Jan Bernd Bicker

Jan Bernd Bicker (27 August 1746, Amsterdam – 16 December 1812, Wassenaar) was a Dutch merchant, politician and a member of the very powerful Bicker family. Life After studying law and philosophy in Utrecht, he joined the bank Andries Pels & Soonen, founded by his grandfather Andries Pels (1655 - 1731). He served as an alderman in the city council and as an administrator of the Amsterdam branch of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and was director of the Society of Suriname. Bicker was opposed to the House of Orange and supported the Patriots, a liberal group that wanted to curtail the power of the Stadtholder. A political conservative, he disliked the democrats within the Patriotic movement. Because of his opposition to the Stadtholder, he was forced to leave the country when the latter, after the Prussian invasion of Holland, removed the Patriots from power. Bicker settled in Brussels and later in Sèvres. There he was in contact with other leading members of the Patriotic movement who had left the Dutch Republic in October 1787. Together they formed a Revolutionary Committee. In April 1794, during the Great Terror, he left Nantes and settled in Biel.