der Kemp biographer Author D. Martin, notes that van der Kemp was often criticized by contemporary historians for his favoring of the natives of South Africa. Martin, 1931, p. x

In print

Sarah Millin, one of the most popular English-language novelists in South Africa during her lifetime wrote ''The Burning Man'' about the life of van der Kemp. The life of Johannes van der Kemp during his mission in Bethelsdorp is included in the novel ''Praying Mantis'' by

André Brink André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town. In the 1960s Brink, Ingrid Jonker, Etienne Lerou ...

References

Sources

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