Pol-Clovis, Baron Boël (2 August 1868 – 13 July 1941) was a Belgian industrialist, Director of the '' Usines Gustave Boël'' in

La Louvière La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...

, and liberal politician. Born in Saint-Vaast, he was a son of Gustave Boël. He married Marthe de Kerchove de Denterghem. They had 4 children (3 boys and 1 girl):

René Boël Count René Boël (1899–1990) was a Belgian industrialist and Director of the '' Usine Gustave Boël''. He was married to Yvonne Solvay (1896–1930), granddaughter of Ernest Solvay. They have two sons Yves Boël and Pol Boël and one daught ...

(1899–1990) married first Yvonne Solvay (1896–1930) and later Mathilde de Jonghe (1909–2008); Max Boël (1901–1975) married Anne Marie Guinotte); Lucien Boël (1903–1999) married Micheline Mallet; and their daughter Marie-Anne Boël (1909–1996) married Charles-Emmanuel Janssen. Pol-Clovis youngest sister Eva Ernestine Boël (1883–1956) married Felix Goblet d'Alviella.

Career

When Gustave Boël died in 1912, his son Pol-Clovis carried on the diversification of the family business. One of his most prominent successes in this area was in chemicals with the ''Société anonyme de fabrication des engrais azoté'' (Safea) (

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

s). Pol-Clovis also invested in Union Chimique Belge (UCB), founded by Emmanuel Janssen (the father of his son-in-law Charles-Emmanuel Janssen), and in

Solvay Solvay may refer to: Companies and organizations * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium * Solvay Institute of Sociology, Brussels, Belgium, part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles * Solvay Process Company (1880 ...

, founded by

Ernest Solvay Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay (; 16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist. Biography Born in Rebecq, he was prevented by his acute pleurisy from going to university. He worked in his uncle's c ...

, the grandfather of his daughter-in-law

Yvonne Solvay Yvonne is a feminine given name, the female form of Yvon, which is derived from the French name Yves and Yvette. It is from the French word ''iv'', meaning "yew" (or tree). Since yew wood was used for bows, Ivo may have been an occupational na ...

. In 1928, Pol-Clovis Boël founded a financial entity: ''l'Union financière Boël'', ancestor of several financial holdings, such as

Sofina Sofina, ''Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles'', is a Belgian holding company, headquartered in Brussels with offices in Singapore and Luxembourg. As part of the Bel20 index, it is one of the twenty largest cap ...

, Henex, Glaces de Moustier-sur-Sambre. After World War I, \Boël entered the world of Belgian finance, taking part in the creation of the Bank of Brussels and the

Société Générale de Belgique The ' (, ; often referred to in Belgium simply as "Société Générale" or SGB) was an investment bank and, subsequently, an industrial and financial conglomerate in Belgium between 1822 and 2003. It has been described as the world's first u ...

. In 1929, he was granted the title of baron by King

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King (, ) or Soldier King (, ) in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I ...

. Pol Clovis died in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1941.

Sources

* Dutrieue, Anne-Myriam, in : Kurgan-van Hentenrijk, Ginette, Jaumain, Serge, Montens, Valérie, ea, ''Dictionnaire des patrons en Belgique. Les hommes, les entreprises, les reseaux, Bruxelles'', De Boeck and Larcier, 1996, p. 61-62. * Douxchamps, José, ''Présence nobiliaire au parlement belge (1830–1970)''. Notes généalogiques, Wépion-Namen, José Douxchamps, 2003, p. 13. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boel, Pol Clovis 1868 births 1912 deaths People from La Louvière Belgian businesspeople Liberal Party (Belgium) politicians Walloon people