Events in the year 1917 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

Albert I Albert I may refer to: People Born before 1300 * Albert I, Count of Vermandois (917–987) *Albert I, Count of Namur () *Albert I of Moha *Albert I of Brandenburg (), first margrave of Brandenburg *Albert I, Margrave of Meissen (1158–1195) *Alber ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Charles de Broqueville Charles Marie Pierre Albert, 1st Count de Broqueville (4 December 1860 – 5 September 1940) was the prime minister of Belgium, serving during World War I. Before 1914 Charles de Broqueville was born into an old noble family with its roots in F ...

Events

* 1 May –

Emilius Seghers Emilius Seghers (1855–1927) was the 25th bishop of Ghent in Belgium. Life Seghers was born in Ghent on 3 September 1855, the son of a lawyer. He studied at the Jesuit secondary school in Ghent and the minor seminary. In 1874 he entered the M ...

consecrated as

bishop of Ghent The Diocese of Ghent (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gandavensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropoli ...

* 7–14 June –

Battle of Messines (1917) The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of Messines (now Mesen) in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War. The Nivell ...

*31 July – 10 November –

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

(also called Third Battle of Ypres) *31 July – 2 August –

Battle of Pilckem Ridge The Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 July – 2 August 1917) was the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The British Fifth Army, supported by the Second Army on the southern flank and the French (First Army) on the n ...

* 16–18 August –

Battle of Langemarck (1917) The Battle of Langemarck (16–18 August 1917) was the second Anglo-French general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres, during the First World War. The battle took place near Ypres in Belgian Flanders, on the Western Front against the German 4 ...

* 20–26 September –

Battle of the Menin Road Ridge The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, sometimes called "Battle of the Menin Road", was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle took place from 20 to 25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient i ...

*26 September – 3 October –

Battle of Polygon Wood The Battle of Polygon Wood took place from 26 September to 3 October 1917, during the second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle was fought near Ypres in Belgium, in the area from the Menin road to Polygon Wood a ...

*4 October –

Battle of Broodseinde The Battle of Broodseinde was fought on 4 October 1917 near Ypres in Belgium, at the east end of the Gheluvelt plateau, by the British Second and Fifth armies against the German 4th Army. The battle was the most successful Allied attack of th ...

*9 October –

Battle of Poelcappelle The Battle of Poelcappelle was fought in Flanders, Belgium, on 9 October 1917 by the British Second Army and Fifth Army against the German 4th Army, during the First World War. The battle marked the end of the string of highly successful Briti ...

*12 October –

First Battle of Passchendaele The First Battle of Passchendaele took place on 12 October 1917 during the First World War, in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. The attack was part of the Third Battle of Ypres and was fought west of Passchendaele village. T ...

*26 October – 10 November –

Second Battle of Passchendaele The Second Battle of Passchendaele was the culminating attack during the Third Battle of Ypres of the First World War. The battle took place in the Ypres Salient area of the Western Front, in and around the Belgian village of Passchendaele, be ...

Publications

Émile Cammaerts Émile Leon Cammaerts CBE (16 March 1878 in Saint-Gilles, Belgium – 2 November 1953, Radlett, Hertfordshire) was a Belgian playwright, poet (including war poet) and author who wrote primarily in English and French. Cammaerts translated three book ...

, ''Through the Iron Bars (Two Years of German Occupation in Belgium)'', with illustrations by

Louis Raemaekers Louis Raemaekers (April 6, 1869 – July 26, 1956) was a Dutch painter and editorial cartoonist for the Amsterdam newspaper ''De Telegraaf'' during World War I, noted for his anti-German stance. Early life He was born and grew up in Roermond, ...

(London and New York, John Lane). * Hugh Gibson, ''A Diplomatic Diary'' (London, New York and Toronto, Hodder and Stoughton, 1917). *

Arnold J. Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's Colleg ...

, ''The Belgian Deportations'' (London, T. Fisher Unwin) *

Leon van der Essen Leon van der Essen (1883–1963) was a Belgian historian, professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1946 he testified about the German occupation of Belgium at the Nuremberg trials, the only Belgian witness called. Life Van der Essen wa ...

, ''The Invasion & the War in Belgium from Liège to the Yser, with a sketch of the diplomatic negotiations preceding the conflict'' (London, T.F. Unwin).

Births

* 30 January –

Jan Verroken Jan Verroken (30 January 1917 – 24 July 2020) was a Belgian politician. Biography Born on 30 January 1917, Verroken served as burgomaster of Oudenaarde, President of the Christelijke Volkspartij in the Belgian Parliament, and a Deputy for the ...

, politician (died 2020) * 1 April –

Michel Donnet Michel G. L. "Mike" Donnet, (1 April 1917 – 31 July 2013) was a Belgian pilot who served in the Belgian Army and British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He shot down four enemy aircraft confirmed, and achieved the RAF rank o ...

, military pilot (died 2013) * 16 May –

Raymond Laurent Raymond Ferdinand Louis-Philippe Laurent (16 May 1917 – 3 February 2005) was a Belgian herpetologist, who specialized in African and South American amphibians and reptiles. He published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters. Several ...

, herpetologist (died 2005) * 15 June – Jean Alexandre, cyclist * 28 June –

Albert de Cleyn Albert de Cleyn (28 June 1917–13 March 1990) was a Belgian football player who became the first top scorer of the Belgian First Division with 40 goals in 1946 while playing for Mechelen. He played 12 times with the Belgian national team b ...

