Alphonse Engels (1880–1962), or A.L.R. Engels, was deputy governor-general of

Congo-Kasaï Congo-Kasaï was one of the four large provinces of the Belgian Congo defined in 1914. It was formally established in 1919, and in 1933 was divided into the new provinces of Léopoldville Province, Léopoldville and Lusambo Province, Lusambo. Lo ...

province in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

from 1924 to 1929.

Life

Alphonse Engels was born in 1880. He became a soldier by trade. He replaced

Georges Moulaert Georges Brunon Joseph Marie Moulaert (19 May 1875 – 17 September 1958) was a Belgian colonial administrator. He was deputy governor general of Équateur Province in the Belgian Congo from 1917 to 1919. Later he became a businessman, head of seve ...

as deputy governor-general of Équateur in 1919. On 25 October 1921 he was succeeded as governor by Charles Duchesne. Engels was deputy governor-general of Congo-Kasaï province in the

from 1924 to 1929. He replaced

Léon Guilain Bureau Léon Guilain Bureau (12 August 1869 – 8 September 1954) was a Belgian soldier who served in administrative roles in the Ottoman Empire and the Belgian Congo. Between 1918 and 1928 he was deputy governor general in turn of Congo-Kasaï and Katan ...

(1869–1944) as deputy governor-general of Congo-Kasaï in 1922. In 1925 he was made governor and deputy governor-general of the province. He left office on 19 June 1929, replaced by

Joseph Beernaert Joseph-Edouard-Louis Beernaert (21 April 1883 – 1950) was a Belgian soldier who reached the rank of Lieutenant-General. He was governor of the province of Congo-Kasaï in the Belgian Congo from 1925 to 1929. Early career (1883–1929) Joseph Be ...

. In September 1930 Engels was a member of a formal commission of inquiry into the conditions of laborers in the colony. Other members included Colonel Alexis Bertrand and Pierre Ryckmans, who had investigated the

Kilo-Moto Kilo-Moto is a region in the far northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where gold was discovered in the Ituri River by government prospectors in 1903. Moto is in the Haut-Uélé Province and Kilo in the Ituri Province. Loc ...

gold mines and the '' Huileries du Congo Belge'' (HCB). Later he became a member of the Commission for the Royal Belgian Colonial Institute's ''Belgian Colonial Biography''. He may have not been entirely impartial. When describing the very controversial

summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...

by the Belgian officer

Hubert Lothaire Hubert Joseph Lothaire ( Rochefort, 10 November 1865 – Ixelles, 8 May 1929) was a Belgian officer who served in the Force Publique of the Congo Free State. He started his military career as a lieutenant in the Belgian infantry, later he entere ...

of the British merchant Charles Stokes in 1895, Engels describes Lothaire as a valliant officer, while Stokes had played an infamous role. Engels died in 1962.

Publications

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Engels, Alphonse 1880 births 1962 deaths Governors of Équateur (former province) Governors of Kasaï (former province) Governors of provinces of the Belgian Congo Belgian colonial administrators Belgian Congo officials