P. A. (Paul Adriaan) Daum

Born in The Hague in 1849, P. A. Daum began his working life with the Dutch State Railways before turning to journalism. He joined Het Vaderland in 1876 and moved to Java in 1878, where he worked for newspapers including De Locomotief and Het Indisch Vaderland.

In Batavia, Daum helped found the Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad and served as its editor from 1885 until his death. He also became known as a novelist, publishing under the pseudonym Maurits and drawing on the realities of colonial society in works such as Uit de suiker in de tabak, Goena-goena, and Hoe hij Raad van Indië werd.

Daum died in Laag-Soeren on September 14, 1898. His journalism and fiction made him one of the notable Dutch writers of the late nineteenth-century Indies, combining literary observation with a direct, critical view of colonial life.