Jean-Joseph Norbert Metz (2 February 1811 – 28 November 1885) was a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

ish politician and engineer. With his two brothers, members of the powerful Metz family,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

and Auguste, Metz defined political and economic life in Luxembourg in the mid-nineteenth century. Metz was the leading 'quarante huitards': the

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

liberals responsible for the promulgation of Luxembourg's constitution in 1848. He was appointed by the King to the Assembly of the States in 1842, representing the canton of Capellen. He was then elected to represent Capellen on the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected ...

, in 1848. Pro-

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

and anti-

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire ...

, after the first elections, Metz was appointed Administrator-General for Finances and Administrator-General for Military Affairs. On 21 May 1834, he married the 21-year-old Marie-Barbe-Philippe-Eugénie Tesch, who had three children before dying on 29 January 1845. He remarried to Tesch's eighteen-year-old cousin, Marie-Suzanne-Albertine Tesch on 7 November 1850.Mersch (1963), p. 373 One of his children was

Émile Metz Émile Metz (23 February 1835 - 13 February 1904) was a Luxembourgish politician, industrialist and engineer. He was the eldest son of Norbert Metz. Born in Eich in 1835, he studied engineering in Paris, then proceeded to work for Waring Brothe ...

Industrialist

When his two brothers died within a short period of time (Charles in 1853 and Auguste in 1854), Norbert Metz withdrew from politics, to devote himself entirely to his business activities: Norbert Metz's activities were diverse: * He was a miller, and in 1837 was head of the mill consortium of the ''Société d'Industrie''. * In

Arlon Arlon (; lb, Arel ; nl, Aarlen ; german: Arel ; wa, Årlon; la, Orolaunum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in and capital of the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it is th ...

, he owned part of a tobacco factory. * He additionally had links to construction businesses. * With his brother, Auguste, he founded and managed the Berbourg foundry from 1837 . * In 1843 Auguste Metz received authorisation to process iron ore. However, it was not until 1847 that the '' minette ''(low-quality ore) of Esch was used in the coke furnaces of their Eich foundry (Forges d'Eich). *

Henry Bessemer Sir Henry Bessemer (19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898) was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. He ...

's invention made possible the boom in the steelworking business of Auguste and Norbert Metz. * In 1871, the Metz foundry (later Arbed Esch-Schifflange) was founded. * Through a merger with the other foundries, in 1911

ARBED The Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange (French; literally "United Steelworks of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange"), better known by its acronym ARBED, was a major Luxembourg-based steel and iron producing company. Created in 1911 after the merge ...

was founded, after Norbert Metz's death. Additionally, through the ''Fondation Norbert Metz'', he and his family contributed much to the establishment of the Eich hospital.

Footnotes

References

* * , - Ministers for Finances of Luxembourg Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Luxembourg Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Luxembourgian politicians Luxembourgian engineers Luxembourgian classical liberals Norbert Metz 1811 births 1885 deaths People from Luxembourg City Steel industry of Luxembourg {{Luxembourg-politician-stub