Paul de Smet de Naeyer
Paul de Smet de Naeyer | |
---|---|
Prime Minister of Belgium | |
In office 5 August 1899 – 2 May 1907 | |
Monarch | Leopold II |
Preceded by | Jules Vandenpeereboom |
Succeeded by | Jules de Trooz |
In office 25 February 1896 – 24 January 1899 | |
Monarch | Leopold II |
Preceded by | Jules de Burlet |
Succeeded by | Jules Vandenpeereboom |
Personal details | |
Born | Ghent, Belgium | 13 May 1843
Died | 9 September 1913 Brussels, Belgium | (aged 70)
Political party | Catholic Party |
Paul Joseph, Count de Smet de Naeyer (13 May 1843[1] – 9 September 1913[2]) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician.
Born in Ghent, son of a cotton industrialist, he was himself also an industrialist and a banker. He was head of the Société Générale de Belgique and the owner of several coal mines.
He represented Ghent and Eeklo in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 1886 to 1908,[3] and served in the Belgian Senate from 1908 to 1913.[4] He served in several governments, as Minister of Finance from 1894 to 1896, and again from 1899 to 1907, combining the portfolio with the Ministry of Public Works. He was the prime minister of Belgium from 1896 to 1899, and again from 1899 to 1907. He was a strong supporter and personal friend of Leopold II of Belgium, blocking efforts to investigate atrocities in the Congo Free State.[5] He was also a proponent of annexing the state in 1900, prior to it becoming Belgian Congo.[6]
Honours
[edit]- National
- Belgium:
- 1899: Minister of State, by Royal Decree.
- 1900: Created Count de Smet de Naeyer, by Royal Decree.
- Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold[7]
- Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the African Star[7]
- Foreign
- France: Knight Grand Cross in the Legion of Honour[7]
- Japan: Knight Grand Cross in the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun[7]
- Greece: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Redeemer[7]
- Holy See: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Pius IX[7]
- Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the White Eagle[7]
- Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bavarian Crown[7]
- Prussia: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Red Eagle[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Henry, Albert (1896). La Chambre des Représentants en 1894-1895 (in French). Société Belge de Librairie. p. 311. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul (1914). L'Économiste français: journal hebdomadaire ... (in French). Impr. centrale des chemins de fer. p. 794. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ Cauwelaert, Frans van (1971). Uit het archief van Frans van Cauwelaert (in Dutch). Nederlandsche Boekhandel. p. 37. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ Prins, Antony Winkler (1959). Algemene Winkler Prins encyclopedie (in Dutch). Elsevier. p. 224. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ "King Leopold Loses Congo". Lowell Courier Citizen Evening Newspaper. 25 July 1907. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ Vandenbogaerde, Sebastiaan (1 April 2017). ""Une telle apathie est presque coupable". How in Belgium's Journal des tribunaux the interest for the Congo Free State sparked off (1885-1908)". Revues et empires coloniaux. 12. doi:10.35562/cliothemis.1019. ISSN 2105-0929. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "de SMET de NAEYER". www.ars-moriendi.be.
External links
[edit]
- 1843 births
- 1913 deaths
- Ministers of state of Belgium
- Ministers of finance of Belgium
- Catholic Party (Belgium) politicians
- Counts of Belgium
- Politicians from Ghent
- Prime ministers of Belgium
- 19th-century Belgian businesspeople
- Recipients of the Order of the Star of Romania
- Businesspeople from Ghent
- Flemish politician stubs