Jan Willem Janssens
Encyclopedia
Jonkheer
Jonkheer is a Dutch honorific of nobility.-Honorific of nobility:"Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw" is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman...
Jan Willem Janssens GCMWO (12 October 1762 – 23 May 1838) was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
nobleman, soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
and statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
who served both as the governor-general of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
and Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
.
Early life
Born in Nijmegen, his military career began at the age of nine when he became a cadet in the Dutch army. He rose through the ranks and by 1793, at the start of the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, he held the rank of colonel, and was wounded in the campaign.
Batavian Republic
The Dutch surrender in 1795 made way for the mostly peaceful establishment of the Batavian RepublicBatavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
, a satellite state
Satellite state
A satellite state is a political term that refers to a country that is formally independent, but under heavy political and economic influence or control by another country...
under Napoleon's growing empire. From 1795 to 1802, Colonel Janssens served mostly as an administrator within the new Batavian Army. He was appointed governor-general of the Cape Colony upon its return to the Dutch by the British under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
in 1802. Arriving in early 1803, he attempted to strengthen the defences of the colony, but found resources lacking, having few trained troops at his disposal and the political situation tenuous at best. During this time, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General.
The start of the War of the Third Coalition marked another British invasion of the Cape Colony. Janssens was under no impression that he had the ability to defeat the British force, led by Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird
Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet
General Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet GCB was a British military leader.-Military career:He was born at Newbyth House in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the son of an Edinburgh merchant family, and entered the British Army in 1772. He was sent to India in 1779 with the 73rd Highlanders, in which he...
, yet he mobilized his forces and engaged the British on 8 January 1806, at the Battle of Blaauwberg
Battle of Blaauwberg
The Battle of Blaauwberg, also known as the Battle of Cape Town, fought near Cape Town on 8 January 1806, was a small but significant military engagement. It established British rule in South Africa, which was to have many ramifications during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries...
, near Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. His force was routed and the Cape Colony was surrendered to the British for the last time on January 18. Under the terms of the surrender, Janssens was transported back to the Netherlands, arriving at the Hague on 8 June 1806.
By the time Janssens surrendered to the British, the war in Europe had ended with the Treaty of Pressburg. When he returned to the Netherlands, Napoleon had already installed his brother Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
as the king of the newly formed Kingdom of Holland
Kingdom of Holland
The Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810 was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, in order to better control the Netherlands. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country...
.
Kingdom of Holland and the French Empire
Louis Bonaparte named Janssens Secretary-General of the Department of War upon his return. He held a series of high-ranking administrative posts within the kingdom until the abdication of Louis Napoleon and the annexation of the Netherlands by France in 1810. On 11 November 1810, he was appointed governor-general of the territory known, before the annexation, as the Dutch East Indies, replacing Herman Willem DaendelsHerman Willem Daendels
Herman Willem Daendels was a Dutch politician who served as the 36th Governor General of the Dutch East Indies between 1808 and 1811....
. He arrived in Batavia
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
on 15 May 1811 and immediately involved himself in efforts to strengthen the colony's defenses. Java benefited from a larger amount of both Dutch and French troops, as well as better defenses, compared to the Cape Colony. However, the British invasion fleet arrived shortly thereafter, on July 30, led by Sir Samuel Auchmuty
Samuel Auchmuty (general)
Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, GCB was a British general.-Origins:Sir Samuel's grandfather, Robert Auchmuty , was descended from a family settled in Fife, Scotland, in the 14th century...
.
Janssens mounted a defense that centered around the existing fortifications, namely Meester Cornelis. However, the French soldiers under his command lacked well-trained officers and as the British laid siege to the fortress, Janssens personally led a futile defense and was forced to retreat to Buitenzorg (later the place of residence of the British governor-general, Sir Stamford Raffles. A large number of French soldiers were captured during the retreat and ensuing pursuit and Janssens was forced to surrender on 18 September 1811. He was imprisoned in Britain until 12 November 1812, when he was repatriated to the Netherlands.
He was involved in some minor engagements in the ensuing years, until he resigned his post in the French Army on 9 April 1814.
Post-Napoleonic War career
Janssens was involved with the nascent Kingdom of the NetherlandsKingdom of the Netherlands
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...
as the provisional Commissary-General of War, but he resigned his post after his request to be posted once again as the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies was denied. He resigned from active duty on 22 May 1815.
He died as a highly decorated veteran in the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, aged 75.
Decorations and medals
- Commander of the Order of the UnionOrder of the UnionThe Order of the Union was a chivalric order established in 1806 by Louis Napoleon, younger brother of Napoleon I, for the Kingdom of Holland. The order was abolished in 1811 when the French Empire absorbed the Kingdom of Holland...
, 25 November 1807 - Grand CrossGrand CrossThe phrase Grand Cross is used to denote the highest grade in many orders of knighthood. Sometimes the holders of the highest grade are referred to "knights grand cross" or just "grand crosses"; in other cases the actual insignia itself is called "the grand cross".Alternatively, in some other...
of the Order of the Union, 3 February 1808 - Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, 16 May 1811
- Grand Cross of the Order of the ReunionDecorations and medals of the NetherlandsThroughout the ages hundreds of medals, decorations for merit or valour and orders of knighthood have been instituted by the successive governments of the Netherlands. The oldest of these were founded by the counts of Holland. Their successors of the House of Burgundy founded the famous Order of...
, 22 February 1812 - Grand Cross of the Military William Order (KB No.16, 8 July 1815)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Further reading
- Biography by Geert van Uythoven
- Wurtzburg, Charles Edward (1953). Raffles of the Eastern Isles. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195826050