John Ricus Couperus (1816 – 1902) was a Dutch lawyer, member of the Council of Justice in Padang, member of the High Military Court of the Dutch East Indies and the landheer of Tjikopo. He was also the father of the Dutch writer Louis Couperus and knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Biography
Youth
Born into the Indo landed gentry of the Indies on both sides of his family, Couperus was a son of Petrus Theodorus Couperus (1787–1823), the landheer or lord of the private domain (particuliere land) of Tjikopo in Java, and Catharina Rica Cranssen (1795–1845). He was a paternal grandson of Abraham Couperus (1752-1813), Governor of Malacca, and Willem Jacob Cranssen (1762-1821), Governor of Ambon. After the early death of his father his mother remarried general Carel Jan Riesz (1791–1865), who was komtur in the Military William Order and was active during the Battle of Waterloo and during military campaigns in the Dutch East Indies. When Couperus was three years old he and his brothers Henry (5 years old) and Piet (4 years old) were sent to the Netherlands, accompanied by friends of their parents (October 20, 1819). In the Netherlands Couperus was placed under guardianship of a merchant in Amsterdam, called I.W. Bagman, who placed Couperus at the home of C.G. Merkus, a preacher of the Walloon church in Dordrecht. Later this family moved to Amsterdam. In 1826 Couperus was sent to a boarding school in Noordwijk, later in Maarssen. In May 1829 his stepfather, who with his wife had returned to the Netherlands, was appointed colonel in the Dutch East Indian Army and moved with his wife back to Batavia. Couperus was sent to the vicar Koorders and became a student at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam in 1832.
Couperus was also active as a composer in his youth as well as later in his life; during his time at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam he visited the French opera, played the piano, sang and took lessons in harmony and composition. He also founded a music group, "Musicae Artis Sacrum". In 1837 two of his compositions, Passy, Paroles de Béranger and Bitte zum Amor were published at C.J. Reinhold jr. (Amsterdam); He also made compositions for family use only and wrote poetry, including but not limited to: Illusions d'un Étudiant and Sea Thoughts (written while on his way to the Dutch East Indies in 1837). Two musical compositions are preserved, Rêverie d’un Grandpère and the Influenza Walse.
Career as a lawyer
Couperus studied law at the University of Leiden, where he achieved his Master of Laws. He received his PhD on the thesis De conditione servorum apud romanos (Concerning the condition of slaves in the Roman Empire); during this period of his life, acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Pieter Merkus (1787–1844) had great influence on Couperus. The Governor-General was, in fact, Couperus' uncle by marriage as the husband of his aunt, Wilhelmina Nicolasina Cranssen, the legitimated daughter of his maternal grandfather by a native, Ambonese mistress. Couperus left for the Dutch East Indies in 1837 and arrived in November 1837 by steamboat Castor from Batavia at Surabaya. On 1 January 1838 he was appointed tax official in this town. On 20 September 1839 he was made available to the Governmental Commissioner (Pieter Merkus, who then was appointed government commissioner at the Westcoast of Sumatra). In October 1839 Couperus joined the military campaign against Kota Gedang, which was commanded by general Andreas Victor Michiels. He was appointed official ("controleur") third class in April 1840 and was allocated to the Department of Rural Income and Cultures. By Royal Decree of 22 April 1842 Couperus was appointed senior civil officer and appointed secretary and revenue assistant at the court in the Batavia Department. In the position of legal assistant in October 1844 Couperus was placed at the Court of Justice in Padang and also appointed as an official for military affairs. During the time Couperus spent at Padang, he lived in a house at an intersection of three roads, between Padang and Pau. Here he was an eyewitness to a fight where part of an infantry platoon was attacked by a large group of armed natives and killed. Padang was called to a state of emergency and in his position as an official of military affairs Couperus ordered an investigation. It seemed that local people were revolting due to priests who were putting them up against the Dutch government. Additional military troops were ordered and arrived in time to beat the revolt.