Marie Anne Simonis (17 January 1758 21 November 1831), known as ''"La Grande Madame"'', was a Belgian textile industrialist. She played an important part in the

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

of what is now Belgium. Together with her brother, Iwan Simonis, she introduced the mechanization of the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

in the territory by adopting the inventions of the British textile industry, such as the

Spinning Jenny The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan ...

Life

Marie Anne Simonis was born in

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

on 17 January 1758. On 11 December 1777 she married the textile industrialist Jean-François Biolley (1755-1822), the head of the Biolley firm. She took control over her spouse's company due to his health condition. Showing hospitality to French refugees after the outbreak of the French Revolution, with the French invasion of the

Prince-bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as ...

she became a refugee herself in 1795, first moving to Brunswick and later

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. Returning to Verviers when matters had quietened down, she became closely associate with William Cockerill, who produced machines for her husband's factory. Out of concern for the condition of her workers, she founded schools and hospitals for the poor. She died at Hodbomont Castle, in the municipality of

Theux Theux (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 11,571 inhabitants. The total area is 83.36 km2, giving a population density of 139 inhabitants per km2. The mun ...

, on 21 November 1831.G. Dewalque, "Biolley, Marie-Anne", ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (; ) is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ''Nouvelle Biographie Nationale'' (, ...

'', vol. 2 (Brussels, 1868), 433-436.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonis, Marie Anne 1758 births 1831 deaths People from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège Businesspeople from the Austrian Netherlands 19th-century Belgian businesswomen 19th-century Belgian businesspeople People of the Industrial Revolution People from Verviers Women from the Austrian Netherlands 18th-century businesswomen