MAJOR-GENERAL

MICHIEL JAN NEPOMUCENUS VAN DER MAESEN

by Geert van Uythoven

Born in Maastricht, Netherlands, 6 April 1758. Son of Leonard Jan van der Maesen, heer van Weyerhof, and Maria Ida de Loijens.

Army of the Dutch Republic

Entered Dutch service on 20 March 1775. Honourable discharged as a lieutenant-colonel in the Infanterie Regiment ‘Bedaulx’ No. 12 on 24 March 1795, not willing to serve in the Batavian army, being a follower of the Prince of Orange.

Period 1795 until 1814

Van der Maesen took part in the Rassemblement of Osnabrück, a gathering of Dutch officers and orders, in order to form an army to aid in the liberation of the former Dutch Republic of French rule. Van der Maesen was appointed brigade-major-general. Nothing came of it, and pressured by the King of Prussia the Rassemblement was disbanded. After this he spent some time in Paris, maintaining contact with the hereditary prince of Orange who later would become King William I of the Netherlands. After that he resided in Nurnberg, in 1799 moving to Brunswick in order to be closer to the Batavian border.

In 1799, Van der Maesen participated in the Orangist concentration at Lingen, with the purpose to invade the Batavian Republic while the Anglo-Russian invasion of Northern Holland took place. As colonel he was appointed chef d’etat major. Both invasions failed. Out of Dutch military and sailors, deserters, prisoners and exiled Orangists, the Dutch Brigade in British service was created. Van der Maesen was appointed lieutenant-colonel in this brigade. On 25 June 1801 he was promoted adjutant-general. After the peace of Amiens, the Dutch Brigade was disbanded again (1803).

Van der Maesen returned to the mainland. Under unknown circumstances, on 27 May 1803 he was taken prisoner in Cologne [Köln] by the French. He would remain imprisoned until 26 January 1814, when he was liberated by the Allies.

Netherlands army

Immediately after his liberation, Van der Maesen offered his services to the Sovereign William of Orange. On 18 February 1814, with the rank of colonel, he was charged with the organisation of the Regiment Luikerwalen (2 battalions) at Liège [Luik] (taking over this task from Lt-Col de Constant Rebecque). On 3 may he was ordered to move with his regiment immediately to the fortress-city Maastricht after its surrender, arriving in the evening of the next day. His troops occupied the Wijck quarter and the St. Pieter fortress. On 15 July 1814 he was promoted major-general, and appointed as commander 1st Class of Maastricht. On 16 March 1816 he was appointed provincial commander of the Limburg province.

Van der Maesen died in Brussels 10 September 1823.

© Geert van Uythoven