hendrik pel was born in leiden to warehouse keeper isaac pel and adriana lammerina hunink. on 1 january 1832, at age 13, hendrik pel was appointed élève at the rijksmuseum van natuurlijke historie and educated as a taxidermist. pel had an adventurous nature and inquired with his superiors about the possibility to be sent abroad as a collector of specimens. the museum's director coenraad jacob temminck saw in pel an excellent candidate for the position of collector on the dutch gold coast; temminck had already sent the medical officer a.j. baierlein to the gold coast in 1822 to collect specimens, but he died soon after his arrival, and later attempts to have the officers of medicine on the gold coast send specimens to the netherlands failed due to their unfamiliarity with taxidermy.