Daendels

Daendels, HERMAN WILLEM, a great Dutch general, was born in 1762 at Hattem, in Gelderland, took part in the revolutionary disturbances that broke out in Holland in 1787, and was in consequence compelled to seek refuge in France. In the campaign of 1793 he rendered important service to Dumouriez, and was elevated to the rank of a general of brigade. In 1799 he commanded one of the two divisions of the army of the Batavian republic, and in 1806 took service under the king of Holland. From 1808 to 1811 he was governor-general of the Dutch East Indian possessions, and published a work on them. On the overthrow of Napoleon, the new king of Holland, William I., intrusted Daendels with the organisation of the Dutch colonies on the coast of Africa, and there he died in June 1818.