Information About Emile Charles Grivel

Memories

Memories are based on documents, family lore or personal experiences. They give more information about a person, but are not necessarilly complete or correct.

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Education

Emile Charles in May 1891, age 14

Emile Charles Grivel was born in 1876 as the son of a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies. He was possibly sent to live with family in Holland at a young age; the photo on the left, when he was 14, was taken in Leiden. He passed the admission exam for the University of Leiden in June 1895 and started studying law at the university. He got his bachelor degree in April 1897 and graduated on December 18, 1902.

He continued to study Dutch East Indies law, living at the Hooigracht 32 in Leiden. He successfully took the exam on June 29, 1904 and applied for a position with the Dutch East Indies government.

Dutch East Indies

Top to bottom: brothers Louis, Emile Charles, Antoine, Eugène and Theodoor Grivel

In August 1904 he was hired in a “judicial position,” receiving fl. 1,000 “to equip himself.” He was to leave by the end of the month, although he received permission to “stay over for one ship” in Padang before continuing to Batavia and report to the Department of Justice there.

After he arrived in the Dutch East Indies, Emile Charles started working for the Council of Justice in Padang for a salary of fl. 100 per month, and then his rise seems pretty meteoric.

In November 1904 his salary was doubled to fl. 200 when he had to take on the tasks of the Registrar and Substitute-Registrar for the Councils of Pandang and Loeboek Begaloeng, who were both sick. In December 1905 he was appointed as Substitute-Registrar in Padang (fl. 300), followed in February 1906 by an appointment as Registrar (fl. 400). In June 1906 he became the temporary vice-chairman of the councils of Poebolingo and Poerwokerto (fl. 500) and in July 1906 the chairman of the Council of Kendal for fl. 600 per month. In just two years his monthly salary increased sixfold.

In Madioen, 1916

Emile Charles’s career stabilized after the first two years. His next promotion was to chairman of the Councils of Madioen and Ponorogo, in January 1912, with a salary of fl. 700 per month.

In 1915 he took a trip back to Europe (on half-pay). After his return to the Dutch Indies in 1916 he was appointed as “chairman extraordinaire” of the Councils at Blora and Rembang, which was renewed in February 1917.

Marriage

Wedding of Emile Charles Grivel and Theodora Muller, April 26, 1917.

By the time Emile Charles Grivel married Theodora Hendrika Muller, on April 26, 1917 in Soerabaja, he is the chairman of the Council of Rembang. He receives two weeks time off “for important reasons” to attend his own wedding.

There is another time when he receives time off “for important reasons”: June 12 through July 10, 1918, to go to Blora, at which time his position is listed as “chairmain extraordinaire” of the Council at Soemenep. No reasons were given for this time off, but it is noteworthy because his first son Teddy was born December 1917 in Blora, so presumably his family lived there.

Emile Charles Grivel and Theodora Muller, with Teddy and Ab, ca. 1923.

In August 1918 he is assigned as member of the Justice Council in Padang, and in August 1919 to chairman of the Council of Djokjakarta. He stays in Djokjakarta for a couple of years; his second son Ab Grivel is born there in 1922.

12½ year anniversary Emile Charles Grivel and Theodora Muller, October 1929.

In 1923 he receives a year of European leave at half-pay, which is extended “to recover his health” until February of 1925. Later that year he is assigned to the post of chairman extraordinaire for the Council of Soerabaja, which is followed in 1926 as member of the Justice Council of Soerabaja.

Court of Justice in Batavia, ca. 1930? Emile Charles is the second from the right.

The last years in the Dutch East Indies, the family moved to Batavia as Emile Charles was a member of the Court of Justice there.

Return to Holland

In 1936 Emile Charles retired after 32 years of service and the whole family returned to Holland. They move into a house in the van Beuningenstraat in The Hague.

25th Anniversary of Emile Charles and Do, Apeldoorn, 1942

During the Second World War Emile Charles and his wife moved out of The Hague to Apeldoorn, where they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1942. They spend the whole war period in Apeldoor, escaping the worst of the Hunger Winter that raged so terribly in the western part of the country.

Emile Charles with son Teddy and two grandchildren, 1950s.

After the war, Emile Charles and his wife returned to The Hague, where they bought out from his brothers the house of his parents (his father had died in 1939 and his mother in 1942) at the Valkenboslaan 56. The house was in a sorry state, even parts of the floors had been vandalized for firewood during the war. They made extensive repairs to the house and moved in. Their son Ab, when he returned from his military service in England, moved into the third floor of the large house.

Emile Charles at Christmas, 1960.

In the 1950s Emile Charles spent a lot of his time with his stamp collection. He was a man who, even when he got older, always walked with a straight back. His sense of justice was very strong.