John Cockerill - Brussels, Belgium
N 50° 50.351 E 004° 22.361
31U E 596651 N 5632839
This statue of industrialist John Cockerill stands in the middle of Place du Luxembourg in Brussels, Belgium.
Waymark Code: WMMVWK
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Date Posted: 11/11/2014
Views: 7
ABOUT THE STATUE:
The statue was created by sculptor Armand Cattier and was placed in Place du Luxembourg in 1872. The monument consists of a bronze statue of John Cockerill atop a 4-sided stone pedestal. The pedestal is encircled near its top with a laurel wreath. On each side of the rectangular pedestal is a medallion that once contained the bronze likenesses of four of Cockerill's main collaborators whose names remain etched on the pedestal. On the corners of the pedestal are four workers (a blacksmith, a mechanic, a puddleur, and a coal miner) in bronze. On the front of the pedestal is the inscription "À John Cockerill, le père des ouvriers" [English: To John Cockerill, the father of the workers]. On the right side of the pedestal, it says "Intelligence" [English: Intelligence]. On the left side, it says "Travail" [English: Labor]. On the back of the pedestal are Cockerill's birth and death years "1790 -1840."
ABOUT THE MAN:
"John Cockerill (3 August 1790 – 9 June 1840) was a Belgian (born British) entrepreneur. Born at Haslingden, Lancashire, England, he was brought by his father William Cockerill to Belgium where he continued the family tradition of building wool processing machinery. He founded an ironworks and a mechanical engineering company John Cockerill & Cie. (English: John Cockerill & Company).
Legacy
On his death he had a reputation as a humanitarian employer and as the founder of the Belgian manufacturing industry. His body was returned to Seraing in 1867 and a memorial was unveiled there in 1871. A statue of him and the industrial workers of Belgium also stands in the Place du Luxembourg in Brussels.
His company became the Société pour l'Exploitation des Etablissements John Cockerill (1842) and later Societe Anonyme Cockerill-Ougree (1955). The steelmaking activities of the firm continued through various mergers, eventually becoming part of Cockerill-Sambre in 1981; the Cockerill name was retained until a 1998 merger with Usinor. Some mechanical engineering activities continued as Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie, which was split off as a separate company in the late 20th century."
--Wikipedia (
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