Herman Coster

Hermanus 'Herman' Jacobus Coster (30 June 1865 – 21 October 1899) was a Dutch lawyer and State Attorney of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

Biography

Herman Coster was born on 30 June 1865 in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. He went to school at the H.B.S. in Alkmaar, and the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Leiden. After, he studied law at the Leiden University, where he became president of the student corps. His uncle, a Hague-based doctor, T.H. Blom Coster, was the patron of his studies. As a student, Herman Coster sympathized with the Young Flemish Movement. He completed his PhD in 1890 writing his thesis on Public Voluntary Auctions.

He moved to the South African Republic after his family experienced bankruptcy. There he became a lawyer, and between 1895 and 1897, at the request of President Paul Kruger, he served as state attorney. After Kruger insulted the 'Hollanders', Coster resigned his position and returned to working as a lawyer.

During the South African War (1899–1902), Coster joined the Hollanderkorps: a voluntary unit of Boer foreign volunteers consisting of 130 men and which had been established a mere month earlier. The Battle of Elandslaagte was both the first and last battle that the Corps participated in. Coster, then a lieutenant, was killed at the Battle of Elandslaagte, along with fellow officer Cars Geerts de Jonge and seven soldiers: P.J. van den Broek, H. van Cittert, J.A. Lepeltak Kieft, Jan Moora, J.Th. Rummeling, M. Schaink, and F.W. Wagner. Another 35 of others were taken prisoner, among them Willem Frederik Mondriaan (brother of the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian).

After his death, Coster was lauded as a hero in the Netherlands and several hagiographies were published. There are also streets named after Coster in the Transvaal neighbourhoods of Leeuwarden and Rotterdam, as well as in Pretoria in South Africa.

Coster and the Hollanderkorps were featured as part of the exhibition 'Good Hope: South Africa and the Netherlands from 1600' held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2017.

Gallery