Auguste Marie François Beernaert (26 July 1829 – 6 October 1912) was the

prime minister of Belgium german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms , insigniaalt = , flag = Government ...

from October 1884 to March 1894, and the 1909

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

laureate.

Life

Born in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

in the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

1829, he entered the Faculty of Law at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

at age 17. He finished five years later with greatest distinction.Jean Bartelous, ''Nos Premiers Ministres, de Léopold I^er à Albert I^er'', 1983, Bruxelles, éd. J. M. Collet, p. 171. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1873, and became Minister of Public Works under

Jules Malou Jules Edouard Xavier Malou (19 October 1810 – July 1886) was a Belgian statesman, a leader of the clerical party. Career Malou was born at Ypres. He was a civil servant in the department of justice when he was elected to the Chamber of Deput ...

, greatly improving the rail, canal and road systems. After his tenure as Prime Minister, he represented Belgium at the

Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907 The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amon ...

. He was also co-winner (with

Paul d'Estournelles de Constant Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant, Baron de Constant de Rebecque (22 November 1852 – 15 May 1924), was a French diplomat and politician, advocate of international arbitration and winner of the 1909 Nobel Prize for Peac ...

) of the

in 1909 for his work at 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 was chosen as president of the panel established under the rules of that organization in the Sarvarkar Case in 1911. A year later, he died in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, Switzerland. A lawyer by profession, he served as Minister of Public Works. He served as prime minister and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1884 to 1894. He held the post of president of the international law of association from 1903 to 1905. He was Belgium's first representative to the Hague peace conferences in 1899 and 1907. In the year 1912 he was hospitalised in Lucerne, where he died of pneumonia.

Achievements

He was the primary force behind proposals to unify international maritime law. A number of conventions dealing with collision and assistance at sea drawn up in 1910 were soon signed by many nations.

References

External links

*
Auguste Beernaert
i
ODIS – Online Database for Intermediary Structures
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Beernaert, Auguste 1829 births 1912 deaths Belgian Ministers of State Belgian Nobel laureates Catholic Party (Belgium) politicians Inter-Parliamentary Union Nobel Peace Prize laureates Politicians from Ostend Presidents of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Prime Ministers of Belgium Heidelberg University alumni Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Finance ministers of Belgium Belgian judges of international courts and tribunals Belgian expatriates in Germany