Jean Baptiste Smits (

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, April 10,

1792 Events January–March * January 9 – The Treaty of Jassy ends the Russian Empire's war with the Ottoman Empire over Crimea. * February 18 – Thomas Holcroft produces the comedy '' The Road to Ruin'' in London. * February ...

Arlon Arlon (; lb, Arel ; nl, Aarlen ; german: Arel ; wa, Årlon; la, Orolaunum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in and capital of the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it is t ...

, May 3, 1857) was a Belgian Member of Parliament and minister.

Biography

Smits was a son of Henri-Joseph Smits and Isabelle Verrept. He was married twice. He had four sons with his first wife. He began his career as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

at the Commercial Court (1806-1808). He was: * Bureau chief in the prefecture of

Deux-Nèthes Deux-Nèthes (, nl, Twee Neten) was a department of the First French Republic and of the First French Empire in present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. It was named after two branches of the river Nete (Grote Nete and Kleine Nete). The southern ...

(1808-1814); * Division Chief in the City Administration of Antwerp (1814-1830); * Secretary of the Regence Council (October 1830 - February 1831); * Belgian delegate to the London Conference (1832); * Director of Trade and Industry at the Ministry of the Interior (1832-1839) under Prime Minister

Joseph Lebeau Jean Louis Joseph Lebeau (3 January 1794 – 19 March 1865) was a Belgian liberal statesman, the prime minister of Belgium on two occasions. Biography Born in Huy, he received his early education from an uncle who was parish priest in Hannut, a ...

; He negotiated several international (trade) agreements for Belgium in 1833 and was a strong supporter of the construction of

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the country. He pleaded to prohibitive customs duties and was appointed to his expertise in 1839 to: * Director of the

National Bank In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings: * a bank owned by the state * an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally) * in the United States, an ordinary p ...

during the financial crisis (1839-1841). He also had a political career. In

1833 Events January–March * January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833), Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. * February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto ...

he was elected unionist

representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

for the Antwerp district and held this office until 1845. From August 1841 until April 1843 he was

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", " ...

. He became Provincial Governor of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in 1843 and held this office until his death.

References

Bibliography

*Fernand DONNET, Jean Baptiste Smolders, in: Biographie nationale de Belgique, T. XXII, Brussel, 1920. *Jean-Luc DE PAEPE & Christiane RAINDORF-GERARD, Le Parlement Belge, 1831-1894, Brussel, 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smits, Jean Baptiste 1792 births 1857 deaths 19th-century Belgian politicians Finance ministers of Belgium Politicians from Antwerp