biography
| name: |
Donker Curtius, Dirk
|
pronunciation:
[donker kerteeus]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1792–1864)
|
| biography:
| Dutch Liberal politician and prime minister (1848–9), born in 's-Hertogenbosch, S Netherlands. He trained as a lawyer and attracted attention for his advocacy in cases with political implication. Anti-French, his protests, when recruited into the ‘Gardes d'honneur’, caused his imprisonment in Metz, from where he escaped in 1813. In 1840 he published a design for a new constitution, even more monarchist than J R Thorbecke. In 1848 he became minister of justice after serving on a constitutional commission, and later prime minister (1848–9). He was replaced by Thorbecke after an unsuccessful attempt to abolish capital punishment, but returned as minister of internal affairs (1853–6) and was made minister of state on retirement. |
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