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Bernard Hendrik Huibert Ravenswaay (Batavia, January 14, 1841 - The Hague, June 5, 1924) was a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies who became best known as Madioen's resident in Java. He was also active in the Indian Bond and active in the sugar trade.

Youth and training
Bernard was born on January 14, 1841 in Batavia or Weltevreden as the son of Hendrik Ravenswaay, military pharmacist with the Royal Netherlands Indies Army, and Hendrika Doorkaas, a native woman from Kudus. He followed his education in the Netherlands, which was common among Indo-European. He was 13 years old when he went from the Indies to the Netherlands. It is not known who accompanied him on this journey. He was registered on September 2, 1854 at the Maritime Academy at 22 IJgracht in Amsterdam. He had subjects such as Dutch, French, English and shipwork. On August 3, 1855, he received first prize in first class school education. On June 14, 1856 he was accepted as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church by Dr. Sluijter. On August 1, 1856, he receives first prize in second class school education.

During his school days he also sailed a few sea voyages. On October 4, 1856 he went to Java with the ship de Castor under the command of captain Hazenwinkel. He arrived back in the Netherlands on November 22, 1857.

On July 31, 1857 he received the first prize in the third class of school education. He was then in the position of ship's viewer and hide buyer.

On April 18, 1858 he went with the ship Vesta to Batavia under the command of Captain Gerrebrands. He returned to the Netherlands on March 6, 1859.

He was honorably discharged from service on March 9, 1859. He was 18 years old at the time. From April 1859 he lived in the seaman's house at the height of the Kadijk 425.

Career in the Indies
It is not known exactly when he returned to the Indies. What is known, appears from an interview years later. Around 1866 he was said to have worked as a clerk in Riouw on the island of Bintan. His father worked in Padang, where Bernard is said to have seen the light of day and decided to become a civil servant. He took the boat to Batavia and took his exam there. According to the same interview mentioned above, he was highly underestimated by the examiners, due to his ethnic background and the fact that he wanted to take the senior civil servant exam as a clerk. He passed exam A on January 5, 1866 and was appointed commies of the third class on January 2, 1867. In December of that year he was appointed 'civil servant available for the national income and culture in Java'.

On March 22, 1869, he was appointed secretary of the local school commission in Ambarawa, Semarang residence. In September of that year he was also put in charge of the statistical recording of Java. He left on January 19, 1870, so he resigned from the school committee.

In March 1870 he was promoted to inspector of the second class and appointed chief of the cadastral statistics office in the Japara residence. In June 1870 he stayed at Hotel Du Pavillon in Semarang. There he is called Ravenswaay of Kudus, which is likely to have been the place where he was a controller.

Marriage and children

He married Catharina Adelaine van Bronckhorst on 22 March 1871 in Semarang, scion of the Indian branch of the van Bronckhorst family. He was 30, she was 16. As far as we know he had 8 children with her:

Theodora Hendrika Ravenswaay on January 2, 1872 in Pati Adelaine Huibertine Ravenswaay on April 26, 1873 in Semarang Hendrik Ravenswaay on July 14, 1874 in Semarang Adelaine Ravenswaay on April 28, 1876 in Semarang Gerardine Ravenswaay on January 22, 1878 in Semarang Willem Theodorus Ravenswaay December 1, 1879 Leiden Gerrit Ravenswaay on February 7, 1885 in Tjilatjap Marie Antoinette Ravenswaay on November 16, 1887 in Bodjonegoro Career as a senior civil servant

On April 2, 1873 he became a member of the local school committee in Pati in the residence Japara. However, on April 19, he was appointed head of the cadastral statistics office in the Semarang residence. In the same year he was commissioned to translate two manuscripts about the Crimean War from Malay to Dutch. He said the pieces were full of nonsense and it would be years before he had to return the manuscripts, but he had lost them. We know that in 1876 his travel expenses were NLG 213.72.

