Jan Albert Sichterman

Jan Albert Sichterman (September 19, 1692 – January 15, 1764) was a Dutch East India Company employee who went to Bengal and returned to his hometown of Groningen and built a palatial home for himself known as the Sichtermanhuis at Ossenmarkt.

In 1715, following a duel in which his opponent was killed, he fled and joined the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) and left in 1716 to live in Batavia for a year before becoming a junior merchant in Bengal.

In 1721, he married Sibylla Volkera daughter of the a high ranking company officer in Bengal, Jacob Sadelijn and his wife Anna Francoise Pelgrom.

In 1731 he became an in-charge of Cossimbazar and in 1733 he replaced Rogier Berenaart on his death taking care of the director's position for Bengal.

When the rhino grew big, he handed her to a Dutch trading ship captain, Douwe Mout van der Meer who took it back to Europe where she became a celebrity - Clara.

Sichterman with sons Jan Albert and Gerritt Jan, c. 1745, by Philip van Dijk