Isaäc Dignus Fransen van de Putte

Isaäc Dignus Fransen van de Putte (22 March 1822, in Goes – 3 March 1902, in The Hague) was a Dutch politician. He was briefly Prime Minister in 1866 and Minister of Colonial Affairs from 1863 to 1866 and from 1872 to 1874.

His Excellency Isaäc Dignus Fransen van de Putte
11th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office 10 February 1866 – 1 June 1866
Monarch	William III
Preceded by	Johan Rudolph Thorbecke
Succeeded by	Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt
Personal details
Born	22 March 1822 Goes, Netherlands
Died	3 March 1902 (aged 79) The Hague, Netherlands
Spouse(s)	Lucia de Groot
Children	4

He trained as an officer at the Naval Institute in Medemblik but had to leave early and worked ten years in the merchant ships of Rotterdam shipowner Anthony van Hoboken where he rose to mate. In 1849 he became administrator at the sugar plantation Panji to Besuki on Java.

He eventually returned to the Netherlands and in 1862 became a member of parliament. After a year of Chamber membership, he was in 1863 Minister of Colonies. He was in his first term beginning with the abolition of the detested by liberals Culture System.

In 1866 in conflict with Thorbecke about colonial land policies. He formed the Cabinet Fransen van de Putte but was quickly overturned by Thorbecke.

In 1872 Van de Putte returned to the Liberal Cabinet De Vries Fransen van de Putte. During that period, the government broke Aceh War from 1873-4. He and then Dutch expedition commander Jan van Swieten criticized the often bloody and inhumane treatment of civilians, ranging from large-scale execution to deliberate destruction of livestock and rice fields in Sumatra.[1]

He tried as actual prime minister in vain to mediate in the conflict between the king and his eldest son William. This issue occurred even that Van der Putte in 1877 occurred again in the Cabinet Kappeyne the Coppello. He had required that form the ministry would decide against the king before a wedding of the crown prince Countess Mathilde van Limburg Stirum. Formateur did not go far.

Fransen van de Putte played later as senator a leading role.

On 28 March 1850, in Delft, he married Lucie Henriette Cornets de Groot. He was buried in the cemetery and Old Oak Dunes in The Hague. The Dutch ship Franssen van de Putten was named after him.

References

1. Kreike, Emmanuel (2012). "Genocide in the Kampongs? Dutch Nineteenth Century Colonial Warfare in Aceh, Sumatra". Journal of Genocide Research. 14 (3–4): 311. doi:10.1080/14623528.2012.719367. ISSN 1462-3528.

• (in Dutch) Parlement.com biography