Kin, Colony and Metropole: A Scots-Indies family among the Dutch Bourgeoisie, c. 1890–1915

Abstract

ABSTRACT The subject of ‘Indies Lives in the Netherlands’ has been most extensively studied with reference to mid-twentieth century, postcolonial ‘returnees’ who arrived in the Netherlands in large numbers in the wake of Indonesian independence. There is, however, an important earlier history here. Throughout the late colonial period, many wealthy ‘Indies’ families maintained close and organic relations with the Dutch metropole. Some of these families (or branches of them), though originally Indies-based, relocated permanently to the Netherlands and established themselves among the Dutch bourgeoisie. This paper examines the history of such a family, one of mixed Scots-Javanese-Dutch ancestry, which settled in The Hague in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In so doing, it demonstrates the extent to which the plethora of recently available genealogical data can be used in the reconstruction of family histories to create a picture that can exist alongside – both complementing and complicating – any trend towards discourse-based approaches to the subject.