Jhr. Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (born Dirk de Graeff; named also Van Polsbroek or Polsbroek) (Amsterdam, 28 August 1833 – 27 June 1916, The Hague) was a Dutch aristocrat, merchant and diplomat. Between 1863 and 1868 he was Dutch Consul General and then until 1870 Dutch Minister-Resident and de facto envoy to Japan. Since no ambassadors were planned at that time, his legation fulfilled the same task. De Graeff van Polsbroek was an important representative of the Dutch government who laid the foundation for modern diplomatic representation in Japan and the first diplomat with permanent residence in Japan (comparable to a modern ambassador). At the time of his activity in Japan, he assisted Emperor Meiji and his government as a councillor in negotiations with Western states. He was a representative, envoy and plenipotentiary minister of various European states and, due to his relationship with Meiji, the Japanese government and his knowledge of the state, played a central role in negotiations and the conclusion of treaties between Japan, which was opening up to the West, and the various Western states, as a result, they were able to conclude numerous profitable commercial contracts. Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was also an avid chronicler and photographer of Japanese social change at the time of the Meiji Restoration. Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was born at Amsterdam on 28 August 1833 as a son of Gerrit de Graeff (IV) Squire of 

Zuid-Polsbroek, Purmerland and Ilpendam and Carolina Ursulina Stephania Engels. The family De Graeff van Polsbroek belonged to the patrician class of Amsterdam and held the feudal titles Free Lord of Zuid-Polsbroek as those of Purmerland and Ilpendam. Dirk lived in Japan with his Japanese housekeeper Koyama Ochō with whom he had a son Pieter de Graeff (Yokohama, 8 June 1861 - 7 August 1914, Bwool, Netherlands Indies). It has also been suggested that he was married to a Japanese princess during his time in Japan. In 1872 he married Bonne Elisabeth Roijer (also Royer) (1847-1927), daughter of the naval captain Georg Roijer (also Royer) (1817-1871) and Anna Petronella Barones Mulert to de Leemcule (1815-1909) as well as maternal granddaughter of Adriana Petronella Imperial countess of Nassau-LaLecq (1757-1789) and thus a direct descendant of prince William the Silent (William I of Orange-Nassau) and Maurice, Prince of Orange. They had six children, one of whom died young.

The South African Republic Police (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Politie; ZARP) was the police force of the former country, South African Republic, one of two Internationally recognized Boer countries of the mid 19th to early 20th century. The Boers often called the South African Republic by its acronym ZAR (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) while in the English-speaking world the republic was generally known as the Transvaal (after the region and territories it encompassed across the Vaal River). Members of the police force were known as ZARPs. The ZARP was the mounted and foot police of the ZAR, a nation that was mainly rural with a strong frontier spirit as the Boers had only arrived in the Transvaal less than 50 years before during the Great Trek. The ZARP were established as a para-military police force whose primary function was to uphold the authority of the state, rather than upholding justice. The Boers were only a minority in the ZAR, and greatly feared the black majority, hence the emphasis on the ZARP as a para-military force intended more to inspire fear than respect. From 1881 to 1896 the ZARPS were part of the Artillery and then began a separate existence as an independent entity. The basis of the ZAR's military was the kommando system, under which all able-bodied white men could be called up for military service in the event of an emergency. The professional military of the Transvaal consisted of the Staatsartillerie 

(State Artillery), who in 1899 numbered 314 men. The para-military ZARPs comprised the closest the ZAR had to a professional infantry and cavalry. The ZARPs were divided into three sections; the Foot, Mounted and Native sections. Through the ZARPs were known to the burghers as the "disciplined force of the Transvaal", the ZARPs like the Staatsartillerie had serious disciplinary problems.