Daniel Jacob Danielsen (also known as Dollin, born 25 June 1871 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, grew up in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, died 16 October 1916) was a Faroese missionary and humanitarian worker.

Family and early years

Danielsen's mother Sigrid was a paternal aunt of

Victor Danielsen Victor Danielsen (28 March 1894 – 2 February 1961) was the first Faroese Bible translator and Plymouth Brethren missionary. Victor Danielsen played a pivotal role in the Plymouth Brethren's establishment in the Faroe Islands after it was int ...

, who was the first Faroese Bible translator and Plymouth Brethren missionary. Sigrid went to Copenhagen as a young girl. In 1871 she gave birth to a boy; she was not married at the time. The boy was named Ludvig Daniel Jacob. The name Ludvig was after his father, whom he never knew, and he did not use the name. Dollin is a common abbreviation for Daniel Jacob in the Faroe Islands. Fairly soon after the birth of D.J. Danielsen, mother and son moved back to the Faroes, where she got married in 1874. At the age of 18 Danielsen went to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

to be trained as an engineer. He worked as an engineer around the world; among other countries he came to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and to America. Even though he came from a Christian family, it was not until 1897 that he became religious; it happened at an open-air service in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, after which he was radically converted.

Missionary and humanitarian work

In 1901-03 Danielsen was in Congo Free State as a missionary for

Congo-Balolo Mission The Congo-Balolo Mission (CBM) was a British Baptist missionary society that was active in the Belgian Congo, the present day Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 1889 to 1915. It was the predecessor of the ''Regions Beyond Missionary Union'' ...

with base in Bonginda. He was primarily an engineer on the missionary boat that sailed up and down the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

to and from the missionary station. Stamps of the Faroe Islands-2014-21

In 1903 Danielsen was sent home from the mission as accusations were made against him that he had been violent against some of the locals (later it turned out that the accusations had been false). On his way back to the shore he met

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

, who at that time was British consul in Congo. Casement had been anointed to write a report on the atrocities that were being made against the natives by

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

soldiers. Congo was at that time a personal property of

King Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

and he exploited the local population fiercely to profit from increased rubber demand. Methods of coercion included whipping, hostage-taking, rape and murder, and burning of gardens and villages. (The most famous atrocity, the severing of a hand or foot, was undertaken by native soldiers to prove to their white officers that they had not wasted ammunition, and was not a punishment for rubber shortfalls.) Casement was in a desperate need for an engineer to steer his boat up the Congo River as his initial engineer couldn't continue. Danielsen joined Casement and they travelled together for a couple of months. What Danielsen did next to being an engineer was being a photographer and he took several atrocity photographs of people who had been mutilated and later he showed them in meetings back in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and in the Faroe Islands. In 1904 Danielsen moved to the

with his wife, Lina, where he became one of the most prolific evangelists for the

Brethren movement The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasize ...

in the Faroes.

References

{{Authority control Faroese Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1871 births 1916 deaths Faroese Plymouth Brethren Danish humanitarians 19th-century Faroese people 20th-century Faroese people Congo Free State people