Lieutenant admiral Lieutenant admiral () is a senior naval military rank in the Royal Netherlands Navy. The rank is a four-star rank, senior to a vice-admiral () and equivalent to admiral in most foreign navies. It is used whenever the Dutch Chief of Defence is fro ...

Engelbertus Lucas (30 May 1785 in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

– 12 May 1870 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

naval officer of the

Batavian Navy The Batavian navy ( nl, Bataafsche marine) was the navy of the Batavian Republic. A continuation of the ''Staatse vloot'' (Dutch States fleet) of the Dutch Republic. Though thoroughly reorganized after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, the navy e ...

, the royal navy of the

Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Emperor ...

, the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

, and the

Royal Dutch Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

, rising to the highest rank in the latter navy, and becoming Minister for the Navy in the first

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

of the Dutch

Prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Johan Rudolph Thorbecke Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (14 January 1798 – 4 June 1872) was a Dutch liberal statesman, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. Thorbecke is best known for heading the commission that drafted the revision of the Consti ...

from 1849 to 1851.

Personal life

Lucas was born the son of future rear-admiral Engelbertus Lucas of the Batavian Navy and Catharina Prins, later a business woman who was a

distiller Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...

Jenever Jenever (, ), also known as Hollands, genever, genièvre, peket, or sometimes as Dutch gin (archaic: Holland gin or Geneva gin), is the juniper-flavored traditional liquor in the Netherlands, Belgium and adjoining areas in northern France an ...

in his birthplace Schiedam, on 30 May 1785. He married Louisa Elisabeth Lamaison.

Career

Lucas entered the new cadet corps of the Batavian navy in 1795, two years before the death of his father. He was promoted to cadet-first class in 1801. In 1802 he was commissioned as a naval lieutenant (junior grade). In 1808 he was promoted to naval lieutenant in the royal navy of the Kingdom of Holland, which he remained after the annexation of the Netherlands by the French Empire (being integrated in the French navy), until the country regained its independence in 1813. In 1814 he was promoted to commander in the Royal Dutch Navy. His promotion to ''kapitein ter zee'' followed in 1826. He was made a rear-admiral in 1837, and a vice-admiral in 1844. He retained that rank during his stint as Minister for the Navy from 1849 to 1851. On 21 April 1851 (after his resignation from the government) he resigned his commission for reasons of age, but on 1 June 1865 he was promoted to lieutenant-admiral (ret.), the highest rank in the Royal Dutch navy. His functions as a naval officer included commander of the ship-of-the-line ''Zr.Ms. De Zeeuw'' in 1827, and commander of troop transports in the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

(the Bath squadron) during the conflict with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1833. He lost the frigate ''Zr. Ms. Sumatra'' due to an accident on the Scheldt. From 1 August 1838 to 1 March 1842 he was Commander of the Dutch navy in 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 ...

, and at the same time Inspector of the Colonial navy (the predecessor of the ''Gouvernementsmarine''). From 1 October 1843 to 1 November 1849 he was Director of the Directorate of the Navy at

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

. At the insistence of king

William III of the Netherlands William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 18 ...

he was included as Minister for the Navy in the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Thorbecke (though that statesman would have preferred his political ally Isaäc Theodorus ter Bruggen Hugenholtz) on 1 November 1849. Lucas proposed a renovation of the

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

in the 1851 budget. This was approved by the ''Tweede Kamer'' of the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

, though with only a ten-vote majority (32-22). Being a short-tempered man, Lucas took umbrage and resigned from the office. The proposal was later defeated 8-25 in the ''Eerste Kamer''. After his retirement Lucas remained a courtier at the Dutch court. He was appointed Aide de Camp of the king in extraordinary service on 24 April 1850. He was also appointed Chancellor of the

Military Order of William The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Oran ...

(he had himself been knighted in that order in 1842), and the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

(of which he was made a Commander in 1846, and promoted to Grand Cross in 1849). After his appointment as Minister Lucas and his wife lived in hotel ''Groot Keizershof'' in the Hague. After the death of his wife in 1852 Lucas moved to ''

Lange Voorhout The Lange Voorhout () is a street in the The Hague Center#Oude Centrum, old city centre of The Hague, Netherlands. It is L-shaped and runs from Kneuterdijk in the west to Toernooiveld in the east, reaching approximately in length. History In th ...

'' No. 92, where he died on 11 March 1870, almost 85 years old.van Royen, p. 242

References

Sources

* ''E. Lucas'' on the website ''Parlement en Politiek

* Royen, R. van, ''Eene briefwisseling tusschen Mr C.L. Luzac en E. Lucas 1838-1842'', in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap. Deel 65 (1947), pp. 238ff

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Engelbertus 1785 births 1870 deaths Dutch admirals Royal Netherlands Navy admirals People from Schiedam