John Cockerill (industrialist)
John Cockerill | |
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Belgian | |
Occupation | Industrialist |
John Cockerill (3 August 1790 – 9 June 1840) was an English-born industrialist who became a prominent businessman in
Life and career
At the age of twelve, John Cockerill was brought to Verviers (subsequently part of Belgium) by his father William Cockerill, who was successful as a machine builder there. In 1807, aged 17, he and his brother Charles James Cockerill took over the management of a factory in Liege.[1] Their father retired in 1813, leaving the management of his business to his sons.[2]
In September 1813, he married Jeanne Frédérique Pastor, the same day her sister Caroline married Charles James Cockerill.[3]
After the victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Prussian Minister of Finance, Peter Beuth, invited the Cockerill brothers to set up a woollens factory in Berlin.[1][4][5]
In 1814, the brothers bought the former palace of the Prince Bishops of Liege at Seraing.[6] The chateau became the plant headquarters and the ground behind it the factory site[7] (founded 1817); it was to become a vertically integrated iron foundry and machine manufacturing factory. William I of the Netherlands was joint owner of the plant.[1] A machine manufacturing plant was added in 1819, and in 1826 (begun 1823[8]) a coke fired blast furnace.[9] By 1840, the plant had sixteen steam engines producing total power 900 hp (670 kW) in continual work and employed 3000 persons.[2]
In 1823, his brother Charles James retired,[9] having been bought out by John in 1822.[10] After the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the new Kingdom of Belgium claimed the property of William I,[8] and in 1835, John Cockerill made himself the sole owner of the works.[1] He also was a founder of the Banque de Belgique,[8] in 1835.[11]
During John Cockerill's lifetime, the factories produced not only spinning engines and steel, but steam engines (including air-blowers, traction engines, and engines for ships);[12] in 1835, Belgium's first steam locomotive Le Belge was made.[13][14] He also had interests in collieries and mines, as well as factories producing cloth, linen and paper.[2]
In 1838/9, military tensions between Belgium and the Netherlands caused a rush on the banks for
Legacy
On his death, he had a reputation as a humanitarian employer and as the founder of the Belgian manufacturing industry.[8] His body was returned to Seraing in 1867, and a memorial was unveiled there in 1871.[1]
His company became the Société pour l'Exploitation des Etablissements John Cockerill (1842) and later Societe Anonyme Cockerill-Ougree (1955).
A monument to him and the industrial workers of Belgium stands in the centre of the Place du Luxembourg/Luxemburgplein in Brussels. On 1 February 2024, this monument was vandalised during a farmers' protest that took place in front of the European Parliament.[17][18]
Honours
- Knight of the Order of Leopold.[19]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 200.
- ^ a b c Chamber's Edinburgh Journal, Vol.8
- ^ Dr. Albert Blank. "Ausgewählte Familien und Personen". abrecht-blank.de (in German). John COCKERILL. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ISBN 9780416339901.
- ISBN 9780198025931.
- ^ Industria: architecture industrielle en Belgique, pp.28-31
- ^ A handbook for travellers on the continent: being a guide to Holland, Belgium, Prussia, northern Germany, and the Rhine from Holland to Switzerland. John Murray. 1860. SERAING, p.172.
- ^ a b c d A dictionary, geographical, statistical, and historical, of the various countries, places, and principal natural objects in the world, p.159
- ^ ISBN 9781873410844.
- ^ Rondo E. Cameron (1993). A concise economic history of the world: from Paleolithic times to the present. Oxford University Press US. p. 233.
- ^ Peter N. Stearns; William Leonard Langer (2001). The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1835 Bank of Belgium, p.451.
- ^ a b Société Anonyme John Cockerill, Albert Gieseler
- ^ "La Construction des LOCOMOTIVES à VAPEUR en Belgique". tassignon.be (in French).
- ^ "1835. " Le Belge " des ateliers Cockerill". users.skynet.be (in French). Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ^ Erik Buyst; Ivo Maes. "Central banking in 19th-century Belgium: was the NBB a lender of last resort?" (PDF). economix.u-paris10.fr. 3.1. The crisis of 1838: the government comes to the rescue, pp.8-10.[permanent dead link]
- ^ The new American cyclopædia, Vol.5 , p.420
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Times, The Brussels. "Farmers topple statue from John Cockerill monument in Place du Luxembourg". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ RD of 23.10.1836
Sources
- Robert Chambers; William Chambers (1840). "The Cockerills". Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. 8. W. Orr: 165–166.
- Similar biography also at either:
- Nursey, Perry Fairfax (1839). "The Cockerills of Liege". Iron: An Illustrated Weekly Journal for Iron and Steel Manufacturers, Metallurgists, Mine Proprietors, Engineers, Shipbuilders, Scientists, Capitalists... 31: 335–336.
- "The Cockerills of Liege". The Mechanics' Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal and Gazette. 31: 335–336. 6 April – 28 September 1839.
- Adriaan Linters (1986). Industria: architecture industrielle en Belgique (in French, Dutch, and English). Mauad Editora Ltda. ISBN 9782870092842.
- Albert Gieseler. "Société Anonyme John Cockerill". abert-gieseler.de (in German).
- John Ramsay M'Culloch (1866). A dictionary, geographical, statistical, and historical, of the various countries, places, and principal natural objects in the world. Liege, pp.158-159.
- John P. McKay (1970). "9. A Pioneering Inventor: The John Cockerill Company in Southern Russia 1185-1905". Pioneers for profit; foreign entrepreneurship and Russian industrialization, 1885-1913. University of Chicago Press. pp. 297–317. ISBN 9780226559926.
- George Ripley; Charles Anderson Dana (1869). The new American cyclopædia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge. Vol. 5. D. Appleton. COCKERILL John, p.420.
Further reading
- Fremdling, Rainer (1981). "John Cockerill: Pionierunternehmer der Belgische-Niederländische Industrialisierung". Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (in German). 26 (3): 179–193. S2CID 168721137.
External links
- "Die Region Lüttich". industriemuseen-emr.de (in German).
- "John Cockerill (1790-1840)". erih.net. European Route of Industrial Heritage.
- (in English) Hidden Monuments: John Cockerill Monument in the European District.
- (in English) Hidden Monuments: John Cockerill Monument in Seraing.