Jan Jacob Bysterus Heemskerk

Amsterdam merchant and financier, awarded the compensation for the enslaved on five estates in British Guiana, three as a mortgagee and the other two probably as owner. The Heemskerk firm was one of the major Dutch mortgagees of property in Demerara.

1. Dutch absentee and reportedly father of Jan Heemskerk (1811-1880) a newspaper editor and liberal politician.

2. Son of Jan Heemskerk of Rotterdam (1735-1799) and Geertrujd Bijsterus 1746-1828. A younger brother, Hermanus Bartholomeus Heemskerk (1777-1811) died in Demerara.

T721/885 British Guiana nos. 637, 696; 662, 710 and 713 (as mortgagee).

1. http://www.parlement.com 'Mr J. Heemskerk Bzn.' [accessed 05/08/2012].

2. Nederlands Patriciaat, Vol. 47 (1961), pp. 135-147.

We are grateful to Paul Koulen for his help with this entry. Mr Koulen has analysed the 173 Demerara mortgages in 1818 detailed in CO 111/28 and found that 23 of these were held by J.J.B. Heemskerk, the single most important concentration. He suggests that the holdings flow at least in part from the takeover of two collective investment vehicles or funds established much earlier, one in 1768 and one in 1771.