Portret van gouverneur-generaal Abraham Patras Rijksmuseum SK-A-3777

Abraham Patras (22 May 1671 – 3 May 1737) was

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies ( nl, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Indië) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese fo ...

from 11 March 1735 until 3 May 1737. He was born in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

of a refugee

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

family. In 1685, his family fled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Early career

Patras first took a job in the offices of an

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

merchant named ''Nathaniël Gauthier'' (a fellow Huguenot), but he left for the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in East (disambiguation)#Geography, the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and ...

aboard the ''Hobree'' on 4 January 1690, where he is described as a soldier in the employ of the

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade wi ...

branch of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. In 1691, he sought a change of career and got a temporary post as an agent in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

. In 1695 he became assistant/secretary to the ''Chinese estates-management administration'' in

Ambon Island Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...

. In 1698 he was put in charge of children and matrimonial matters. He married in 1699 to a daughter of an official of the ''Judicial Council'' in Ambon. His wife died on the 16 December 1700. His only daughter also died young.

Rising through the ranks

Patras was nominated to the ''Council of Justice'' in 1700, and in 1703, he went to work as under-secretary (''onderkoopman'') for the Governor of the

Moluccas Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

. In 1707, he became the Head (''opperhoofd'') of the trading post at

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and spans to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is Jambi. The province has a land area of 50,160.05 km2, and a sea area of 3, ...

, where his headquarters were attacked. Although severely wounded in the back, he survived. He was merchant, then Chief Factor in

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...

in 1711. In 1717, he was promoted to ''Chief Merchant'' (''opperkoopman'') and Office holder (''gezaghebber'') of the west coast of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. It was 1720 that saw him promoted to ''Inspector General of Accounts'' for the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(''visitateur-generaal van Nederlands-Indië''). In 1721, he was sent as an envoy to

. In 1722, he was appointed deputy-overseer of goods coming in and out of the castle at

. In 1724, he got the very lucrative post of ''Head'' of the

Dutch Bengal Bengal was a directorate of the Dutch East India Company in Mughal Bengal between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1800. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British accor ...

trading post. In 1731, he was appointed as ''extraordinary'' (i.e. co-opted) member of the ''

Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...

''.

Governor-General

On the 10 March 1735 on the death of Governor-General Dirck van Cloon, ''Patras'' very surprisingly was nominated

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

. He had never been a full member of the ''Council of the Indies'', so this was a first, and was caused by him slipping through as a compromise candidate following a stalemate in the voting. He was not keen to take on the post in these circumstances, but agreed to do so until a better candidate could be found. On 11 March 1735 he was nominated interim Governor-General, a decision which was approved by the ''Directors'' of the East India Company. During his short period of office, no significant decisions were made. Although he was a competent leader and had built up a great deal of practical knowledge of the territories, his age (at 64) probably ensured that he was not a very powerful Governor-General. He died two years after his appointment during the night of 3 May 1737. He was buried in

on 6 May 1737. The governor-generalship was taken over by

Adriaan Valckenier Adriaan Valckenier (6 June 1695 – 20 June 1751) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1737 to 1741. Mainly remembered for his involvement in the 1740 Batavia massacre, Valckenier later died in a prison in Batavia (present-day Ja ...

Anthony Patras

Anthony Patras (1718-1764), born in Geneva, was a nephew of governor Abraham Patras. In 1734 Anthony arrived in

in the Dutch East Indies. When his uncle died the young man inherited his immense fortune, the collection of books, and art. In 1738 he married a daughter of Isaac van Schinne, an

opperhoofd ''Opperhoofd'' is a Dutch word (plural ''opperhoofden'') that literally translates to "upper-head", meaning "supreme headman". The Danish equivalent ''overhoved'', which is derived from a Danish pronunciation of the Dutch or Low German word, is als ...

Deshima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...

and member of the

Council of India The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India. The original Council of India was established by the Charter Act of 1833 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor ...

. After the 1740 Batavia massacre he returned to Holland. In 1743 he tried to become a member of Sloten's

vroedschap The vroedschap () was the name for the (all male) city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a ''vroedman'', literally a "wise man". An honorific title of the ''vroedschap'' was the ''vroede vaderen'', ...

, which refused to appoint him. After two years he suddenly became

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

of the Frisian town, succeeding Onno Zwier van Haren. He was a States General representative for this small city until his early death. (In

Wijckel Wijckel ( fry, Wikel) is a village in De Fryske Marren municipality in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 645 in 2017. History The village was first mentioned in the 13th century Wicle. The etymology is uncle ...

he bought which was built for

Menno van Coehoorn Menno, Baron van Coehoorn (; March 1641 – 17 March 1704) was a Dutch soldier and engineer, regarded as one of the most significant figures in Dutch military history. In an era when siege warfare dominated military campaigns, he and his French ...

.) Patras died early and probably hardly lived in his new mansion, nowadays known as

Lange Voorhout Palace Lange Voorhout Palace ( nl, Paleis Lange Voorhout ) in The Hague was designed in 1760 by the architect Pieter de Swart for Anthony Patras (1718-1764), a deputy to the States General of the Netherlands. History Patras, born in Grenoble, Isère ...

. His widow was forced to sell the property in 1778.R. Cleverens (1994) Paleis Lange Voorhout, p. 19; Onno Zwier van Haren (1713-1779): staatsman en dichter by Pieter Vliet, p. 105

/ref>

Bibliography

* Paulus, J., Graaff, S. d., Stibbe, D. G., Spat, C., Stroomberg, J., & Sandbergen, F. J. W. H. (1917). ''Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië''. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff * Putten, L.P. van, 2002 ''Ambitie en onvermogen : gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610-1796''.

References

External links

* http://www.vocsite.nl/geschiedenis/personalia/patras.html * for the organisational structure of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patras, Abraham Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Directors of Dutch Bengal People from Grenoble 1671 births 1737 deaths