biography
pronunciation:
[van howten]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1837–1930)
|
| biography:
| Dutch politician, born in Groningen, N Netherlands. He studied law at Groningen, joined the Municipal Council, and was an MP in 1869–94. From a Baptist family, he became progressively more anticlerical. He was on the left wing of the liberal party, opposed Thorbecke, and supported state help for the poor. In 1874 Van Houten's Children's Act (Kinderwet) banned child labour under the age of 12. He was minister of internal affairs from 1894–7 and his ‘qualified’ suffrage act in 1896 nearly doubled the number of voters and lasted until 1917. In 1904–7 he was a member of the Upper House. As he grew older he became more conservative, opposing universal suffrage, the welfare state, and equal funding for state and confessional schools. |
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