On May 4, 1875, he was promoted to inspector of the first class on condition that he would remain chief of the cadastral office. In February 1876 he was temporarily charged with the administration of Kendal until the appointment of the new assistant resident. In June 1878 he went on a two-year leave to the Netherlands due to illness'. He left for the Netherlands in June 1878 with the ship Noach I. He went to Leiden, where he studied literature and philosophy. On May 24, 1881 they left Rotterdam with the ship St. Hampton back to the Indies.

On July 18, 1881, he was again appointed as inspector of the first class after a long period of inactivity. On August 19, 1881, he was appointed comptroller in the residence at Visiti. The following month, he was appointed assistant resident of Tassik-Malaya in the Preanger regencies. He must have temporarily taken over the administration of Soekapoera, because on August 7, 1883 he was paid f 500 for it.

On February 27, 1884, he was appointed assistant resident of Tjilatjap in the Banjoemas residence, also a vendu master there. In December of that year he received a pay rise of NLG 50, which meant he received NLG 650 per month. On April 4, 1885, Ravenswaay was ill, after which he asked for leave to go to Soekaboemi, after which the administration of Tjilatjap was temporarily taken over by the controller of Madjenang J.N. Laboor.

The Bodjonegorose case
From 5 July 1886 he was assistant resident of Bodjonegoro in the Rembang residence. Here he made a name for himself as the Regent Frresser. Bodjonegoro was known as a city where there were many robbers and where many murders were committed, there is still great poverty. In 1888 Bodjonegoro's patih was promoted to regent of Ngawi, after which a vacancy became vacant. Ravenswaay then appointed Mas Reksokoesoemo as patih. He still knew Reksokoesoemo from his time in Semarang. Here he got into trouble with the regent of Bodjonegoro, Raden Mas To Menggoeng Tirtonoto II. Reksokoesoemo worked hard to put things in order. Ravenswaay made a proposal to the resident Grooss van Rembang to dishonorably dismiss Tirtonoto from the country's service. Grooss, however, did not want to do this. Ravenswaay gave Grooss an ultimatum: Bernard would spend 14 days in Buitenzorg, then Grooss had to make the decision. Or Tirtonoto out, or Ravenswaay out. Reksokusoemo had spies from Ambarawa who had seen Tirtonoto active as a banker in gambling. He went with the help of the resident Grooss and the controller Arntzenius to the place where the assistant wedonos were going to gamble their money on the day they got their wages. There was indeed Tirtonoto as a banker and the Chinese as moneylenders. This was enough to fire the regent. Reksokoesoemo sent everything he had discovered to Ravenswaay in Buitenzorg.

Reksokoesoemo was appointed acting regent. Ravenswaay is said to have told him that he might be appointed regent later, only not of Bodjonegoro. Ravenswaay himself would have regretted ever appointing Reksokoesoemo to patih, because there have been several assassination attempts on him. But the patih was popular with the European population and he knew a lot about the course of events. The Patih of Djombang was appointed regent of Bodjonegoro, but he suffered a stroke and died after having been nominally regent for four months. Reksokoesoemo thus remained regent and received the title Raden. On January 25, 1889, Ravenswaay went to Europe on a two-year leave due to illness, after which he was replaced in Bodjonegoro by C.J. the Jaager.

Assistant resident of Toeban
He left around March 2, 1889 with the ship S.S. Amalia moved to the Netherlands with his wife and 8 children. In October 1890 he was appointed assistant resident of Toeban in the Rembang residence. This time, however, he served under the resident A.C. Uljee, with whom he got along well. Ravenswaay planned to have the regent of Toeban, Raden To Menggoeng Pandji Tjitrosomo, fired. This worked.

Briefly as resident of Bantam On March 2, 1892, he was appointed resident of Bantam. Bantam was the least reliable region of Java. A few years before he took office, there had been an uprising that resulted in deaths. Some insurgents were convicted, but the great bases were not punished or even rewarded. In addition, taxes were also reduced. There was talk of Muslim extremism that had to be suppressed, she told the newspapers at the time.

