Dirk van Hogendorp (1761–1822)
Dirk van Hogendorp (13 October 1761: Heenvliet – 29 October 1822: Rio de Janeiro), comte de l'Empire, was a Dutch officer; colonial administrator; diplomat and Minister of War, for the Kingdom of Holland; and confidant of Napoleon. In 1812 he was governor of Vilnius, in 1813 he was appointed as the governor of Hamburg. He was an early critic of the Dutch colonial system as implemented under the VOC. His ideas about reforms in the Dutch East Indies were to a large extent realized by the Commissioners-General of the Dutch East Indies, through the behind the scenes influence of his friend Herman Warner Muntinghe, first as adviser of Stamford Raffles, and later as adviser of the Commissioners-General. Life Personal life Van Hogendorp was the eldest son of Willem van Hogendorp and Carolina Wilhelmina van Haren. He was a brother of Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp. He married Margaretha Elisabeth Bartlo in 1785 in Batavia. They had a son, Carel Sirardus Willem van Hogendorp. After his first wife's death he married Augusta Eleonora Carolina, princess von Hohenlohe Langenburg in 1803. The children from this marriage all died before 1813. Youth Around the time of Hogendorp's birth his maternal grandfather, the statesman Onno