Jean Conrad de Kock
Jean Conrad de Kock | |
|---|---|
| Born | Johannes Conradus de Kock Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Heusden, Netherlands |
| Died | March 24, 1794 (aged 39) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Attorney, financier, advocate of republicanism |
| Known for | Founder of Comité Révolutionnaire Batave; supporter of French Revolution; executed by guillotine |
Jean Conrad de Kock (born Johannes Conradus de Kock; 26 January 1755 – 24 March 1794) was a Dutch attorney, financier, and advocate of republicanism. Originating from Heusden, he met his death by guillotine in Paris on 24 March 1794.
The son of Govert Kock, who served as mayor of Heusden, he pursued legal studies and adopted republican ideals. Following the occupation of Amsterdam by Prussian forces in 1787, de Kock escaped to France accompanied by his wife Marie-Pétronille Merkus and two sons, while entrusting three daughters to the care of a sister. After his first wife's passing in 1789, he remarried Anna Maria Kirsberger, a wealthy widow; their offspring included the novelist Charles Paul de Kock, born in 1793.
De Kock became affiliated with the Sartorius-Shokard Bank and rose to the position of Commissioner for Low Country Affairs. A dedicated republican, he established the "Comité Révolutionnaire Batave," which mobilized volunteer troops under General Daendels to assist Charles François Dumouriez in efforts to free the Low Countries from Austrian domination; nonetheless, Dumouriez ultimately defected to support King Louis XVI.
During the French Revolution, de Kock supported the conspiracy to assassinate King Louis. In 1793, he formed alliances with revolutionary figures such as Jacques René Hébert and fellow Hébertists Anacharsis Cloots and Charles-Philippe Ronsin.
By March 1794, having departed from his banking career, de Kock was accused by the Committee of Public Safety of spying for Britain. Arrested on March 18, he faced charges of government conspiracy and collaboration with the traitor Dumouriez. Tried alongside Hébert and others on March 24, he was condemned to death and executed by guillotine that same night.
His eldest son, Hendrik Merkus de Kock (1779–1845), pursued a military career as a Dutch general in the Batavian Navy and served as Lieutenant Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, eventually receiving baronial nobility.