Jhr. Alexander Frederik de Savornin Lohman (29 May 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a Dutch politician and leader of the
Christian Historical Union
The Christian Historical Union ( nl, Christelijk-Historische Unie, CHU) was a Protestant Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CHU is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), into which it merged in ...
during the first quarter of the 20th century.
He was a member of the lower
Dutch nobility
The Dutch nobility is a small elite social class constisting of individuals or families recognized as noble, and with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The existence of nobility was established in the Constitution ...
and held the predicate of ''jonkheer''. He was born into a family of
Walloon Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
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* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
extraction. During his studies he became a supporter of the anti-revolutionary cause of
Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer
Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (21 August 1801 – 19 May 1876), was a Dutch politician and historian; he was born in Voorburg, near The Hague.
Overview
Groen is a Dutch historical icon. He was an educated and devout man of the Dutch middle cla ...
and he was elected to the Dutch
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for the
Anti-Revolutionary Party
The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and m ...
(ARP) in 1879. He remained a member of parliament until 1921. Throughout his career he would serve as member of the House of Representatives, member of the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and, for a short while, minister. He was noted for his vehement attacks against his opponents, but was generally considered to be receptive of the arguments of his peers.
De Savornin Lohman got involved in politics whilst serving as a
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
at the court of
's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
. There he became party to a conflict over
Christian schools
A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.
The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some count ...
. He soon met
Abraham Kuyper
Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...
, another anti-revolutionary politician who would dominate Dutch politics in the years to come. When Kuyper was suffering from
burnout
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in 1876 and 1877 De Savornin Lohman replaced him as
chief editor
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of the ''
Standaard'', the anti-revolutionary
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
. De Savornin Lohman went on, at times reluctantly, to become Kuyper's most important collaborator in his many projects (the
School Struggle, the foundation of the Anti Revolutionary Party in 1879, the
Doleantie
The 1886 Dutch Reformed Church split, also known as Doleantie (from Latin language, Latin ''dolere'', 'to feel sorrow') was the name of a prominent schism (religion), schism in the Dutch Reformed Church (''Nederlands Hervormde Kerk'') which took pl ...
in 1886 and the creation of the
Free University of Amsterdam
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...
in 1879).
De Savornin Lohman's entry in politics coincided with the introduction of
party discipline
Party discipline is a system of political norms, rules and subsequent respective consequences for deviance that are designed to ensure the relative cohesion of members of the respective party group. In political parties specifically (often refe ...
into Dutch politics. As an aristocrat De Savornin Lohman was torn between the opinion of his fellow aristocrats, who considered politics to be a personal thing, and the opinion of his leader and friend Kuyper, who found party discipline and the democratic process of the utmost importance. Further conflict ensued when De Savornin Lohman became Minister of the Interior, replacing
Æneas Mackay, who in turn replaced
Keuchenius as Minister of Colonial Affairs. The Dutch parliament had
refused supply to Keuchenius's budget and Mackay wanted to save the government. Kuyper wanted to have a general election and sought the fall of the government. De Savornin Lohman and most of the Anti Revolutionary Party supported the government. Two factions in the ARP now emerged, one led by Kuyper the other by De Savornin Lohman. When the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
minister
Tak van Poortvliet presented a proposal to introduce
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
in 1893, this proved to be an especially divisive issue. The aristocrat De Savornin Lohman was against extension, while Kuyper saw an electoral advantage for the ARP. Universal suffrage would give the vote to orthodox Protestant farmers and small entrepreneurs (collectively referred to in Dutch political science as ''
kleine luyden''), who had hitherto been ineligible because of the minimum taxes requirement. When Kuyper managed to persuade ARP members to support his position, De Savornin Lohman's faction, the ''
Free Anti Revolutionaries (VAR)'', became directly opposed to Kuyper's Anti Revolutionaries. The conflict led to a split in the ARP with De Savornin Lohman and his largely aristocratic colleagues forming the smaller splinter group. In 1908, after a series of mergers with like-minded political groups, De Savornin Lohman and his VAR founded the Christian Historical Union (CHU).
Religiously, De Savornin Lohman, who was Reformed, was personally involved in the schism called the
Doleantie
The 1886 Dutch Reformed Church split, also known as Doleantie (from Latin language, Latin ''dolere'', 'to feel sorrow') was the name of a prominent schism (religion), schism in the Dutch Reformed Church (''Nederlands Hervormde Kerk'') which took pl ...
, which was led by Kuyper. The
schism
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
was a reaction against the progressive practices of the
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
and De Savornin Lohman went on to become a member of the newly founded
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
{{Infobox Christian denomination
, name = Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Dutch ''Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland'')
, image =
, caption =
, main_classification = Protestant
, orientation = Calvinist
, polity = Presbyterianism
, ...
. While Kuyper favoured cooperation with
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in parliament, De Savornin Lohman and his fellow Anti Revolutionaries were sceptical towards Roman Catholicism.
Professionally, De Savornin Lohman was employed by the Free University of Amsterdam to teach
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and a Reformed outlook on science. In 1895 the conflict with Kuyper forced him to resign his post. It was twenty years before the two gentlemen were on speaking terms again. In 1896 he became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
, he resigned from the Academy in 1914.
In 1902 he acted as one of five arbitrators at
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
in the
Pious Fund of the Californias
The Pious Fund of the Californias ( es, Fondo Piadoso de las Californias) is a fund, originating in 1697, to sponsor the Roman Catholic Jesuit Spanish missions in Baja California, and Franciscan Spanish missions in Alta California in the Vic ...
dispute between the United States and Mexico, the first dispute between states arbitrated by the
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...
. He also sat on the panel for the
Sarvarkar Case in 1911.
Alexander de Savornin Lohman died in The Hague aged 87. He was an important adviser to Queen
Wilhelmina.
References
External links
Biography of Alexander Frederik de Savornin Lohman at the Institute for Dutch HistoryFile on Alexander Frederik de Savornin Lohman at parlement.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savornin Lohman, Alexander De
1837 births
1924 deaths
Anti-Revolutionary Party politicians
Christian Historical Party politicians
Christian Historical Union politicians
Dutch civil servants
Dutch nobility
Dutch political party founders
Free Anti Revolutionary Party politicians
Leaders of the Christian Historical Union
Chairmen of the Christian Historical Union
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Senate (Netherlands)
Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands
Ministers of State (Netherlands)
Politicians from Groningen (city)
Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
19th-century Dutch politicians
20th-century Dutch politicians
Dutch judges of international courts and tribunals