Hendrik Figee

Crane by Figee, now at the Haven Museum, Rotterdam.

Hendrik Figee (Haarlem, May 28, 1838 – Haarlem, December 3, 1907) was a Dutch businessman and entrepreneur creditted with growing the Haarlem factory Figee into an international manufacturer of cranes.

Biography

View of old Figee factory (center) on the Spaarne river, now converted to office space. On the left is the harbor master's office of Haarlem, and on the right is the old Droste factory building.

He was the son of Hendrik Figee the elder who attended grade school and later became a surveyor. After passing his surveyor's exam, he went to work for his father in his steam engine factory on the Spaarne river. In 1866 he became full partner along with his brother Thomas and the company name changed to Gebroeders Figee (Figee brothers).^[1] He also helped start the crane manufacturing company Figee & De Kruyff in Amsterdam and the ironworks called the Haarlems IJzergieterij. In 1883 his brother Thomas bought the shipbuilding company Conrad on the other side of the Spaarne river. Werf Conrad had been named after the renowned Dutch engineer Frederik Willem Conrad (1800-1870). Figee wanted to make dredgers (baggermolens).^[2] The dredgers needed cranes on board, and these were supplied by Figee, which became a specialist in building cranes.^[3] He was a member of the board of the Maatschappij voor Nijverheid en Handel, Haarlem from 1898-1902 and was also a member of the board of the Colonial Museum, formerly located in villa Welgelegen.^[1]

References

1. Hendrik Figee biography in the NNBW
2. picture of Conrad dredger being let into the water in 1910 on North Holland Archives
3. Crane in the Haven Museum, Rotterdam