For her courage as a woman

In her petition to King William I, Margaretha Maria Blommeijer wrote that she had actively participated, whilst on board her husband’s ship, in the expedition of the Dutch East Indies Army against Palembang in June 1821.

The Sultan of Palembang

In June 1819, Sultan Mohammed Badaruddin II, who had been deposed by the Dutch, had regained power in Palembang in southern Sumatra. An initial punitive expedition proved unsuccessful, after which a second one set out in early May 1821 under the command of Major-General De Kock. Following fierce fighting in which there were heavy casualties on both sides, the sultan surrendered on 27 June 1821.

The Military Order of William

By Royal Decree of 7 May 1822, No. 29, 11 military personnel were appointed or promoted to Knight^3rd Class and 144 military personnel to Knight^4th Class of the Military Order of William. At that time, it was not known that nine of them had since passed away. Among them was Joannes Boudewijns, captain of the corvette Zeepaard. He had shown great courage during the battles at Palembang and had distinguished himself remarkably. However, by that time, Boudewijns was no longer alive: six months earlier, on 24 October 1821, he had died of a gallbladder disease.

The widow Boudewijns

Service personnel below the rank of officer who had been appointed to the Military Order of William received a knight’s allowance. In 1822, this amounted to 176 florins a year. However, upon their death, this allowance ceased.

On 26 April 1823, Boudewijn’s widow, Margaretha Maria Blommeijer, wrote to King William I requesting permission to receive her late husband’s allowance. The reason for her request was a remarkable one: she had, in fact, been on board during the operation and had actively taken part in it. She asked the King to reward her and her husband for their displayed feminine courage in a manner befitting Your Majesty’s royal heart and honourable character.

The fact that her visit was not a one-off is evident from the fact that her son, Joannes Boudewijns Jr, was born at sea off Palembang in 1819.

The petition

The petition ended up on the desk of Lieutenant-General Jan Willem Janssens, Chancellor of the Military Order of William, who was impressed by the brave widow. He wrote: ‘If the Order possessed even the slightest fund from which I could propose to Your Majesty that a gratuity be granted to the petitioner, I would certainly not hesitate to proceed with such a proposal.’ On the other hand, no precedent should be set. He therefore advised the Minister of the Navy to have the widow’s account investigated to ascertain whether it was true.

The minister informed the king that his department had received no report regarding the widow’s courageous conduct. Moreover, she had since remarried. His final verdict was that there were no grounds for awarding her a gratuity from the Crown. Whether Margaretha Maria Blommeijer accepted this is not known. But it is highly doubtful whether she ever received a gratuity.

In the more than 200 years that the MWO has existed, only two women have been appointed to the order: Queen Wilhelmina in 1948 and Mrs Gemmeke in 1950. The example of Margaretha Maria Blommeijer shows that this was certainly not down to a lack of brave women …

For a more detailed version of this story, see: R.W. Rijpkema, ‘Voor “haar en haar betoonden moed”’. In: Decorare 43 (June 2020), 5–6.