Cornelis Hiddingh, RNL (10 June 1809 – 4 September 1871) was a Dutch Cape Colony born lawyer and civil servant.
As a supporter of the Orange political faction in the Netherlands, Willem Hiddingh found himself out of place under the revolutionary Batavian government, and requested an appointment at the Cape of Good Hope.
[4][5][6][7] In 1855, King Willem III of the Netherlands appointed Hiddingh his special envoy to the newly formed Boer republics the Orange Free State and Transvaal.
The initiative for the design and production of the flag and coat of arms came from State President Josias Philip Hoffman and Government Secretary Jacobus Groenendaal.
After his successful mission to South Africa earned Hiddingh the gratitude of the King and government in the form of a knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
His opinion about that country and its government was probably already negatively influenced by Smellekamp, who had left the Transvaal under a cloud several years before, and with whom Hiddingh had lodged in Bloemfontein.
Pretorius and demonstrated a lack of understanding about the character of the South African Republic, its government, and people in the report about his trip.
[6] Between 1856 and 1861 the Consulate Generalship remained vacant, although the Dutch government and others regarded Hiddingh as their semi-official contact with the republic.
[9] Hiddingh's life came to a sudden and untimely end when he was killed in a train accident in his hometown, Arnhem, Netherlands in September 1871.