Johannes van der Kemp
Dr Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp (17 May 1747 in Rotterdam – 15 December 1811 in Cape Town) was a military officer, doctor, and philosopher who became a missionary in South Africa.
Reverend Johannes Van der Kemp MD | |
---|---|
Born | Johannes Theodorus Van der Kemp 17 May 1747 |
Died | 15 December 1811 |
Occupation | Missionary |
Spouse | Christina Helena Frank (m. 1779– d.1791) |
Partner | Sara Jans Van de Caep (1791–1861) |
Children | 5 in total, only 3 made it to adulthood |
Parent(s) | Cornelius Jansz Van der Kemp Anna Maria Van Teylingen |
Relatives | Didericus Van der Kemp, brother, lecturer at Rector Magnificus University (Leiden) |
Early life
The second son of Cornelius van der Kemp, a minister and Rotterdam's leading reformed clergyman, and Anna Maria van Teylingen, he attended the Latin schools of Rotterdam and
Army career
Soon after college van der Kemp joined the Dragoon Guards rank of Captain of Horse and a Lieutenant of the Dragoon Guards Ignoring his religious principles, he fathered an illegitimate child, Johanna ("Antje"), an affair to which he described as being “ the slave of vice and ungodliness”, and where brought up his child himself. In 1778 he fell in love with Christina ("Stijntje") Frank (d. 1791). He lived with her for a year before being reprimanded by the Prince of Orange on this irregular state of affairs. As a result, he both married Stijntje, on 29 May 1779, and quit the army after serving for sixteen years.[1][3]
Return to medicine
Returning to his medical studies, this time in
He served as a medical officer during the revolutionary campaigns in Flanders and then as hospital superintendent at Zwijndrecht, near Dordrecht. While there in 1797, he came to hear of the formation of the London Missionary Society.[4]
Missionary work
After making contact with the London Missionary Society he helped found the Dutch version Nederlandsche Zendinggenootschap. He was ordained in London in November 1798 and began recruiting men for the society. He sailed from London in December 1798 as one of the first three agents sent by the society to Cape,[5] arriving in March 1799.
Whilst there in 1799 he published the first work in book-form in South Africa, which was an 8-page translation, into Dutch, of the London Missionary Society's letter that he brought out to the inhabitants of the Cape. Printed by V.A. Schoonberg most likely on J.C. Ritters press.[6][7]
Once in South Africa, after working at Gaika's Kraal near
On 7 April 1806 he married Sara Janse, a freed slave 45 years his junior, and had four children with her. This situation and his attitudes caused great opposition from within the colony, and he was for a time ordered by the government to leave Bethelsdorp.[1]
Armed with a background in European and classical philology, he pioneered in the study of Xhosa and
He was recalled to Cape Town by the Governor in 1811 and died soon afterwards
An early van der Kemp biographer Author D. Martin, notes that van der Kemp was often criticized by contemporary historians for his favoring of the natives of South Africa.[8]
In print
Sarah Millin, one of the most popular English-language novelists in South Africa during her lifetime wrote The Burning Man about the life of van der Kemp. The life of Johannes van der Kemp during his mission in Bethelsdorp is included in the novel Praying Mantis by André Brink.
See also
- Robert Moffat (missionary) (1795-1883) — 19th century Missionary in South Africa who also translated native languages.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2004.
- ^ van der Kemp, 1812, p. 3
- ^ a b van der Kemp, 1812, p. 4
- ^ https://www.webcitation.org/5kmgBiUZE?url=http://us.geocities.com/saintsnseasons/VdKemp1E.html
- ^ a b Lipschutz, Mark (1986). Dictionary of African Historical Biography. University of California Press. Archived from the original on 2017-07-08. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
- ^ , "Early Cape Printing 1796-1802", South African Library Reprint Series, No. 1, South African Library, Cape Town, (1971)
- ISBN 0-620-04359-8
- ^ Martin, 1931, p. x
Sources
- Martin, Arthur Davis (1931). Doctor VanderKemp. Westminister: Livingstone Press.
- van der Kemp, Johannes (1812). Memoir of the Rev. J. T. Van der Kemp, M.D. late missionary in South Africa. London: Printed for the Society, by J. Dennett, and sold by Williams and Son.
Further reading
- Werner Raupp: Kemp, Johannes Theodorus van der (Vanderkemp), in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol. 3, Herzberg: Bautz 1992 (ISBN 3-88309-035-2), col. 1334–1340 (with detailed bibliography).