John van der Puije (18 March 1848 – 12 September 1925) was a Gold Coast merchant, newspaper publisher, traditional ruler and politician.
He also lobbied the British colonial government to have greater African representation in the civil service in the late nineteenth century.
[1] As his trade expanded, the paramount chief of Anlo Traditional Area made him one of his emissaries by to the British Governor, William Brandford Griffith who ruled the Gold Coast at various points between 1885 and 1894.
[1][4] He co-founded the Gold Coast Chronicle in 1880, together with his brother, Isaac van der Puije, an Accra merchant and member of the Legislative Council from 1893 to 1898, J. H. Cheetham, Timothy Laing, and the Pan-Africanist, J. E. Casely Hayford.
A coalition of local newspapers coordinated the opposition to the bill, culminating in a petition by a group of nationalists, including major financier, Jacob Wilson Sey to the then Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, Joseph Chamberlain, who served in this position from 1895 to 1903.
[1][4] The president of ARPS at the time, J. P. Brown was appointed by the colonial governor to succeed van der Puije in the Legislative Council.