His appointment sparked a shudder in the native administration. It was called 'the Regent Frresser'. He had gained a reputation, he was not afraid to fire bad officials. He must have seen his appointment as support for his working method. The roads, water pipes and desas were dilapidated, but after Ravenswaay's appointment, the native officials did their best to get it right as soon as possible.

A scandal also took place. The former regent of Serang celebrated his daughter's wedding on July 9, but July 9 was the day on which many Europeans died during a revolt by the Bantam population. The Europeans of Bantam thus saw this as a celebration at a memorial The former regent refused to change the date.

During his administration, he put a stop to the emigration of Chinese to Bantam, because the Chinese then mainly "shared in the illegal trade, illegal coffee trade and the opium trade. They often acted as moneylenders". There was a corps of armed policemen, but Ravenswaay wanted to replace them with small detachments of infantry.

Resident of Madioen
As early as October 1892 there were rumors that he would be transferred to Madioen and that Mr. Velders would return. On October 29 of that year he traveled to Buitenzorg to inform Governor General Aart van der Wijck of the situation in Bantam.

In November 1892 he was indeed transferred to Madioen. Ravenswaay's proponents saw this as a choice against interference with Muslim extremism and the unsafe state of Bantam. On November 20, 1892, he left with his wife and three of his children with the S.S. de Carpentier to Semarang to later leave for Madioen.

in Madioen, he is fighting against illegal logging and illegal coffee trade. The Dutch plan was that all trade of coffee would go through the Dutch. However, coffee beans were allowed to be processed in pastries, which created a mesh so that the measures had not worked. In addition, there was also an active opium trade in the residence. In November 1893 it became known that the well-known Tangulangian club was in the opium lease and that from the following year the Chinese K.K.S. would be at the head of the Kongsie. Ravenswaay could do well about this.

The following year, the director of the domestic administration, Mr Uljee, decided to resign. Rumors circulated that Ravenswaay would hold that position, but this turned out not to be true.

In November 1895 he resigned as resident. This came as a shock to many and several theories were circulating as to the reason for this dismissal. For example, he would have been fired because the G.G. would rather have bank officials, or he would have got in the way of Mullemeister's reorganization. The real reason for his resignation was announced a little later. Some time ago he remarked that the native princes were making peculiar expenses and that the regent Broto di Nangrit was doing well with the opium tenant. The regent hated the Dutch, but he hated Ravenswaay even more because he would rather be commanded by a Dutchman than by half a Javanese. Ravenswaay had a Chinese look through the books and it turned out that four native monarchs received NLG 1000 a month from the opium leaseholder. Ravenswaay took this to the G.G. and the government who told him that he did not have enough evidence despite the fact that he had an admission of guilt from the regent to the opium leaseholder. Ravenswaay felt opposed by the government, he became slow in disposing of papers and eventually decided to retire. The people were amazed that he was opposed by the G.G., who had promoted him to resident just above others. It did not help that Regent Broto di Nangrit was the protégé of Mr Mullemeister, who was in charge of the reorganization. Ravenswaay didn't get along with both.

There was a grand farewell to him in Madioen. Already at 10 o'clock numerous carriages left the station to say one last goodbye to him. A detachment of Prajurits stood in front of the station to pay the tribute due to him. The platform was filled with almost all European residents, as well as the rain and further native heads. The chief panghulu and the Chinese officers were also present. Ravenswaay appeared with his family at half past ten, after which the national anthem was played. After greeting each other, the secretary, Mr. Cornets de Groot, spoke. He thanked Ravenswaay for everything he had done for Madioen, on behalf of the officials and private individuals. He further described Ravenswaay as a simple, humane and skilled civil servant. Catharina Adelaine also received a lot of praise for the conviviality she brought with her. She made no distinction between rich or poor, high-ranking or unimportant. Everyone enjoyed the same hospitality in the residence house. Ravenswaay then spoke. He was clearly moved and with few but soulful words thanked those present for the sympathy shown to his family and to him. Still, he was disappointed with his board, because he wasn't finished yet. The audience shouted "Long live resident Ravenswaay and family" three times, after which the music of the Wilhelmus was played. The family got into the compartment that was ready for their departure. Catharina Adelaine and her daughter (probably Marie Antoinette) received bouquets. When the train left, the band began to play

Retirement and Subsequent Jobs
In Madioen he was replaced by H.W. van Ravenswaay(which was replaced after a year by the way). In January 1896 the amount of his pension was announced; he received NLG 5250 per year. However, he was not done with the regent yet. On the day of Ravenswaay's presentation, Broto di Nangrit came to him with his crotch crooked behind his back, threw out his slippers and argued, demonstrating with both hands: it is his own fault. Why has he made me an enemy. Whether this really happened is not known, this was only in the newspaper in 1900 and may therefore have been exaggerated.

President of the Indian League After his retirement he became a member of the Indian Federation and was even appointed president in August 1900. He was also a member of the committee that supervised the Bond magazine. However, the federal store did not run very well, as there were many creditors. In November there was a big conference of the union at which Ravenswaay also spoke. He mainly spoke about the fact that there used to be a way to train in the Indies to become a civil servant or engineer, but that nowadays it is difficult for Indian boys to make a living. There was hatred for the motherland. Education is crucial in the development of a people and the schools in the Indies were not yet up to scratch.

There is a story about his time as President. A short article was included in the magazine for the second time. Ravenswaay spoke to the man who took the pieces away and called it 'silliness' that the same article had been published twice. He also gave him several briefs to include in tomorrow's edition. When the best man told him that he did not know whether that was still possible, Ravenswaay said to him "What are those talks about ... you are an editor". When the editor told him it wasn't talk at all, Ravenswaay said he couldn't do anything there and walked away. Not exactly flattering.

On December 14, 1900, he resigned the presidency to be re-elected president on March 21, 1901.

On November 9, 1902, he became a member of the supervisory board of the postal savings bank of the Dutch East Indies.

In 1905 he made a statement in the newspaper about the regent of Bodjonegoro, Reksokoesoemo, whom he knew from there. He described him as a very good friend for whom he had wanted to step into the breach several times. If someone wasn't corrupt, it was Reksokoesoemo. And Ravenswaay must have been right because Reksokoesoemo did not retire until 1914.

On July 19, 1905, he resigned from the commission for research into the diminished prosperity of natives in Java and Madura. This position may have been related to his position at the postal savings bank.

On February 14, he left with the S.S. from Riebeeck to Soerabaja.

In December 1906 he was appointed secretary of the general syndicate of sugar manufacturers in Java. So he has not exactly been idle. He himself wrote a piece about the history of the sugar industry in the East Indies.

Last years
He also lived in Belgium after his retirement and was either there or in the Indies. He lived in Brussels or in a city close to it, because his wife Catharina Adelaine van Bronckhorst died on July 13, 1913 in Uccle (or Uccle) near Brussels. On June 1, 1915 he moved from Brussels to The Hague. However, Belgium was already occupied by the Germans in 1914, so he probably experienced this, after which he fled to the Netherlands in 1915. He lived from 1 June to 14 August 1915 at 53 b Zoutmanstraat and 14 August 1915 to 9 October 1916 at 64 Hollanderstraat in The Hague. He then moved to Bergen in North Holland. On May 2, 1918, he moved back to Hollanderstraat 64 in The Hague. He moved a last time on January 13, 1919 to Obrechtstraat 484.

He eventually died on June 5, 1924 in The Hague. Both the newspapers in the Netherlands and in the Indies were full of the death of the 'former resident of Madioen'. He was buried in the Oud Eikenduin Cemetery the following Saturday. They left the Roman Catholic hospital there at 11 am. As far as is known, he is still buried there, only there is no stone left.