Frans Van Cauwelaert

Frans Van Cauwelaert
President of the Chamber of Representatives
In office 21 April 1939 – 27 April 1954
Preceded by	Camille Huysmans
Succeeded by	Camille Huysmans
Personal details
Born	(1880-01-10)10 January 1880 Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek, Belgium
Died	17 May 1961(1961-05-17) (aged 81) Antwerp, Belgium
Political party	Catholic Party

Frans Van Cauwelaert (10 January 1880 – 17 May 1961), was a Belgian Roman Catholic politician and lawyer.

Van Cauwelaert was born at Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek. He was a member of the Flemish movement, Professor of psychology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven), mayor of Antwerp (1921–1932), and co-founder of the daily journal De Standaard.

He fought for using Dutch at the University of Ghent, together with the Socialist Camille Huysmans and the liberal Louis Franck. In 1911 they proposed a bill to the Belgian parliament, which originated from Lodewijk De Raet for the usage of Dutch at the University of Ghent instead of French.

Frans Van Cauwelaert was a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 1910 until his death in 1961. He was appointed Minister of State in 1931. In the government led by Charles de Broqueville, Van Cauwelaert was minister for Commerce, Middle Class and Foreign Trade (January–June 1934) and Minister of Agriculture and Economical Affairs (June–November 1934). Van Cauwelaert then served in the government led by Georges Theunis as the minister of Agriculture and the Middle class and as minister of Public Works (November 1934 – January 1935), until he resigned due to a financial scandal. From 1939 to 1954, he served as President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, and lived in exile in New York during the German occupation (May 1940 – September 1944).

He died in Antwerp.

His youngest son Jan became a Catholic bishop and died aged 102 as one of the oldest bishops in the Church.

See also[]

• Catholic Party

Sources[]

• Reginald DE SCHRIJVER, Frans van Cauwelaerts' visie op de Vlaamse Beweging, in: Onze Alma Mater, 1972
• Reginald DE SCHRIJVER, Frans van Cauwelaert in zijn gedenkschriften over de jaren 1895–1918, in: Dietsche Warande en Belfort, 1972
• Th. Luykx and M. Platel, Politieke geschiedenis van België, 2 vol., Kluwer, 1985
• M. VAN MECHELEN, De jonge Frans van Cauwelaert, 1880–1910, licentiaatsverhandeling (onuitgegeven), KU Leuven, 1974.
• M. VAN MECHELEN, Kroniek van Frans van Cauwelaert, 1880–1961, 1980
• Leo TINDEMANS, Atlantisch Europa. Frans van Cauwelaert en de Europese eenmaking, 1981
• M. VAN MECHELEN, Uit de briefwisseling van Frans van Cauwelaert, 1985–1986
• Lode WILS, De Messias van Vlaanderen. Frans van Cauwelaert, 1880–1961, 1998
• Lode WILS, Frans van Cauwelaert, in: Nieuwe encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging, Tielt, 1998.

External links[]

• Newspaper clippings about Frans Van Cauwelaert in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• Frans Van Cauwelaert in ODIS – Online Database for Intermediary Structures