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Henri Baels

Ostend, 18 Jan 1878 – Ostend, 15 Jun 1951

8 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

  • Born18 Jan 1878, Ostendnot verified1 source
  • MarriedAnne Marie de Visschernot verified1 source
  • Titlemember of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgiumnot verified1 source
  • Died15 Jun 1951, Ostendor 14 Jun 1951Records disagree1 source

A life in time

  1. 18 Jan 1878

    Born in Ostend

  2. 28 Nov 1916

    A daughter is born

  3. 15 Jun 1951

    Dies in Ostend, aged 73

Family

See the tree

Partner

Children · 1

During his lifetime

He lived through 9 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Ostend.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1870s · Henri is born in Ostend

In the news1879–1883

Arrival of the telephone

The telephone arrived in Belgium between 1879 and 1883, transforming communication in the Belle Epoque.

Getting around

A Long Journey to the Coast

To travel from Brussels to Ostend, one had to take a stagecoach to Ghent in the middle of the night, ride a canal boat to Bruges, and transfer to another canal boat to reach Ostend by evening.

At the table

Cheap Mussels for the Poor

In the 1800s, mussels were a very affordable food for the poor, costing as little as two and a half centimes for a hundred.

Italy is unified. Garibaldi, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel joined the Italian states into one kingdom, with Rome its capital from 1871.In Europe · 1859–1871

Italy is unified. Garibaldi, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel joined the Italian states into one kingdom, with Rome its capital from 1871.

Baldassare Verazzi (1819-1886) · public domain

What people wore

Festive Sunday attire for rural Belgians

Rural residents typically owned one set of festive Sunday clothes used for both church services and mourning. Men often wore a shiny blue smock on Sundays, while women wore a traditional regional cap.

Music

Late night dancing at Kermesse fairs

During the Kermesse fair, villagers danced in public houses until 2 or 3 in the morning, accompanied by a band or barrel-organ music.

Daily life

Crowded worker housing near Brussels

In some workers' homes near Brussels, a family of nine lived and slept in a small room barely larger than the space occupied by their two looms. They kept their food and live rabbits in a tiny adjacent space, where the family also slept on a mattress suspended above a loom.