The Thomson-van Hopbergen family

The family grave of the Thomson-van Hopbergen family is located at the General Cemetery on the Prins Mauritsstraat in Bredevoort. Although the tombstone has been marked by erosion, the monument is a reminder of a family that played a prominent role in Dutch military history, national politics and literature.

The legacy of the Scottish Brigade

The family’s roots lie in the Scottish Brigade, a unit of British soldiers hired by the United Provinces in the 17th and 18th centuries. After their military service, many of them settled permanently in the Netherlands, including James Thomson. He was married to Mary Rinck; their children were baptized in Tournai and Breda at the beginning of the 18th century. The military tradition in the family continued into the 20th century.

Location in Bredevoort

The bond with Bredevoort arose in the early nineteenth century through a grandson of the ancestor, also named James . This retired captain, born in 1759 in Nijmegen, lived there on the Prinsenstraat with his wife Susanna Elisabeth de Waal. James died in 1828 and Susanna in 1837. The house with its contents was valued at ƒ 3,805,-.

Their son, Jan Jacob Thomson (1784–1858), born in Maastricht and living with his family in Fort Crèvecoeur near ‘s-Hertogenbosch, was the sole heir. Jan Jacob was a lieutenant colonel and had made a career during the Napoleonic Wars. For his efforts during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, in which he was wounded, he was made a knight in the Military Order of William.

In 1837 Jan Jacob entered into a second marriage with the 26 years younger Louiza Wilhelmina van Hopbergen (1810–1906) from Bredevoort. She was a daughter of the retired lieutenant Diederik Christoffel Hendricus van Hopbergen, also living on the Prinsenstraat. The family settled in Bredevoort.

Jan Jacob Thomson died on 11 October 1858 and was buried in the family grave in Bredevoort. Louise also found her final resting place there.

Louise’s brother Jacobus Wilhelmus van Hopbergen was also a lieutenant colonel and lived at Markt 18 in Aalten after his retirement.

Offspring and social functions

Several family members born in Bredevoort held social functions:

Diderik Christoffer Hendrikus Thomson (1840–1891) became a letter collector (holder of the local post office) in Bredevoort and will also have been buried in the family grave.

His son Jan Jacob Thomson (1882–1961) gained fame as a ‘poet-minister’. He was a pastor at the Dutch Protestant Union in Varsseveld and left behind an extensive oeuvre of poetry collections and literary-historical studies. After a turbulent and poetic life, he died in Baarn in 1961 and was buried there.

Jacque Willem Lodewijk Thomson (1846–1914) was mayor of the municipality of Appeltern from 1877 until his death.

Louis Thomson: Soldier and statesman

One of the most striking descendants of the family is Lodewijk Willem Johan Karel Thomson (1869–1914), a grandson of Lieutenant Colonel Jan Jacob. Lodewijk was a military cartographer, was sent to Batavia and Aceh, was a military attaché during the Boer War in South Africa and a member of the House of Representatives.

In 1914 he was sent to Albania, where he was killed in action in Durrës on 15 June 1914. Thomson was the first Dutch soldier to die during a peacekeeping mission. He was buried in Groningen.

Heritage in decline

Today, the funerary monument on the Prins Mauritsstraat is in a state of disrepair. Due to erosion and overdue maintenance, the inscriptions on the stone are becoming increasingly difficult to read. However, the grave is a monument to the connection of small Bredevoort with the great world history.