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Albert Hotz (1855-1930) [2] Albertus Paulus Hermanus Hotz was born in Rotterdam on the 22nd January 1855. He was the son of Jacques Cornelis Paulus Hotz and Gertrude Arnolda Johanna Pino Post. In September 1874, Jacques Hotz set up a firm with the aim of establishing trade links between the Netherlands and Iran. This new company was called Vennootschap Perzische Handelsvereeniging J.C.P. Hotz & Zoon ("The Persian Trading Association J.C.P. Hotz and Son"). His son, Albert Hotz, went to Iran in late November 1874 (he was nineteen years old!) in order to further expand the new firm and to establish trading contacts between the two countries. However, he was forced to return in May 1875 when his father died suddenly. Albert Hotz reorganised his father's affairs and established a new firm within the Perzische Handelsvereeniging. The new company was simply called Hotz & Co.
In 1877 Hotz subsequently returned to Iran and set up trading offices in the city of Isfahan, and in nearby Baghdad and Basrah in the Ottoman Empire, in modern Iraq (see map). He also tried to persuade Dutch financiers and others to invest in Iran. However, in 1878, following a series of financial disappointments, all of Hotz's backers withdrew and Hotz returned to the Netherlands. In 1880 Hotz returned to Iran for the third time. He stayed there for some years, and went back in 1883 in order to help organise the Persian display of the International exhibition to be held in Amsterdam during the same year (see next chapter). Back in Europe, Hotz moved his European headquarters from the Netherlands to London. Shortly afterwards he returned to Iran and during the next few years he continued to run trading agencies in Bushire, Shiraz, Isfahan, Burujird, Sultanabad, Yazd, as well as Baghdad and Basrah in Iraq (see map). [3] During this period Hotz's wide entrepreneurial interests became even more diverse. He was involved in a number of activities including coal mining, the setting up of the Imperial Bank of Persia, carpet industry, and the planned development of the Karun river. [4] In March 1884 the governor of Isfahan, being the eldest son of the Shah of Iran, granted Hotz concessions to explore for oil in Khuzistan Province. [5] Unfortunately for Hotz the rig failed to find any oil. In 1885 Hotz became the Dutch consul for Iran, based at Bushire on the Persian Gulf (see map). This trading city was of great importance to the Dutch, as much of the activity between the Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands passed through the Persian Gulf. [6] It was during this period that he had the opportunity to form a collection of textiles and other objects. Some of these items were lent to the Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam and were officially purchased by the museum in the 1890s. [7] From 1895 there was a general slump in international trade, and a number of European trading firms went under, including that of Hotz. The slump was to cause the Hotz family to suffer considerable financial difficulties and by 1903 Hotz and Son had ceased to trade. In 1906 Hotz became part of the Commissie van Advies voor 's Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën ('Commission for Advice for State Historical Publications') in The Hague. He was given the task of writing about the role of the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, the Dutch equivalent of the East India Company) in Persia. Then between 1909-1916 Hotz worked at the Dutch consulate in Beirut, becoming the consul in 1917. Hotz retired from this post on the 21st April 1921. When he came back to the Netherlands, Hotz tried to take up his research into the VOC again, however, ill health forced him to stop. In 1921 he retired to Lugano in Switzerland in order to be near his son, Hendrik, who was ill in a sanatorium in Davos-Platz. Sadly his son died in the same year. A.H.A. Hotz died on the 11th April 1930 at Cologny, near Geneva in Switzerland. He was buried in the cemetery Crooswijk, in his home city of Rotterdam. | |
