Johan Alfried de Laet

Jan Alfried de Laet was born in Antwerp on 13 December 1815. Qualified as a doctor in 1839, he practised little and turned to journalism; in 1844, he edited the first Flemish daily, which disappeared the same year. He made his fortune from 1854 with an industrial bakery. Elected deputy for Antwerp in 1863, he was the first to take the oath in Dutch in the Chamber, where he sat until his death; in 1865, a debate with the Minister of War led as far as a duel. His proposal on the language of the administration became law in 1878. He died in Antwerp on 22 April 1891.

In the catalogue 1

• PoetryGedichtenJohan Alfried de Laet · 1848not translated into EnglishLiteraturePublic domain