An accidental blog

"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Henriëtte Sophia Suzanna (Jetta) Kuyper (1870-1933)


Henriëtte Sophia Suzanna (Jetta) Kuyper (1 October 1870- 12 October 1933), was the eldest daughter of Abraham Kuyper. She  was born when Kuyper was minister of the Reformed church in Amsterdam.

She was the author of several travel books. She was partly raised in Nice, France and spoke fluent French. As well as attending school in France she attended a Swiss finishing school. She was raised with a great love for the Dutch language.

After the death of her mother in 1899 she took on the running of the Kuyper household. During this time she translated several works into Dutch including a biography of the poet and hymnwriter Frances Ridley Havergal (1900) and A Lily of France by Caroline Atwater Mason (1902).

She visited Russia and in 1905 America, this visit opened her eyes to the role of women in society. There she gave lectures and spoke at meetings. For her time she was an emancipated woman and a proto-feminist.

In 1908 she visited Italy and wrote ‘Letters from Italy’ which became a book.
In 1912 she travelled to Flanders.

She also had the opportunity to visit and write about England (Vacantie in Engeland [Holidays in England] 1911) and Hungary (Hongarije in oorlogstijd [Hungary in Wartime] 1918)
She was appointed a member of the Society of Dutch Literature in 1913.

During  World War I she nursed and worked in the emergency hospital in the Hague, and for the Dutch ambulance in Hungary. Here she founded orphanages. 

Before the war she had hoped to start a Christian women’s magazine.

After the war she became involved with the Reformed Youth movement and beame their president.
She became an advisor to the government on women’s issues and spoke on subject this at the First International Labour Conference in Washington.

She wrote many articles including those for the Antirevolutionarioe Staatkunde and De Standaard. In De Standaard she wrote a regular column. 

She died in 1933 from pneumonia and is buried in the Hague.


She also wrote:

Calvinism: and the Women's Question. London: Sovereign Grace Union, 1930.
Papers read to the S.G.U. Touring Party, at the Hague, Holland, 1929.


In Dutch
De Pilgrimfathers in Nederland, 1608-1620 Kampen, J.H. Kok, 1920.


On Abraham Kuyper (with With J. H. Kuyper):

De Levensavond van Dr. A. Kuyper Kampen : J.H. Kok, 1921
Herinneringen van de oude garde aan den persoon en den levensarbeid van Dr. A. Kuyper. Amsterdam, W. ten Have, 1922.

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