Jan Willem de Winter (French: Jean Guillaume de Winter, 23 March 1761 – 2 June 1812) was a Dutch admiral during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Biography

Early life

De Winter was born in Kampen and entered naval service at a young age. He distinguished himself by his zeal and courage, and by the time of the ''

Patriottentijd The (; ) was a period of political instability in the Dutch Republic between approximately 1780 and 1787. Its name derives from the Patriots () faction who opposed the rule of the stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, and his supporters who ...

'' in 1787 had reached the rank of lieutenant. The overthrow of the Patriot party forced him to flee to France.

Naval career

Here he threw himself heart and soul into the cause of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, and took part under Charles François Dumouriez and Charles Pichegru in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793, and was soon promoted to the rank of ''brigadier-general''. In 1795, when Pichegru overran the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, De Winter returned with the French army to his native country. The new regime now utilized the experience he had gained as a naval officer by giving him the post of adjunct-general for the reorganization 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 em ...

. In 1796 he was appointed vice-admiral and commander-in-chief of the fleet. He spared no efforts to strengthen it and improve its condition, and on 11 October 1797 he ventured upon an encounter off Camperdown with the British fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan. After an obstinate struggle the Dutch were defeated, and De Winter himself was taken prisoner. He remained in England until December, when he gave his parole and was released. His conduct in the Battle of Camperdown was declared by a court-martial to have nobly maintained the honour of the Dutch flag.

Ambassador

From 1798 to 1802 De Winter filled the post of ambassador to the French Republic, and was then once more appointed commander of the fleet. He was sent with a strong squadron to the Mediterranean to repress the

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

pirates, and negotiated a treaty of peace with the Tripolitan government. He enjoyed the confidence of

Louis Bonaparte Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French cl ...

, then

King of Holland The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

, and, after the incorporation of the Netherlands in the French empire, in an equal degree of the emperor Napoleon. By the former he was created Marshal of Holland and Count of Huessen, and given the command of the armed forces both by sea and land.

Later life

Napoleon gave him the grand cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and appointed him inspector general of the northern coasts, and in 1811 he placed him at the head of the fleet he had collected at

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

. Soon afterwards De Winter was taken ill and compelled to go to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he died on 2 June 1812. He had a splendid public funeral and was buried in the

Panthéon The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...

. His heart was enclosed in an urn and placed in the Bovenkerk Church in Kampen.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Jan Willem De 1761 births 1812 deaths 18th-century Dutch people 19th-century Dutch people Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Burials at the Panthéon, Paris Dutch military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Dutch military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Patriottentijd People from Kampen, Overijssel Royal Netherlands Navy personnel 18th-century Dutch military personnel