John Ricus Couperus

John Ricus Couperus (1816 – 1902) was a Dutch lawyer, member of the Council of Justice in Padang, member of the High Military Court of the Dutch East Indies and the landheer of Tjikopo. He was also the father of the Dutch writer Louis Couperus and knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Biography Youth Born into the Indo landed gentry of the Indies on both sides of his family, Couperus was a son of Petrus Theodorus Couperus (1787–1823), the landheer or lord of the private domain (particuliere land) of Tjikopo in Java, and Catharina Rica Cranssen (1795–1845). He was a paternal grandson of Abraham Couperus (1752-1813), Governor of Malacca, and Willem Jacob Cranssen (1762-1821), Governor of Ambon. After the early death of his father his mother remarried general Carel Jan Riesz (1791–1865), who was komtur in the Military William Order and was active during the Battle of Waterloo and during military campaigns in the Dutch East Indies. When Couperus was three years old he and his brothers Henry (5 years old) and Piet (4 years old) were sent to the Netherlands, accompanied by friends of their parents (October 20, 1819). In the Netherlands Couperus was placed under guardianship of a merchant in Amsterdam, called I.W. Bagman, who placed Couperus at the home of C.G. Merkus, a preacher of the Walloon church in Dordrecht. Later this family moved to Amsterdam. In 1826 Couperus was sent to a boarding school in Noordwijk, later in Maarssen. In May 1829 his stepfather, who with his wife had returned to the Netherlands, was appointed colonel in the Dutch East Indian Army and moved with his wife back to Batavia. Couperus was sent to the vicar Koorders and became a student at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam in 1832. Couperus was also active as a composer in his youth as well as later in his life; during his time at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam he visited the French opera, played the piano, sang and took lessons in harmony and composition. He also founded a music group, "Musicae Artis Sacrum". In 1837 two of his compositions, Passy, Paroles de Béranger and Bitte zum Amor were published at C.J. Reinhold jr. (Amsterdam); He also made compositions for family use only and wrote poetry, including but not limited to: Illusions d'un Étudiant and Sea Thoughts (written while on his way to the Dutch East Indies in 1837). Two musical compositions are preserved, Rêverie d’un Grandpère and the Influenza Walse.