A Dutch Man in England

My maternal grandmother was named Wanda van der Sluys. She was born in 1911 and raised in Utah. Her father William George van der Sluys was born in England in 1865. I was able to trace the family history in England back another three generations to one family of origin who appeared to have emigrated from Holland. I didn’t know how or where or when however. I will list the male line for simplicity:

William George (born 1865) to James Richards van der Sluys
James Richards (born 1837) to George
George (born 1790) to Lambertus
There may be another Lambertus born to a Lambertus in here, but no proof yet
Lambertus (born 1727) to Jan who was a wine merchant and Amsterdam Theater and Bar manager
Jan (born 1690) to Lambertus (born 1677) who was a goldsmith, Amsterdam Theater manager
and so on

I am not sure if Lambertus was the son of the Lambertus (b. 1727) I am about to discuss or the man himself. If this is the Lambertus born in Amsterdam he would have had a second family very late in life. But given that he died about 1800 and was called a dancing master it could be the same Lambertus.

Several van der Sluys descendants were looking for the answer to the same question: How did a Dutch man come to be in England? The answer came from an Australian angel. Last year I was contacted by a man in Australia named Leslie van der Sluys. He is a lithographer and had been corresponding with a colleague in Holland. The colleague noted the Dutch surname and asked Leslie if he would like him to do a bit of research in the Amsterdam archives for the van der Sluys name. Here is the story that was uncovered:

The van der Sluys family were prominent members of the Amsterdam theater scene in the 1600‘s and 1700's.There are numerous mentions of the family in books on the theater and their connections to other theater people. For generations they married other theater people and their kids went on the stage as early as possible. They sent their children to Paris to be trained with the best dancers and singers. Lambertus Vandersluys and his wife Alida Crull/Krul had three children Jan, Paulina, and Willemijna. Paulina went on to marry Jacob Backer and they owned property in Utrecht. Jan was my ancestor. He had four children with his first wife, Hendrina Duym. The Duym family were also noted actors and Hendrina’s parents, Isaac Duym and Lysbet Hendrie, took her three living children from their abusive father upon Hendrina’s death at the young age of 23. Her husband Jan went on to marry Maria Voster. The two fought bitterly. However, Maria bore Jan seven children. During all this upheaval Jan was managing the careers of two of his children from his first marriage, Lambertus and Alida. The children studied in Paris and when grown joined Jan at the theater in Amsterdam. To be the theater manager was coveted position and had been held by both Jan and his father Lambertus. In other words they had a life that would have been the envy of many and not to be taken for granted.

Jan and his second wife were fighting so much that he arranged another husband for her, to which she agreed. Maria Voster’s lawyer opposed the new marriage. The lawyer was causing such a problem that Jan sent a Swedish sea captain to coerce the lawyer into allowing the marriage. The lawyer and the sea captain got drunk and they started fighting. The sea captain killed the lawyer. He then dismembered the body and spread it around the city to conceal his crime. Eventually the whole sordid affair came to court and Jan was suspected of murder for hire. The captain confessed, taking full responsibility and exonerating Jan. The sentence imposed on the 82 year-old captain was to be drawn and quartered in a public square. Although Jan was not charged he did spend time in jail awaiting trial and at trial he was banned from the city of Amsterdam for life. He took his two protege children to London and they began appearing on the stage at Covent Garden in 1748, the same year Jan was banished.

After years of wondering how Lambertus van der Sluys came to be in England I finally had an answer. He joined his father in exile and remained in England thereafter. There is a great book about theater people in England which gives the rest of the story. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors and Actresses ... By Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans. The book can be found on google books in it's entirety. Alida van der Sluys married Joseph Granier of a famous French theater family. They are listed in playbills and pay rosters in England, Ireland, and Scotland for the next few decades. Lambertus and Mrs. van der Sluys, probably his wife, are also on the bill in Dublin, Glasgow, London, and Hull, England. As far as I know Lambertus (or his son) ended up in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, England. That Lambertus was listed as a Dancing Master in a parish register, so the theater arts were passed down if it was his son and not the man himself.

Years later there was a story in the local Amsterdam newspaper about Jan living in Rotterdam in a house along the river with his own personal barge for traveling the country.