J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort

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Johannes Lijdius Catharinus Pompe van Meerdervoort (5 May 1829, Bruges – 7 October 1908, Brussels) was a Dutch physician based in Nagasaki, Japan. In Nagasaki he taught medicine, chemistry and photography and established a medical school and hospital.

He was born into an aristocratic family originally from Dordrecht, and was the son of an officer in the Dutch army, Johan Antoine Pompe van Meerdervoort of Leiden, and Johanna Wilhelmina Hendrika de Moulin of Kampen ^[1]. Pompe studied medicine at the military hospital in Utrecht and became a naval surgeon in 1849. He travelled to Japan, staying in Dejima (the Dutch enclave in Nagasaki harbour) from 1857 to 1863. In 1867-1868 Pompe published a book titled Vijf jaren in Japan ("Five Years in Japan")^[2]. At the request of Japanese authorities he helped establish the first Western-style hospital in Japan, with 124 beds and a medical school ^[3]. Among Pompe's photography students were Ueno Hikoma, one of the first professional Japanese photographers, and Uchida Kuichi, who was the first to photograph the Emperor and Empress.

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[edit] References

• Anglo-American Name Authority File, s.v. "Pompe van Meerdervoort, J. L. C.", LC Control Number n 85206160. Accessed 11 October 2006.