Abraham Patras

Abraham Patras (22 May 1671 - 3 May 1737) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 11 March 1735 until 3 May 1737. He was born in Grenoble of a refugee French Huguenot family. In 1685, his family fled to the Netherlands.

Early career

Patras first took a job in the offices of an Amsterdam merchant named "Nathaniël Gauthier" (a fellow Huguenot), but he left for the Indies aboard the "Hobree" on 4 January 1690, where he is described as a soldier in the employ of the Enkhuizen branch of the Dutch East India Company. In 1691, he sought a change of career and got a temporary post as an agent in Batavia. In 1695 he became assistant/secretary to the "Chinese estates-management administration" in Ambon Island. In 1698 he was put in charge of children and matrimonial matters. He married in 1699 to a daughter of an official of the "Judicial Council" in Ambon. His wife died on the 16 December 1700. His only daughter also died young.

Rising through the ranks

Patras was nominated to the "Council of Justice" in 1700, and in 1703, he went to work as under-secretary ("onderkoopman") for the Governor of the Moluccas Islands. In 1707, he became the Head ("opperhoofd") of the trading post at Jambi, where his headquarters were attacked. Although severely wounded in the back, he survived. He was merchant, then Chief Factor in Palembang in 1711. In 1717, he was promoted to "Chief Merchant" ("opperkoopman") and Office holder ("gezaghebber") of the west coast of Sumatra. It was 1720 that saw him promoted to "Inspector General of Accounts" for the Dutch East Indies ("visitateur-generaal van Nederlands-Indië"). In 1721, he was sent as an envoy to Jambi. In 1722, he was appointed deputee-overseer of goods coming in and out of the castle at Batavia. In 1724, he got the very lucrative post of "Head" of the Bengal trading post. In 1731, he was appointed as "extraordinary" (i.e. co-opted) member of the "Council of the Indies".

Governor-General

On the 10 March 1735 on the death of Governor-General Dirck van Cloon, "Patras" very surprisingly was nominated Governor-General. He had never been a full member of the "Council of the Indies", so this was a first, and was caused by him slipping through as a compromise candidate following a stalemate in the voting. He was not keen to take on the post in these circumstances, but agreed to do so until a better candidate could be found. On 11 March [1735 [ he was nominated interim Governor-General, a decision which was approved by the "Directors" of the East India Company.

During his short period of office, no significant decisions were made. Although he was a competent leader and had built up a great deal of practical knowledge of the territories, his age (at 64) probably ensured that he was not a very powerful Governor-General.

He died two years after his appointment during the night of 3 May [1737] . He was buried in Batavia on 6 May 1737. He was a pious and good-hearted man who had lived a very modest life. The governor-generalship was taken over by Adriaan Valckenier.

Bibliography

* Paulus, J., Graaff, S. d., Stibbe, D. G., Spat, C., Stroomberg, J., & Sandbergen, F. J. W. H. (1917). "Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië". 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff
* Putten, L.P. van, 2002 "Ambitie en onvermogen : gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1610-1796".

External links

*http://www.vocsite.nl/geschiedenis/personalia/patras.html
* [http://www.tanap.net/content/voc/organization/organization_batavia.htm] for the organisational structure of the Dutch East India Company