1908 in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1908 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

← 1907 1906 1905 1908 in Belgium → 1909 1910 1911
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	Other events of 1908 List of years in Belgium

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold II
• Prime Minister: Frans Schollaert (from 9 January)

Events

Congo Free State postage stamp franked Belgian Congo

• 9 January – Frans Schollaert formally takes office as prime minister, after the sudden death of Jules de Trooz at the end of the previous year.[1]
• 24 May – Partial legislative elections
• 25 May – Parliament ratifies the 1907 copyright convention with Germany.[2]
• 10 July – Paul Van Asbroeck wins a gold medal at the 1908 Olympic Games
• 30 September – Premiere of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird at the Moscow Art Theatre
• 18 October – Belgian Parliament passes the Colonial Charter on the Belgian annexation of the Congo Free State.[3]
• 30 October – Cabinet reshuffle with Jules Renkin becoming first Minister for Colonies
• 15 November – Congo Free State becomes Belgian Congo

Publications

• Émile de Borchgrave, Souvenirs diplomatiques de quarante ans (Brussels)
• Fernand Crommelynck, Le sculpteur de masques (Brussels, Edmond Deman)
• Stijn Streuvels, Tieghem: Het Vlaamsche lustoord (Ghent, Vercauteren)
• Joseph Van den Gheyn, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, vol. 8.[4]
• Emile Verhaeren, James Ensor (Brussels, G. Van Oest)

Art and architecture

Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Ostend

Buildings

• Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Ostend (begun 1899)

Births

• 2 January – André Verbeke, architect (died 1978)
• 23 January – Stanislas-André Steeman, writer (died 1970)
• 14 March – Joseph André, priest (died 1973)
• 14 May – Jules Lismonde, artist (died 2001)
• 20 September – Simon Dewinter, boxer (died 1972)
• 4 October – Celeste van Exem, missionary (died 1993)
• 16 November – Sœur Emmanuelle, religious (died 2008)
• 24 November – Hubert Ansiaux, banker (died 1987)
• 28 November – Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist (died 2009)

Deaths

• 4 February – Albert Lancaster (born 1849), meteorologist
• 6 February – Jan Portielje (born 1829), painter
• 22 February – Édouard van den Corput (born 1821), physician
• 10 May – Eugène Lafont (born 1837), missionary
• 5 June – Jef Lambeaux (born 1852), sculptor
• 21 June – Luís Cruls (born 1848), astronomer
• 19 June – Louis van Waefelghem (born 1840), viola d'amore player
• 4 August – Piet Verhaert (born 1852), painter
• 24 December – François-Auguste Gevaert (born 1828), musicologist

References

1. "Frans Schollaert". ODIS: Online Database for Intermediary Structures. ODIS vzw. 29 July 2015.
2. "Loi du 25 mai 1908 approuvant la Convention conclue à Bruxelles, le 16 octobre 1907, entre la Belgique et l'Allemagne pour la protection des oeuvres littéraires et artistiques". refLex. Council of State (Belgium). 25 May 1908.
3. "Loi du 18 octobre 1908 réalisant le transfert à la Belgique de l'Etat Indépendant du Congo". refLex. Council of State (Belgium). 18 October 1908.
4. https://uurl.kbr.be/1427500