Jeremias van Riemsdijk

Jeremias van Riemsdijk (18 October 1712 – 3 October 1777) was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as

Jeremias van Riemsdijk was born on 18 October 1712 in

In 1736 he became onderkoopman (underbuyer/undermerchant), in 1738 koopman (buyer/merchant), in 1740 tweede opperkoopman (second upperbuyer/uppermerchant) and in 1742 eerste opperkoopman (first upperbuyer/uppermerchant) in the castle headquarters at Batavia/Jakarta. In 1743 he became the chief (kapitein) of the company of clerical/writing staff (pennisten) and in October Jeremias van Riemsdijk was named Counsellor-extraordinary (Raad extra-ordinaier) to the Council of the Indies. In 1759 he was appointed President of the College van Weesmeesters (dealing with the affairs of orphans, minors, etc.). On 15 October 1760 he was named ordinary Counsellor (Raad ordinair) and on 17 August 1764 Director-General.^{[citation needed]}

On 28 December 1775, following the death of Petrus Albertus van der Parra, Van Riemsdijk was chosen as Governor-General. He had had at the time five marriages, to leading Eurasian ladies. He had learned a lot from the eleven years he had worked with his predecessor, whose great appetite for money he had acquired. During his term in office, there was a shortage of ships and ship personnel. This problem was solved with help from the homeland. However, shortly after his governorship had begun, Jeremias van Riemsdijk died in Batavia/Jakarta. He was followed as Governor-General by Reynier de Klerck

Sources

• Complete site (in Dutch) on the Dutch East India Company
• Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, part N-Soek
• Putten, L. P. van, 2002. Ambitie en onvermogen: gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610–1796.
• Van Riemsdijk family history