The Society of Humanitarianism (Maatschappij van Weldadigheid) was a Dutch private organisation set up in 1818 by general Johannes van den Bosch to help poor families, mostly from the big cities, improve their lot in the aftermath of the Napoleonic French occupation by granting them farming land. He petitoned William I of the Netherlands for its formation and bought uncultivated land in Drenthe for the poor to exploit. The Landgoed 'Westerbeeksloot' in what is now Frederiksoord was the society's administrative centre.
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