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School of Oriental and African Studies

Kemp, John Theodosius Van Der


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0102 CWM/LMS Africa Personal Box 9

Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies

Title: Kemp, John Theodosius Van Der

Date(s): 1573, 1763-1932

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 1 box

Name of creator(s): Kemp | John Theodosius | Van Der | 1747-1811 | Dutch missionary

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in Rotterdam (Netherlands), 1747; served as an army officer; studied medicine at Leyden and Edinburgh; received his degree, MD, University of Edinburgh, 1782; practised as a physician in Zealand, 1782-1795; his conversion followed the drowning of his wife and only child in a boating accident, 1791; came into contact with the Moravian Brethren at Zeist and heard of the newly-founded London Missionary Society (LMS); appointed LMS missionary to South Africa and ordained in London, 1797; helped to found the Netherlands Missionary Society; embarked for South Africa, 1798; arrived in Cape Town, 1799; ministered among the Xhosa for two years; to Graaff Reinet, 1801; ministered to the Khoikhoi (Hottentots); moved with the first Khoikhoi congregation to Botha's Farm, near Algoa Bay, 1802; founded a mission station at Bethelsdorp, 1803; his marriage to a young Malagasy convert who he had redeemed from slavery, Sara Janse, was considered shocking, 1807; composed a hymn celebrating the abolition of the slave trade, 1807; also wrote a commentary on Romans xiii-xvi and a midwifery textbook for use at Bethelsdorp; an opponent of slavery and advocate of the rights of the indigenous population, Van Der Kemp was unpopular with the majority of Europeans in the Cape Colony; planned to found a mission in Madagascar but died at Cape Town while carrying out the arrangements, 1811; a pioneer of LMS work in South Africa, he was to have become superintendent of its missions there. Publications: Principles of the Word of God for the Hottentot Mission (1804); Memoirs of the Rev J T Vanderkemp MD (1813).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1573, 1763-1932, of and relating to John Theodosius Van Der Kemp, comprising pages from his diary, 1763-1791; list of patients in a Dutch military hospital, 1793-1794; miscellaneous papers, 1801-1804; correspondence, 1802-1811, the subjects including missionaries, supplies, travel, and colonial policy and administration; various undated manuscripts in his hand, including medical notes and notes for sermons; his Bible (1573), comprising the Old Testament in Hebrew and New Testament in Greek; papers relating to his family, 1816-1817, 1849, including financial affairs; miscellaneous papers on Van Der Kemp and Bethelsdorp, 1826 and undated; a manuscript on the conversion and call of Van Der Kemp to missionary work and his voyage to the Cape [early 19th century]; manuscript copy of his autobiography, apparently translated by F G Hooper, 1820; a manuscript précis and extracts from his autobiography [early 19th century]; correspondence and papers, 1921-1932 and undated, on Van Der Kemp, relating especially to A D Martin's biography Doctor Vanderkemp, and including press cuttings and a photograph of his grave.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English, Dutch, Latin, Greek, Hebrew

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist; detailed typescript list stored with the material.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

The papers were deposited with the London Missionary Society and form part of the special series of personal papers of individual LMS missionaries and officers. Some of Van Der Kemp's papers were destroyed by fire before 1855. At that date a selection of the surviving papers passed from his widow to the Rev William Ellis (1794-1872) of the LMS. Others were acquired later.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited on permanent loan with the records of the London Missionary Society by the Congregational Council for World Mission (later Council for World Mission) in 1973.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Published on microfiche by IDC Publishers.

Related material:

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the records of the London Missionary Society (Ref: CWM/LMS), including correspondence of J T Van Der Kemp before he went to South Africa (Ref: CWM/LMS Europe Incoming Correspondence); his journal, 1798-1799, from his voyage on board the convict ship, the Hillsborough (bound for Botany Bay), from Portsmouth to Cape Town via Madeira and the Canary Islands (Ref: CWM/LMS South Africa Journals Box 1 File 1); a print, an engraving, and a photograph of a painting of J T Van Der Kemp (Ref: CWM/LMS General Portraits Box 6).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed Gerald H Anderson (1998); LMS Register of Missionaries, ed James Sibree.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Feb 2002


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Autobiographies | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
Bibles | Religious texts | Religious doctrines | Theology
Clergy | Religious groups
Colonial countries | Political systems
Diaries | Nonfiction | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
Evangelistic missionaries | Missionaries | Religious groups
Evangelistic missionary work | Missionary work | Religious activities
Hospitals | Health services
Ordained missionaries | Missionaries | Religious groups
Patients | Health services
Photographs | Visual materials
Physicians | Medical personnel | Medical profession | Medical sciences
Press cuttings | Newspaper press | Press
Protestant nonconformists | Protestants | Christians | Religious groups
Protestant nonconformity | Protestantism | Christianity | Ancient religions | Religions
Religious belief | Theology
Religious experience | Religion
Religious movements | Religious institutions
Sermons | Religious texts | Religious doctrines | Theology
Surgery | Medical sciences
Travel abroad | Travel
Medical institutions
Personnel
Primary documents
Social sciences
Social welfare

Personal names
Hooper | F G | fl 1820
Kemp | John Theodosius | Van Der | 1747-1811 | Dutch missionary x Van Der Kemp | John Theodosius x Vanderkemp | John Theodosius
Kemp | Van Der | family | missionaries in southern Africa x Van Der Kemp | family x Vanderkemp | family
Martin | A D | fl 1927-1947 | author

Corporate names
Missionary Society x LMS | London Missionary Society x London Missionary Society

Places
Bethelsdorp | Province of the Eastern Cape | South Africa | Southern Africa
Cape of Good Hope | Province of the Western Cape | South Africa | Southern Africa
Netherlands | Western Europe | Europe