Willem Jacob van de Graaf

At the age of 18, Van de Graaf left on the ship Blijdorp for Ceylon, where he became a merchant in Galle.

In 1766 he became "head of the Mahabadde" in Colombo, the civil servant in charge of the economically important cinnamon cultivation.

After the death of his first wife, he married Christina Elisabeth van Angelbeek (1756–1792), with whom he had 11 children, two sons and one daughter of which survived childhood.

[1] He was appointed Governor of Ceylon on 7 February 1785 until he was requested in 1793 to become first Counsellor and Director-General of the Dutch Settlement in India (in Suratte).

[2] He retired to the estate De Liesbosch south of the city Utrecht, where he died in 1804.