Sylvain Van de Weyer

Jean-Sylvain Van de Weyer (19 January 1802 – 23 May 1874) was a

_{Monsr. & Madame Van de Weyer, in the 1860s.}

Van de Weyer was born in Louvain on 19 January 1802. He was the son of Josse-Alexandre Van de Weyer (1769–1838) and Françoise Martine (

As a lawyer, he frequently defended newspapers and journalists that had fallen foul of the government of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, of which modern Belgium then formed the southern half.

On the outbreak of the

He was a founding member of the first Société des douze.

Personal life

On 12 February 1839, he married Elizabeth Anne Sturgis Bates (1817–1878), the only daughter of Joshua Bates of Barings Bank, and formerly of Boston.^[7] She has a brother, William Rufus Gray Bates, who died at a young age.^[8] Together, they had two sons and five daughters, who were brought up in Marylebone and on their country estate, New Lodge, in the parish of Winkfield in Berkshire:

• Lt. Colonel Victor William Bates Van de Weyer (1839–1915), educated at Eton, married to Lady Emily Georgiana (1846–1932), daughter of William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven.^[9]
• Victoria Alexandrina Leopoldine van de Weyer (1841–1865),^[10] married to Henry Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden (1841–1906) on 21 January 1864.^[11]
• Albert Sylvain Bates Van de Weyer (1845–1874), an Adjutant in the Grenadier Guards.^[9]
• Evelyn Elizabeth Sturgis Van de Weyer (1847–1853), who died young.
• Louise Van de Weyer (died 1896), a friend of Princess Louise,^[4] daughter of Queen Victoria.^[12]
• Alice Emma Sturgis Van de Weyer (1856–1926), who married Maj. Hon. Charles Brand (1855–1912), fourth son of
  Henry Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden, on 15 August 1878.^[9]
• Eleanor Van de Weyer (1865–1940), who married
  MP for Penryn and Falmouth, in 1879.^[9]

Through his son Victor, he was the grandfather of Major William John Bates van de Weyer (1870–1946), who was responsible for Buddleja × weyeriana. William married Hon. Olive Elizabeth Wingfield, eldest daughter of Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt.^[14][15]

Through his daughter Alice, he was the grandfather of Ruth Brand (d. 1967), who married John Dodson, 2nd Baron Monk Bretton (parents of John Dodson, 3rd Baron Monk Bretton); Lt.-Col. John Charles Brand (1885–1929), who married Lady Rosabelle Millicent St. Clair-Erskine, the daughter of James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn.

Through his youngest daughter, he was the grandfather of Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher (1881–1963);^[16] Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett (1882–1934),^[17] who married the famous musical theatre actress Zena Dare;^[18] Dorothy Brett (1883–1977), who was a painter and member of the Bloomsbury Group;^[19] and Sylvia Brett (1885–1971), who became the last Ranee of Sarawak on 24 May 1917, following the proclamation of her husband Charles Vyner Brooke as Rajah.^[20]

Honours and arms

•  Belgium: Croix de Fer.
•  Belgium: Minister of State, By Royal Decree.^[21]
•  Belgium: Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold.
•  Kingdom of Italy: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.
•  Spain: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Charles III.
•  
  Order of the Tower and Sword
  .
•  Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Knight Grand Cross in the Saxe-Ernestine House Order.^[22]
•  France: Commander of the Legion of Honour.

Coat of arms of Sylvain Van de Weyer

Escutcheon Gules, 3 fleurs de lis argent couped, accompanied in chief by a label of three points azure.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sylvain Van de Weyer.

• Biographie Nationale de Belgique, by Herman Vander Linden, vol. 27, 1938, col. 245–273;
• Photograph of Jean-Sylvain Van de Weyer by the Southwell Brothers of London.
• Portrait of his wife, Van de Weyer, Elizabeth Anne Sturgis Bates, 1817–1878. at
  The Library Company of Philadelphia
  .
• The Belgian Archives and the Van de Weyer Papers at Boston University.
• Posthumous miniature, by William Charles Bell, of Van de Weyer in the Royal Collection
• Sylvain Van de Weyer at Stad Leuven (in Dutch)

Bibliography

• J. BARTELOUS, Nos premiers ministres de Léopold Ier à Albert Ier 1831–1934, Bruxelles, Collet, 1983.

Political offices
Preceded by Jean-Baptiste Nothomb	Prime Minister of Belgium 1845–1846	Succeeded by Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt