Francois-Josef Sepulchre
Francois-Josef Sepulchre (1825-1912)
1912 Obituary [1]
FRANCOIS-JOSEF SEPULCHRE died on June 20, 1912, at his residence at Tournant St. Paul, Liege, Belgium, at the age of eighty-seven. He was born in Solieres in 1825, and his family was one of the most distinguished and best known of the old Walloon families. He was educated at the Communal College at Huy, and became a student at the University of Liege at the early age of fifteen. He obtained a diploma in mining, and subsequently took up agriculture, and became assistant secretary of the Agricultural Society of Eastern Belgium.
Shortly afterwards, in 1848, he obtained the then newly created degree of an Honorary Engineer of Mines, and was for some time a pupil of the late Mr. A. Dumont, of Liege. He then obtained an appointment at the Sautour Mine, and, in 1858, he was associated with his brother, Josef Sepulchre, in the establishment of the Societe Anonyme de Vezin Aulnoye.
In 1865 the brothers Sepulchre, of whom there were several—Henry Sepulchre, Victor Sepulchre, and the eldest, Josef Sepulchre (who died in 1882)—built the Maxeville Blast Furnaces, near Nancy, and, in the following year, acquired the Forges et Laminoirs du Tilleul, at Maubeuge. To their previous acquisitions the Forges et Laminoirs de Saint Marcel, at Hautmont, were added in 1869, and in 1898 they established the large and important Acieries de Homecourt.
Mr. Sepulchre's favourite study was that of geology, in which, in combination with mine surveying, he evinced the deepest interest.
With his brother Victor he was associated in the discovery and development of the, iron-ore deposits of Briey. He was also an authority on oligists of Vezin Aulnoye, which he was the first to employ in the manufacture of iron.
Despite his many commercial activities, he found time to serve his fellow-countrymen in the capacity of Burgomaster at Havelange, which post he occupied for many years.
He was also a Knight of the Order of Leopold. During his whole career he took an active part in the social and religious life of his district, and his benefactions were numerous and unstinted. He was a member of the Association des Ingenieurs sortis de l'Ecole de Liege, of which he was the oldest member, and was appointed a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1875.