Johann Heinrich Joseph Driessen, known as Heinrich, was an important textile manufacturer in Aalten. Heinrich came from a textile-manufacturing family in Bocholt. He was the only son of Peter Driessen and Maria Hölscher. His father held a prominent position in the Prussian town just across the border from Aalten. As well as being a textile manufacturer, he served there as an alderman and, from 1797 to 1811, as second mayor.
Heinrich received a thorough education at the Jesuit College in Amsterdam and spoke excellent French, so that in 1812, when Napoleon’s troops passed through Bocholt, he was the only one capable of acting as an interpreter between the municipal authorities and the French generals.
Peter Driessen & Sohn
In 1810, Heinrich joined his father’s business. On 2 December 1820, he married Lisette Sträter in Rheine (Germany), a descendant of another prominent textile family. They had nine sons and two daughters. In 1826, he was entrusted with the management of the firm Peter Driessen & Sohn.
That same year, his cousins Anton and Joseph Driessen petitioned King William I for permission to establish a textile factory in Aalten, which the king granted. Not long afterwards, Heinrich Driessen also requested royal permission to settle in Aalten. The firm Peter Driessen & Sohn likewise received the requested licence to establish itself there.
In Aalten
His father Peter continued to live in Bocholt while his son Heinrich settled in Aalten. He initially lived with the Meijerink family on Kerkstraat, one of the few remaining Catholic families in Aalten, in the same building as his cousin Anton Driessen.
In Aalten, Heinrich established a branch of his father Peter Driessen’s fustian trade and hand-spinning mill. They already owned the necessary land in Aalten and Varsseveld, and in 1826 he expanded his activities to Groenlo. There, Heinrich had purchased a house from De Heyder. That house was converted into a spinning mill. He made the yarn spun there available to home weavers who processed it into cloth.
Heinrich was an enterprising businessman. By 1832, around 500 linen weavers in Aalten and the surrounding area were working for him, and three years later he and Blijdenstein of Enschede ranked among the largest fustian manufacturers in the eastern Netherlands. He was also among the first manufacturers in the Netherlands to use steam power in his bleachery.
‘Den veursten Dreessen’
In 1837, he had a substantial house built at the beginning of Dijkstraat. This earned him the local nickname ‘den veursten Dreessen’ (‘the front Driessen’), while his cousin Anton, who built Beekhuize somewhat further along the street, was known as ‘den achtersten Dreessen’ (‘the rear Driessen’). Heinrich’s eldest son Theodoor laid the foundation stone on 29 June 1837. Business premises were attached to the house, mainly used to store yarn and woven fabrics. The fabrics were transported by cart, often pulled by an ox, to the bleachery in Dale. The driver had the apt nickname Ossen Willem (‘Ox Willem’). After Heinrich’s death, the house was converted into a convent.
Following his father’s death in 1843, Heinrich became the sole owner of Peter Driessen & Sohn. His eldest son Theodor (1821-1878) was then placed in charge of the management in Bocholt. In 1851, King William III granted Heinrich Dutch nationality.
In 1849, Heinrich established a steam-powered spinning mill on Hogestraat in Aalten, the first of its kind in the Achterhoek. It was soon expanded with several power looms. After the factory burned down during the night of 19–20 August 1859, he did not rebuild it.
To Leiden
Heinrich shifted his focus to Leiden. There, in 1846, together with his nephew (his sister’s son), the soap boiler Ignatz van Wensen, he had purchased the declining textile printing and dyeing works De Heyder & Co., later known as the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij (Leiden Cotton Company). He had his second son Louis (1823-1904) come over from England to take charge in Leiden. With the knowledge he had acquired in Manchester, Louis soon managed to make the company profitable.
Heinrich’s son Eduard (1824-1895) continued to look after the company’s interests in Aalten. Initially, the bleachery there remained operational, but over time Eduard primarily focused on the trade in cotton and yarns. The branch in Bocholt, managed by Theodor, was closed after he and his brother Peter (1832-1895) started a blue-dyeing and printing works there in 1854, named the firm Theodor and Peter Driessen.
Catholic
The Driessen family was also of great significance to the Aalten Catholic community, which had been a minority in the Reformed village since the Reformation of 1596. Not only through their prestige and influence, but also through various donations from the Driessens, the Catholic church in Aalten was able to grow into a fully-fledged church community. Both Heinrich and his cousin Anton played important roles as churchwardens and overseers of the poor, roles that were continued by their descendants.
Heinrich Driessen was very strong-willed in his conduct and often followed his own path in ecclesiastical matters as well. For instance, during the disputes between the Catholics and the Reformed in 1842 regarding the ringing of the bells. Pastor G.H.J. Wansing of Aalten wrote a letter about this to the Archpriest of Gelderland, M. Terwindt, which was co-signed by the churchwardens Th.W. Meijerink, H. Vulting, and A. Driessen. Heinrich Driessen, although a member of the church board, had not signed this letter and addressed two personal letters to Terwindt himself.
What stands out in these letters is that he stated, among other things, that the pastor seemed a priori prejudiced against Aalten and expressed the hope that the Aalten parish would receive a new shepherd who would be to everyone’s liking. He requested Terwindt to take his reflections into consideration when making his choice and assured him that he preferred to employ everything that was conducive to the honour of their holy religion. But at the same time, Driessen wrote that—because the old pastor showed him the greatest respect and because he himself esteemed the pastor as a man whose moral conduct could serve as an example to an entire province—he trusted that it would also please the Archpriest that the contents of the letters never be disclosed to others.
New church
A further dispute arose around 1853 when a decision was made to build a new church. This led to serious disagreements within the church board. Churchwarden Heinrich Driessen once again acted on his own initiative by contacting the archbishop without consulting the other board members. In a letter to the archbishop, he referred to the approval already given for the church plans on condition that the confessional or confessionals were placed inside the church rather than in the sacristy or in separate extensions along the side walls. On that basis, a plan had been submitted to the King for approval.
However, during Driessen’s absence, the tendering for the church had taken place, in which an extension was nevertheless planned, contrary to the archiepiscopal approval. An extension to the church for the purpose of the confessional would, according to Heinrich, only disfigure a church. He had tried to convince the pastor of this, but had not succeeded. Driessen preferred to see the confessional inside the church, as was common in the Münsterland, rather than in an extension. According to him, the error could still be rectified, even though the masonry on that side was already in full swing. In his letter to the Archbishop, he therefore requested that instructions be given to the church board as soon as possible. The outcome of the matter is unknown. This action, however, is characteristic of Heinrich Driessen, who was apparently accustomed to getting his way and took the necessary steps on his own initiative to achieve it.
Wealthy
At the end of his life, Heinrich was a wealthy man. He held shares in spinning mills in Enschede, Gronau, and Rheine. Rheine was his wife’s birthplace, and her relatives managed textile enterprises there. Furthermore, he owned many lands and farms in the vicinity of Aalten, Varsseveld, and Bocholt.
Heinrich reached the advanced age of nearly 85 years. Several of his children and grandchildren entered the textile industry.
