Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek

Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (born Dirk de Graeff; named also Van Polsbroek or Polsbroek) (Amsterdam, 28 August 1833 – 27 June 1916, The Hague) was a Dutch aristocrat, merchant and diplomat. Between 1863 and 1868 he was Dutch Consul General and then until 1870 Dutch Minister-Resident and de facto envoy to Japan. Since no ambassadors were planned at that time, his legation fulfilled the same task. De Graeff van Polsbroek was an important representative of the Dutch government who laid the foundation for modern diplomatic representation in Japan and the first diplomat with permanent residence in Japan (comparable to a modern ambassador).

At the time of his activity in Japan, he assisted Emperor Meiji and his government as a councillor in negotiations with Western states. He was a representative, envoy and plenipotentiary minister of various European states and, due to his relationship with Meiji, the Japanese government and his knowledge of the state, played a central role in negotiations and the conclusion of treaties between Japan, which was opening up to the West, and the various Western states, Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was also a chronicler and important collector of photographs of Japanese social change at the time of the Meiji Restoration.

Biography Family

Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was born at Amsterdam on 28 August 1833 as a son of Gerrit de Graeff (IV) Squire of Zuid-Polsbroek, Purmerland and Ilpendam and Carolina Ursulina Stephania Engels. The family De Graeff van Polsbroek belonged to the patrician class of Amsterdam It has also been suggested that he was married to a Japanese princess during his time in Japan. In 1872 he married Bonne Elisabeth Roijer (also Royer) (1847-1927), daughter of the naval captain Georg Roijer (also Royer) (1817-1871) and Anna Petronella Barones Mulert to de Leemcule (1815-1909) A major patron of the arts, Andries de Graeff's full length portrait was created by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1639.

Career in Japan Consul and Consul General

Grand Ball at Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek home in Yokohama. Drawn in 1863 by Charles Wirgman and photographed by Felice Beato When De Graeff went to the Dutch Indies in 1853 he added 'van Polsbroek' to his name, probably to discern himself from his brother colonel Gijsbert Carel Rutger Reinier de Graeff in the Colonial Army there. After having worked for the Netherlands Indian government in Batavia, in 1856 as secretary, he was appointed on Dejima in June 1857 as assistant 2nd class to the Factory of Dutch Trade led by Janus Henricus Donker Curtius. He was partner in Textor & Co., a trading company established at Dejima in 1858 with his colleague Carl Julius Textor. He was one of the founders of the Yokohama Races (horse racing in Yokohama) In 1859 he became acting Vice-Consul at Kanagawa. Before July 1, 1859, the official opening of the Japanese harbours to trade with foreign countries, the first US Consul Townsend Harris met De Graeff van Polsbroek and the British Consul General Rutherford Alcock for an exchange at the port of Yokohama. The relationship between De Graeff van Polsbroek and Harris and Alcock was an intimate one, On January 15, 1861, his friend Hendrick Heusken, a Dutch citizen employed by Harris in Edo as a secretary and interpreter, succumbed to his wounds he received the day before in an attack by anti-Western ronin (samurai). De Graeff van Polsbroek immediately arrived from Kanagawa to arrange his estate. On September 18, 1862, Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was inducted as a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. After Humbert left Japan, De Graeff van Polsbroek represented Switzerland as interim Consul General. In 1866 he had also taken over Belgian interests in Japan.

On June 25, 1866, Great Britain, the USA, France and the Netherlands signed a convention on the import and export of goods with Japan. De Graeff van Polsbroek signed the contract for the Netherlands. In early 1867 the Kingdom of Denmark established diplomatic relations with Japan and handed over its representation to De Graeff van Polsbroek. In the case of the Kingdom of Denmark, De Graeff van Polsbroek was its first diplomatic representative as early as 1867, because Danish interests were represented by Dutch diplomacy until 1912. He was able to negotiate important trade agreements on behalf of Denmark. At the same time he also negotiated treaties for the North German Confederation and the German Hanseatic cities. They thanked De Graeff van Polsbroek with a golden tobacco box decorated with their coat of arms.

Cooperation with Emperor Meiji

In 1868 De Graeff van Polsbroek became (titular) Resident Minister of The Netherlands in Japan. He ended his career as a diplomat in 1870 by refusing an appointment in Peking. On March 23, 1868, De Graeff van Polsbroek and the French Minister-Resident Léon Roches were the first European envoys ever to receive a personal audience with the new Emperor Meiji in Edo (Tokyo). This audience laid the foundation for (modern) Dutch diplomacy in Japan. As a consequence of this discussion, he represented not only the Netherlands but also the states of Denmark, Sweden-Norway and Prussia as Minister Plenipotentiary and envoy. Due to his good relationship with Meiji and the Japanese government, he was able to commission and in the name of Charles XV of Sweden-Norway on November 11, 1868 concluded a trade agreement, the so-called "Verdrag van Yokohama" ("Vänskaps-, handels- och sjöfartstraktat") between Sweden-Norway, Denmark and Japan. This treaty opened Hakodate, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe and Osaka to trade for Swedish and Norwegian traders (Article 3). He also gave Sweden-Norway the opportunity to send consuls to the newly opened ports, where they were given the right, through consular jurisdiction, to exercise jurisdiction over the Swedes and Norwegians present there. In the following year De Graeff van Polsbroek was the first western diplomat, who presented his credentials to Meiji in his new capital Tokyo.

Journals and photograph albums Between 1850 and 1870, at a time when Japan was modernizing and moving significantly closer to the West through Emperor Meiji, De Graeff van Polsbroek wrote numerous diaries, published under the name Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek 1857-1870; belevenissen van een Nederlands diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan, with some illustrations by the author. His work is a valuable document for researching the turning point in Japan. Although not a photographer himself, he was an important collector of early Japanese photographs, leaving three albums containing the work of a variety of Japanese and foreign photographers including Felice Beato.

Afterwards On leave in The Netherlands in 1870, when he was ordered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Peking, De Graeff van Polsbroek resigned from his position and became a Commissioner of the Netherlands Trading Society (Nederlandsche Handel-maatschappij) living at The Hague. He was one of the eight members (together with King Willem III, three members of the Dutch Royal house including crown prince William, Foreign minister Louis Baron Gericke van Herwijnen, Consul Willem van der Tak and medic Johannes L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort ) of the government commission which received the Iwakura Mission to The Netherlands in 1873. In 1885 he and his descendants received the title of Jonkheer De Graeff and on that occasion he had to drop his self-styled addition to his name 'Van Polsbroek'.

Dirk de Graeff died on 27 June 1916 at The Hague.

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