Hendrikus Jacobus Gorter

Hendrikus Gorter grew up in Zwolle, Overijssel, in the eastern part of the Netherlands. His father Jacob Gorter (1834-1875) was a bookseller at Hoogstraten & Gorter in Zwolle. The Gorter family came from Friesland. Jacob was a son of Durk Jans Gorter and Hendrica Posthuma, and born in Harlingen. Hendrikus' mother Henrietta Muller (1847-1937), was born in Utrecht, and a daughter of Michiel Muller and Henrietta Buys. Hendrikus' parents married in Utrecht in 1872. Their first son died shortly after birth. Hendrikus, their second son, was born in Zwolle on 19 June 1874. Not long after, in March 1875, Hendrikus' father died.

Hendrikus, colloquially known as 'Henri', attended the state high school in Zwolle. In 1890 he was admitted to the Machinist College at the Plantage Muidergracht in Amsterdam, where he was taught metalworking, forging and other technical skills. He did not finish the school and in 1892 he moved from Amsterdam to Utrecht, the birth place of his mother. His passions included ice skating and cycling and he enjoyed participating in competitions. In 1892 he competed on a Simplex bicycle manufactured by the Automatic Machine Company in Utrecht. After six months in Utrecht, Henri moved back to Zwolle in October 1892.

It is likely that Henri started cycling at a young age. He is pictured with a British Rudge solid bicycle in 1889, at the age of fifteen.

While living in Amsterdam he became a member of the local cycle club. In the following years he participated in competitions across the country and became a member of several cycling clubs, including in Zwolle and Rotterdam. In 1891 he finished in second place on the track in Arnhem. In the following years he won many races including in Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Sittard and Antwerp.

In 1896, Henri became Dutch track cycling champion in the English mile, five kilometres and ten kilometres categories. One of his main competitors was cyclist and speed ice skater Jaap Eden (1873-1925). During one of the last races of his career, the Grand Prix of Amsterdam on 16 August 1898, Henri finished in the second place after Guus Schilling, and Jaap Eden came third.

On 22 May 1902 Henri married Elisabeth Mackenzie (1879-1969), daughter of Paulus Mackenzie and Maria Reugers. Elisbeth's father Paulus was a coffee and tea trader from Rotterdam. Her brother was a well-known Dutch painter, Marie Henry Mackenzie. Henri and Elisabeth had two sons, Henri Martinus Gorter, born in 1907, and Paulus Gorter, born in 1910. In 1910 the family moved to Apeldoorn.

In 1905, Henri became board member of the Dutch motor vehicle association (Dutch: Nederlandsche Motorwielrijders Vereeniging), which was awarded the predicate 'Royal' in 1916. He organised races and day trips for members, and later became vice-president of the organisation until his death in 1918.

From 1908 he worked as representative for the cash register firm Cord and Van Erk in Amsterdam. In 1915 Henri and Elisabeth divorced. He remarried a year later, on 31 May 1916 in The Hague, with Christina Hendriksen (1881-1939), daughter of Johannes Hendriksen and Stijntje Konst. In 1918 Henri and Christina had a son, Christiaan Gorter.