Petrus Jacobus Runckel (born 10 September 1822 – 15 December 1860) was a Dutch colonial government official, who made a career in the administration on the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch (et ...

Biography

Runckel was probably born in

Noordwijk-Binnen Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the former municipality of Noordwij ...

, the Netherlands to Petrus Jacobus Runckel sr. and Geertruida Catharina Escher. He was appointed assistant in the government of the Gold Coast by royal decree of 18 November 1845. After working in

Elmina Castle Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (''St. George of the Mine Castle''), also known as ''Castelo da Mina'' or simply ''Mina'' (or '' Feitoria da Mina''), in present-day Elmina, Ghana, formerly t ...

for five years, he was appointed commandant of

Fort Orange Fort Orange () was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city and state capital Albany, New York developed near this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on n ...

at Dutch

Sekondi Sekondi-Takoradi ( ) is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan District and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city as well as ...

. In this office, he was also responsible for the Dutch gold mining enterprise in Dabokrom. In June 1851, Runckel returned to the Netherlands on leave, to recover from illness. When he returned to the coast in August, he was appointed to the offices of bookkeeper, public prosecutor, government secretary and cashier, which made him second in command. After governor Hero Schomerus died in office on 25 September 1856, Runckel became governor ad interim. A month later, government commissioner Willem George Frederik Derx arrived on the Gold Coast, charged by the Dutch government to resume the recruitment of soldiers for the Netherlands East Indies Army. According to his instructions, Derx was to assume the office of governor in case of absence or death of the governor. Derx's impopularity with both the Elminese and the local administration made this a controversial move. Runckel tried to prevent Derx from taking office to no avail, but Derx gave up his governorship soon thereafter. Runckel was honourably discharged from service in December 1857 on medical grounds, as he suffered from

splenomegaly Splenomegaly is an enlargement of the spleen. The spleen usually lies in the left upper quadrant (LUQ) of the human abdomen. Splenomegaly is one of the four cardinal signs of ''hypersplenism'' which include: some reduction in number of circulat ...

and

facial nerve paralysis Facial nerve paralysis is a common problem that involves the paralysis of any structures innervated by the facial nerve. The pathway of the facial nerve is long and relatively convoluted, so there are a number of causes that may result in facia ...

. Runckel died in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

on 15 December 1860.

Personal life

During his service on the Gold Coast, Runckel was married according to local rites to Effua Anna Rühle, daughter of Anthony Rühle. They had at least one daughter together, Maria Adriana Runckle.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Runckel, Petrus Jacobus 1822 births 1860 deaths Colonial governors of the Dutch Gold Coast People from Noordwijk