Leonard Pierre Joseph, Viscount du Bus de Gisignies (28 February 1780 – 31 May 1849) was a soldier and politician 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 ...

Early life

He was born in

Dottignies Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The p ...

on 28 February 1780. He was born as Leonard Pierre Joseph Dubus, but on 14 June 1822, ''de Gisignies'' was added to his name. He probably started to study law at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

, but did not finish his education, because universities closed for some time during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Career

He served in the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army (french: Armée Royale Française) was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon Dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude ...

from 1802 until 1815. On 21 September 1815, in the

, he became a member of the

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 ...

of the

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

for the province of

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

and on 20 September 1816, he was raised to Dutch nobility and was knighted on 24 November 1816, he later became its President during the meeting year from 1818 to 1819. On 22 May 1819 he became a

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

. He was made a commander on 20 July 1823 in the order of the

Dutch Lion The coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was originally adopted in 1815 and later modified in 1907. The arms are a composite of the arms of the former Dutch Republic and the arms of the House of Nassau, it features a checkered shield wit ...

, and would later receive on 6 July 1830 the cross in the same order. Afterwards he had several administrative functions, first of all as Governor of the province of

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,

on 3 April 1820 - March 1823, and from 25 March 1823 up to 9 May 1828 of the province of

South Brabant South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

(Dutch: ''Zuid-Brabant''). From 4 February 1826 up to 16 January 1830 he was

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies The governor-general of the Dutch East Indies ( nl, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands Indië) represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. Occupied by Japanese fo ...

(Dutch: ''Commissaris-Generaal'') of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

, for which he received an annual wages of 200,000

Guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

, with the condition that he also retained his function of governor of South Brabant. On 9 May 1828 he was appointed as Minister of State, but after the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

he was removed from this office on 18 October 1830. On 6 October 1830, he bought

Renesse Castle The Castle de Renesse is a castle located in the village of Oostmalle (Malle), in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp (Flanders, Belgium). It is currently owned by the municipality of Malle. History 14th century In 1374 Jan van Hardu ...

Oostmalle Oostmalle is a village which is located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The village itself is part of the municipality of Malle. Oostmalle was an independent municipality until 1976. It has a surface area of 28.27 km² and in 2004 had 6,5 ...

from Count Clement-Wenceslas de Renesse-Breidbach and renovated the castle in Empire style.

Personal life

On 20 July 1802, he married his first wife, Marie-Catherine de Deurwaerder, who died on 23 June 1836. He had 1 daughter and 5 sons from his first marriage: * Clémentine-Cathérine-François du Bus de Gisignies (

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, 7 August 1803-

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

, 18 October 1817), * Knight Gustave-Bernard-Joseph du Bus de Gisignies (

, 5 May 1807-

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, 23 September 1831), * Bernard-Aimé-Léonard du Bus de Gisignies (

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...

, 21 June 1808 -

, 6 July 1874), * Viscount Albéric du Bus de Gisignies (

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

, 30 May 1810-

, 26 July 1874), * Baron Chrétien-Henri-Honoré-Léonard du Bus de Gisignies (

, 17 September 1819-

, 9 June 1835), * Viscount Constantin-Léonard-Anne-Francois-Marie-Joseph du Bus de Gisignies (

, 11 October 1823-

, 16 November 1850). He married his second wife Marie-Antoinette van der Gracht de Fretin on 20 November 1839.

Death

He died 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 ...

on 31 May 1849.

Sources

* Bart De Prins, ''Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies (1780–1849), Belgian Commissioner-general in the Dutch East Indies: A Reassessment'', Itnerario, 2000. * Bart de Prins, ''Voor Keizer en Koning, Leonard du Bus de Gisignies 1780 - 1849, Commissaris-Generaal van Nederlands-Indië'',
L.P.J. burggraaf du Bus de Gisignies

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Du Bus de Gisignies, Leonard Pierre Joseph 1780 births 1849 deaths People from Mouscron Dutch nobility Viscounts of Belgium Dutch civil servants Speakers of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) People from Antwerp Province Dutch military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 19th-century Dutch civil servants