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Personal data
Name
Gijsbert Jan van Hardenbroek
Born 1720
Died 1788
Alias
Heer van Bergestein
Baron van Hardenbroek
Biography

Son of Jan Louis van Hardenbroek (d. 1747) and Jeanne Charlotte van Renesse (1695?-1723).

In 1755 he bought Bergestein from the Borre de Amerongen family, enabling him to join the Utrecht "corps of nobles", which he did in 1758. Stewart-General of Utrecht. Utrecht representative in the Amsterdam chamber of the East-India Company (1759-1764). Deputy to the States General (1767-1785).

According to Strier, van Hardenbroek proposed to Belle de Zuylen at some time after 1767 (probably in 1770), but at a time when she had already decided to marry Charles-Emmanuel de Charriere and leave Utrecht.1

  • 1A two-page biography of van Hardenbroek can be found in Isabelle de Charriere (Belle de Zuylen): Early Writings; New material from Dutch Archives by C.D. and K. van Strien (2005), p. 44-45. (available via AbeBooks)
Life with Boswell

At the Assembly at the Mademoisells Bottestein on March 27, 1764, Boswell conversed with Hardenbroek and Madame Geelvinck. Hardenbroek said to the latter "You are the loadstone" to which remark Boswell commented, "I am the steel".

Comments

Brussel (not verified) Fri, 04/03/2020 - 15:42

Strier = C.D. van Stiren= K. van Strien is one and the same person.

Gijsbert Jan van Harden proposed to Isabelle de Charrière in 1768.