Martin Rutten
{{Short description|Belgian colonial civil servant and lawyer}}
{{about||the Dutch geologist, paleontologist, and biologist|Martin Gerard Rutten|the bishop of Liège|Martin-Hubert Rutten}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Martin Rutten
| birth_name = Martin Jean Marie René Rutten
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| office = Governor-General of the Belgian Congo
| term_start = 24 January 1923
| term_end = 27 December 1927
| monarch = Albert I
| predecessor = Maurice Lippens
| successor = Auguste Tilkens
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1876|6|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Clermont-sur-Berwinne, Belgium
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|12|31|1876|6|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Brussels, Belgium
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Martin Rutten (1876–1944) was a Belgian colonial civil servant and lawyer who served as Governor-General of the Belgian Congo from 1923 to 1927.
Biography
Martin Rutten was born in the village of Clermont-sur-Berwinne in Belgium's Province of Liège in 1876. His father was originally from Belgian Limburg and his mother was Walloon.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} Rutten studied Law, gaining a doctorate, and later practiced as a lawyer in Verviers.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}}
In 1901, Rutten enlisted in the colonial civil service as a magistrate.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} He was posted to Katanga Province and later sent to Bas-Congo to head the Prosecutor's Office (parquet général) at the Appeals Court in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa).{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} He was posted back to Katanga after the creation of a second appellate court at Élisabethville (now Lubumbashi) as prosecuting magistrate (procureur général).{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}}
In October 1918, Rutten was promoted to the rank of Vice-Governor General.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} For two years, he was given responsibility for the administration of Katanga. Rutten was appointed to Governor-General in 1923 following the resignation of Maurice Lippens after differences between him and the Ministry of the Colonies.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} Rutten's appointment marked a change in colonial policy as previously most governors had been selected from military backgrounds. Louis Franck, however, selected Rutten because of his civilian background and because of his long personal experience in the Congo.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=714}} His term coincided with trade union unrest among colonial civil servants. He returned to Belgium at the end of his term in 1927.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=715}}
In retirement, Rutten was involved in colonial associations in Belgium including the Royal Belgian Colonial Institute.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|p=715}} He retired definitively in 1934 and died in Brussels on 31 December 1944.{{sfn|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958|pp=714-5}}
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite encyclopedia|ref={{harvid|Biographie Coloniale Belge|1958}}| title = RUTTEN (Martin-Jean-Marie-René)| encyclopedia =Biographie Coloniale Belge| volume=5| url =http://www.kaowarsom.be/documents/bbom/Tome_V/Rutten.Martin_Jean_Marie_Rene.pdf| year =1958| publisher = Académie Royale des Sciences Coloniales| location =Brussels|pp=714-5}}
External links
- [http://www.congoposte.be/gouver_con.htm Gouverneurs du Congo]
- [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Congo-Kinshasa.html Congo (Kinshasa)]
- [https://archives.africamuseum.be/agents/people/143 Archive Martin Rutten], Royal Museum for Central Africa
{{Colonial heads of Congo}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutten, Martin}}
Category:19th-century Belgian lawyers
Category:20th-century Belgian civil servants
Category:Governors-general of the Belgian Congo
Category:People from Liège Province
Category:Governors of Katanga Province