Gustav Overbeck (4 March 1830 – 8 April 1894) from 1867Gustav von Overbeck, in 1873Baron von Overbeck, in 1877Maharaja of Sabah andRajah of Gaya and Sandakan, was aGerman businessman, adventurer and diplomat.
Overbeck was the son of pharmacist and medical councillor Georg Heinrich Overbeck fromLemgo.
Overbeck came toBremen for a commercialapprenticeship with his uncle in the family business there, but did not stay long, and emigrated to theUnited States in the spring of 1850 with his cousin August Meier. He went toSan Francisco and opened a business, while undertaking adventurous trade journeys toHawaii, the South Seas,Alaska, and theBering Strait.
He came into contact with the English trading houseDent & Co., which in 1854 gave him a job inBritish Hong Kong. In 1856, he was appointedPrussia's Vice Consul before becoming a consul for theAustrian Empire in 1864. Overbeck resigned from his Prussian post in 1866, following theAustro-Prussian War. In 1867, he was elevated to thearistocracy.
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In January 1876, he purchased the concessionary rights ofAmerican Trading Company of Borneo to territories in northern Borneo fromJoseph William Torrey for $15,000, conditional on the successful renewal of the concessions from local authorities. Overbeck was appointedMaharaja of Sabah andRajah of Gaya and Sandakan in a 29 December 1877 treaty with SultanAbdul Momin of Brunei, who still claimed ownership of northern Borneo.[3] That same year, Overbeck founded a joint venture (known as Dent & Overbeck Company/Overbeck & Co.) with the British brothersAlfred and Edward Dent, who acted as financiers.[4]
From November 1877, he undertook an expedition to Borneo with an American steamer for the acquisition of territorial rights and the exploitation of mineral resources in the territory. Following his expedition, he met with theSultan of Sulu and forged a treaty with Sultan Jamalulazam of Sulu, who titled him Dato Bendahara and Raja Sandakan on 22 January 1878.[5][6] The far-reaching concession attracted great attention in Europe and the United States;The Washington Post described it as the most important transfer obtained by a commercial company since the days of theBritish East India Company.[7]
However, on 22 July 1878, Spanish forces operating from the Philippines forced the Sultan of Sulu to surrender, causing Overbeck to lose his title and territory in the north-eastern areas he had gained from the Sultan. Overbeck then returned to Europe from 1879 to 1880 to seek support for an enforcement of the concession agreement and to promote the territory to theGerman Empire,Austria-Hungary and theKingdom of Italy.[8] As theUnited Kingdom had a strong interest inBorneo, Overbeck managed to gain support from them; meanwhile, in Germany, only Alexander Georg Mosle supported his bid to acquire the territory for theGerman Empire.
At the beginning of 1881, theBritish North Borneo Provisional Association Limited was established after Overbeck transferred its rights to the Dent brothers.[9] Within a year, the company succeeded in pushing back the Spanish claim, establishing the territory as a British protectorate known asNorth Borneo. To this day, the interpretation of theJawi concession documents of 1877–78 plays a role inthe international dispute betweenMalaysia and thePhilippines regarding territorial claims in northern Borneo (modernSabah).[5][6]
While inBritish Hong Kong, he had four children with a Chinese woman named Lam Tsat-Tai. They were Lily Overbeck, Oi Moon Overbeck, Annie Overbeck and Victoria Overbeck.
On 16 March 1870, Overbeck marriedRomaine Madeleine Goddard (1848–1926). Her father was Daniel Convers Goddard (1822–1852), the first Assistant Secretary in theUnited States Department of the Interior; her motherMadeleine Vinton Dahlgren (1825–1898), daughter of the CongressmanSamuel F. Vinton, was a well known author who married AdmiralJohn A. Dahlgren in 1865 (her second marriage).[10] The wedding of Overbeck and Romaine Goddard on 16 March 1870 was a social event inWashington, D.C., attended by PresidentUlysses S. Grant, his wifeJulia Grant, Chief JusticeSalmon P. Chase, and numerous ambassadors.
The couple had three sons: Baron Gustav Convers von Overbeck, Baron Oscar Karl Maria von Overbeck and Baron Alfred von Overbeck (1877–1945). Romaine was an excellent pianist and often stayed with her family in Washington during her husband's journeys;[11] In December 1875, she was presented byKurd von Schlözer at the German Embassy in Washington, and began a brief, tempestuous affair withHans von Bülow.[12] Relying financially on the income from a family trust invested in coal mines, she later lived apart from her husband inBaden-Baden andBerlin. Little is known about Overbeck's life in the years following the estrangement. Overbeck died at the age of 64 inLondon.
Hutto, Richard Jay, The Kaiser's Confidante: Mary Lee, the First American-born Princess, MacFarland & Co., 2017; pp. 129-134.
Untitled news item reporting on the voyage of the Baron de Overbeck in the steamship America and of his being conferred the title of Maharajah of Sabah by the Sultan of Borneo, after concluding successful negotiations for the cession of territory to the former's London-based company. Part of this land had formerly been ceded to the American Trading Company. Of Overbeck's achievement, the article states: "...this cession is one of the greatest secured by a commercial company since the days of the famous East India Company..." (Washington Post, April 12, 1878)
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