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

prime minister of Belgium The prime minister of Belgium (; ; ) or the premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government of Belgium, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. The first head of government in Belgian history was Henri van der Noot in 179 ...

from October 1884 to March 1894, and the 1909

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureate.

Life

Born in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

in the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

1829, he entered the Faculty of Law at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

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, 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) of the

in 1909 for his work at the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international ...

. 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 ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

, Switzerland. A lawyer by profession, he served as Minister of Public Works. He served as prime minister and Minister of Finance 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 Ministers of state of Belgium 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 Ministers of finance of Belgium Belgian judges of international courts and tribunals Belgian expatriates in Germany