Conrad Theodor van Deventer

Conrad Theodor van Deventer
Conrad Theodor van Deventer in his study (1915)
Born	(1857-09-29)29 September 1857 Dordrecht, Netherlands
Died	27 September 1915(1915-09-27) (aged 57) The Hague, Netherlands
Occupation	Politician, lawyer and writer
Years active	1877–1915

Conrad Theodor "Coen" van Deventer (29 September 1857 in Dordrecht – 27 September 1915 in The Hague) was a Dutch lawyer, an author about the Dutch East Indies and a member of parliament of the Netherlands. He became known as the spokesman of the Dutch Ethical Policy Movement. He lived at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague (1903–1915), former residence of John Ricus Couperus, his son writer Louis Couperus and the rest of his family (1884–1902).

Van Deventer was a son of Christiaan Julius van Deventer and Anne Marie Busken Huet. His uncle was the writer Conrad Busken Huet. He married Elisabeth Maria Louise Maas; they had no children. Van Deventer attended the H.B.S. in Deventer and studied law at Leiden University. He achieved his doctorate in September 1879 on the thesis: "Zijn naar de grondwet onze koloniën delen van het rijk" ("are, according to the constitution, our colonies part of the Dutch empire"). On 20 August 1880 he was made available to the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies by the Ministry of Colonies to be appointed as civil service official. With his wife Van Deventer travelled in September 1880 to Batavia by steamboat Prins Hendrik; he was appointed court clerk at the Raad van Justitie (Council of Justice) at Amboina in December 1880. As early as 1881 Van Deventer was already seen by the public as an authority in the case of the issue of the economic position of the Dutch East Indies in relation to motherland the Netherlands. In lectures held during meetings of the "Indisch Genootschap" ("Indies Institute") his opinion on this matter was presented as very important.