Pieter Rink

Cartoon of Pieter Rink with Vermeer's Milkmaid, 1907.

Pieter Rink (Tiel 13 August 1851 – The Hague 6 August 1941), was a Dutch politician.

Pieter Rink was a successful lawyer in Tiel. He was a member of the Liberal Union (Liberale Unie) and served in the city council of his city of birth (1883–1905) and was a member of the States-Provincial of Gelderland (1903–1905). In 1891 he was elected in the House of Representatives (Dutch lower house of parliament) and remained a member till 1922 (except in the period 1905-1908 when he was Minister of the Interior). From July 1918 till April 1921 he was the president of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Union and from April 1921 till July 1922 he served as the first president of the Freedom League parliamentary party. In 1923 he was elected to the Senate (upper house), remaining a member till 1933. In the years prior to the introduction of universal suffrage (introduced in 1917) he was an ardent advocate of suffrage extension and was considered a "Takkiaan". This fact was underlined in the party brochure he co-authored, Het kiesrechtvraagstuk ("The Suffrage Question") which was published in 1903 and called for the introduction of universal suffrage, female suffrage and a reform of the electoral system.

Pieter Rinck joined the de Meester cabinet in 1905 as Minister of the Interior. This cabinet was very weak and incapable to introduce important reforms and it resigned in December 1907 (an earlier resignation in December 1906 was refused by Queen Wilhelmina).

After the merger of the Liberal Union and the League of Free Liberals (Bond van Vrije Liberalen) in 1921 he joined the new conservative liberal party Freedom League (Vrijheidsbond).

Pieter Rink, who belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, died on 6 August 1941 in The Hague.

Party functions

• Member of the Liberal Union till 16 April 1921
• Member of the Freedom League from 16 April 1921
• Member of the Party Executive of the Liberal Union between 1891 and 1915
• Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Union from 1915 till 1920
• Provisional Chairman of the Liberal Union from January 1917 till April 1921
• Member of the Party Executive of the Liberale State Party "The Freedom League" from 16 April 1921 till 1924
• Deputy Chairman of the Liberal State Party "The Freedom League" from 1925 till April 1932
• Honorary Chairman of the Liberal State Party "The Freedom League"

Literature

• Nederlands Patriciaat 1911, 1958

See also

• List of Dutch politicians
• Liberal State Party "The Freedom League"

Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Luzac De Kempenaer Thorbecke Van Reenen Simons Van Rappard Van Tets van Goudriaan Van Heemstra Thorbecke Geertsema Carelszoon J. Heemskerk Fock Thorbecke Van Bosse Geertsema Carelszoon J. Heemskerk Kappeyne van de Coppello Six Pijnacker Hordijk J. Heemskerk Mackay De Savornin Lohman Tak van Poortvliet Van Houten Goeman Borgesius Kuyper Rink T. Heemskerk Cort van der Linden De Beerenbrouck De Geer Kan De Beerenbrouck De Wilde Boeijen Burger Van Boeijen Beel Witteman Van Maarseveen Van Schaik Teulings Van Maarseveen Teulings Beel Van Oven Suurhoff Struycken Toxopeus Smallenbroek Samkalden Verdam Beernink Geertsema De Gaay Fortman Wiegel Van Thijn Rood Rietkerk Korthals Altes De Korte Van Dijk De Koning Van Dijk Dales Hirsch Ballin Van Thijn De Graaff-Nauta Dijkstal Peper Van Boxtel De Vries Remkes Ter Horst Hirsch Ballin Donner Spies Plasterk Blok Plasterk