Agatha Maria Colenbrander

(1762-1830)

A ship carrying over 17 tons of gunpowder blew up in Leiden on January 12th 1807, 151 people were killed, 2000 wounded and 220 buildings were destroyed. One of the buildings was the boarding school of Agatha Maria Colenbrander she inherited 10 months before from her husband Jean Jacques Schneither. At the time of the explosion about 40 to 50 students were attending classes, three of them died in the collapse of the building.