Antoon Jurgens (1805-1880) was a Dutch merchant and industrialist. He founded a butter company that grew to be one of the largest butter and margarine companies in Europe. His company was instrumental in the formation of

Margarine Unie Naamloze Vennootschap Margarine Unie (English: Margarine Union Limited) was a Dutch company formed in 1927 in Oss by the merger of four margarine companies, Antoon Jurgens United, Van den Bergh's, Centra, and Schicht's. Margarine Unie was the dom ...

which, in 1930, merged with

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

to form

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

Family

He was the son of Wilhelmus Jurgens and Henrica van Valkenburg. Wilhelmus, Leonard and Jan were brothers from

Nieuwenhagen Nieuwenhagen is a former village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is now a part of the municipality of Landgraaf. Nieuwenhagen was a separate municipality until 1982, when it became a part of Landgraaf. Notable natives * Harry Kempen * Joe ...

who came to Oss at the turn of the nineteenth century. Jurgens uncle, Leonard also married a member of the Valkenburg family, the van Valkenburgs were one of the biggest trading families in Oss. Under the Jurgens, the van Valkenburg business expanded. On 19 May 1832 Jurgens married Johanna Lemmens (1807-1879), the daughter of Arnoldus Ambrosius Lemmens, farmer and mayor of Beugen and Rijkevoort from 1811 to 1819, owner of the brewery the Unicorn (De Eenhoorn) in Oploo, and Gertrudis van de Voordt, from a family who were also mayors of Beugen en Rijkevoort. They then had ten children.

Civic activities

From 1844 to 1850 Jurgens was a member of the Council of Oss.

Business activities

Jurgens was educated to be a merchant, and in 1820 became a butter merchant in Oss, Netherlands. The demand for butter increased because of the Belgian Revolt, which caused a large number of soldiers to be stationed in that part

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

of the Netherlands. After his father's death in 1836, he and his brothers continued the family company. In 1854, Jurgens and his brother, Johannes formed Gebroeders Jurgens, a partnership specialized in the butter trade. In the 1850s and 1860s, a rise in the value of butter to British and German citizens increased the brothers’ wealth, while the brother largely concentrated on servicing those markets, trade in the home market. Increased demand led to shipment of supplies obtained in Germany and Austria. In a notary document of 25 April 1867, he and his sons Jan, Hendrikus, and Arnoldus, formed a limited company under the name Antoon Jurgens, to actively pursue wholesale trade in butter, and to create a dairy farm. Hendrikus was their accountant, Jan was the salesman, and Arnoldus was in charge of the technical aspects of the business. They bought butter in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. The butter was brought to Oss, where it was treated, packed and shipped. The Prussian-Danish and the Austro-Prussian wars increased the price of butter without a significant impact in transporting the product. In May 1871, through the butter industry, Jurgens met

Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès (; 24 October 1817 – 31 May 1880) was a French chemist and inventor who is famous for his invention of margarine. Early life Hippolyte Mège was born on 24 October 1817 in Draguignan to Jean Joseph-Emmanuel Mège and ...

, a Frenchman, who had invented

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...

. Mège-Mouriès had licensed his patent to business in other countries but not to anyone in the Netherlands, as the Netherlands did not have a patent law until 1910. Jurgens paid for a demonstration of Mège-Mouriès' process. Later that year Jurgens started experimental production of margarine to which initially real butter was added.

Retirement

Around 1875 Jurgens wound down his activities in the company. As a Roman Catholic he bequeathed, in 1876, a head altar to the Great Church of Oss,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Business legacy

The company became one of the largest butter and margarine businesses in Europe. It was one of the two companies whose merger, in 1927, sparked the formation of

, which three years later, in 1930, joined

to create

Descendants

Antoon Jurgens and his wife Johanna Lemmens had 10 children, including three sons who continued the margarine factory after his death in 1880: * Johannes Arnoldus Jurgens (1835–1913) * Hendrikus Leonardus Jurgens (1840–1888) * Arnoldus Jurgens (1842–1912)

References

External links

Obituary in Dutch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgens, Antoon 1805 births 1880 deaths Dutch merchants Dutch Roman Catholics People from Oss