, footballer (died 1990) * 25 July – Charles Brahm, Olympic canoeist (died 2003) * 7 August – Catherine Stevens, athlete * 23 August –

André Waterkeyn André Waterkeyn (23 August 1917 – 4 October 2005) was a Belgian engineer, born in Wimbledon, best known for creating the Atomium. Waterkeyn was the economic director of Fabrimetal (now Agoria), a federation of metallurgical companies when in ...

, engineer (died 2005) * 2 October –

Christian de Duve Christian René Marie Joseph, Viscount de Duve (2 October 1917 – 4 May 2013) was a Nobel Prize-winning Belgian cytologist and biochemist. He made serendipitous discoveries of two cell organelles, peroxisome and lysosome, for which he shared ...

, biochemist (died 2013) * 22 October –

Eugene Deckers Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic le ...

, actor (died 1977)

Deaths

* 5 January –

Félix Wielemans Lieutenant-General Félix Maximilien Eugène Wielemans (10 January 1863 – 5 January 1917) was the Chief of Staff of the Belgian Army during the First World War. After serving as the Chief of the Military Cabinet to the War Office under Charles ...

(born 1863), Army Chief of Staff * 30 January –

Mutien-Marie Wiaux Mutien-Marie Wiaux (also known as Mutien-Marie of Malonne; 20 March 1841 – 30 January 1917) was a Belgian member of the Brothers of Christian Schools, who spent his life as a teacher and is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church. Life ...

(born 1841), saint * 2 March – Jules Van Dievoet (born 1844), lawyer * 6 March –

Jules Vandenpeereboom Jules (Julius) Henri Pierre François Vandenpeereboom (18 March 1843 – 6 March 1917) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician. Vandenpeereboom was born in Kortrijk and educated as a lawyer. He represented Kortrijk in the Belgian Chamber of Peo ...

(born 1843), politician * 25–26 March –

Van Raemdonck Brothers Edward and Frans Van Raemdonck were two siblings killed while serving in the Belgian Army in World War I whose story subsequently became prominent within the popular memory of the conflict in post-war Flanders. Born in Temse in East Flanders in ...

, soldiers * 13 May –

Jules Schmalzigaug Jules Schmalzigaug (1882 or 1883 in Antwerp – 13 May 1917 in The Hague) was a Belgian futurist painter. Biography His well-to-do family came from Germany and lived in Antwerp. From the age of 16, Schmalzigaug travelled extensively. In 1905–1 ...

(born 1882/3), painter * 28 May –

Raoul Warocqué Raoul Warocqué (Brussels, 4 February 1870 – Brussels, 28 May 1917), was a Belgian industrialist from Wallonia. Biography Raoul was the great-grandson of Nicolas Warocqué, the founder of the prominent Warocqué family. His father was Arthur ...

(born 1870), industrialist * 7 June –

Willie Redmond William Hoey Kearney Redmond (13 April 1861 – 7 June 1917) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP), was a lawyer and soldier Denman, Terence in: McGuire, James and Quinn, James (eds): ''Dictionary of Iris ...

(born 1861), Irish nationalist * 29 June –

Frans Schollaert François (Frans) Victor Marie Ghislain Schollaert (19 August 1851 – 29 June 1917) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician. Born in Wilsele, Schollaert trained as a lawyer and practiced in Leuven. He served as head of the Flemish farmer' ...

(born 1851), politician * 4 July – Frank Shanley (born 1889), English footballer * 12 July – Donald Cunnell (born 1893), British flying ace * 31 July –

Hedd Wyn Hedd Wyn (born Ellis Humphrey Evans, 13 January 188731 July 1917) was a Welsh-language poet who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National ...

(born 1887), poet * 10 August – James Brannick (born 1889), footballer * 11 August –

Harold Ackroyd Harold Ackroyd, (18 July 1877 – 11 August 1917) was a British physician, scientific researcher, army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and ...

(born 1877), physician * 16 August –

Willie Doyle William Joseph Gabriel Doyle, SJ MC (3 March 1873 – 16 August 1917), better known as Willie Doyle, was an Irish Catholic priest who was killed in action while serving as a military chaplain to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First Worl ...

(born 1873), Irish Jesuit * 21 August –

Nellie Spindler Nellie Spindler (September 1891 – 21 August 1917) was a staff nurse who was killed during the Battle of Passchendaele. She is one of only two British female casualties of World War I buried in Belgium and the only woman buried among more than 10 ...

(born 1891), nurse * 5 September –

Arthur Verhaegen Arthur Théodore Verhaegen (31 August 1847 in Brussels – 5 September 1917 in Elsene) was a Gothic Revival Belgian architect and a politician of the Catholic Party, one of the founders of Belgian Christian democracy. He was a grandson of the polit ...

(born 1847), architect and politician * 19 September –

Émile de Borchgrave Baron Émile Jacques Yvon Marie de Borchgrave (1837–1917) was a Belgian historian and diplomat. Life Borchgrave was born in Ghent on 27 December 1837. He was educated at the College of St Barbara in Ghent and spent one year studying philosoph ...

(born 1837), historian and diplomat * 21 September –

Frederick Birks Frederick Birks, VC, MM (16 August 1894 – 21 September 1917) was a Welsh-born Australian First World War soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded t ...

(born 1894), Australian soldier * 28 September ** Patrick Bugden (born 1897), Australian soldier **

Kurt Wissemann Kurt Wissemann was a German World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.The Aerodrome websitRetrieved 14 September 2020 Biography Born in Elberfeld, Wissemann trained as a Leutnant with ''Jastaschule 1'' (Fighter school 1) before ...

(born 1893), German flying ace * 9 November – Paul Wittouck (born 1851), industrialist

References

{{Year in Europe, 1917 1910s in Belgium