Events in the year 1831 in Belgium.
Incumbents
Monarch – Leopold I (from 21 July) Head of government – Etienne Constantin de Gerlache (27 February–10 March), Joseph Lebeau (10 March–24 July), Félix de Muelenaere (from 24 July)
Events February 3 February – Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours, elected king of the Belgians but declined the honour.William Henry Overall, The dictionary of chronology, or historical and statistical register (London, 1870), p. 76. 5 February – Jan van Speyk explodes his gunboat in the port of Antwerp 7 February – National Congress approves the Constitution of Belgium 27 February – Etienne Constantin de Gerlache takes office as head of government
March 10 March – Joseph Lebeau replaces Etienne Constantin de Gerlache as head of government
June 26 June – At the Conference of London the five great powers (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, Russia) finalise the Treaty of the Eighteen Articles, an unsuccessful peace proposal for Belgium and the Netherlands
July 12 July – Leopold, Prince of Coburg, elected king of the Belgians. 19 July – Leopold arrives in Brussels. 21 July – Leopold sworn in as King of the Belgians. 24 July – Félix de Muelenaere replaces Joseph Lebeau as head of government
August 2–12 August – Ten Days' Campaign – Dutch attempt to re-establish rule over Belgium fails, but Dutch forces retain control of Antwerp Citadel. 8 August – Battle of Hasselt 12 August – Battle of Leuven 29 August – Belgian general election, 1831, first elections for the Belgian Parliament
Publications Almanach de poche de Bruxelles (Brussels, M.-E. Rampelbergh)On Google Books Joseph Jean De Smet, Nouvelle géographie, second edition (Ghent, Vanryckgem-Hovaere)vol. 1 and vol. 2 on Google Books Auguste Voisin, Guide des voyageurs dans la ville de Gand, ou Notice historique sur cette ville, ses monumens, ses institutions, sa statistique, etc. (Ghent, Louis De Busscher)
Births 11 April – Euphrosine Beernaert, landscape painter (died 1901) 12 April – Constantin Meunier, painter and sculptor (died 1905) 25 April – Edmond Reusens, archaeologist (died 1903) 30 May – Louis Roersch, philologist (died 1891) 8 July – Antoine-Félix Bouré, monumental sculptor (died 1883) 29 July – Léopold Harzé, sculptor (died 1893) 26 September – François-Joseph Scohy, archaeologist (died 1881) 30 September – Joseph Delboeuf, psychologist (died 1896)
Deaths
15 January – François de Méan (born 1756), archbishop of Mechelen 27 March – Jean Kickx (born 1775), botanist and mineralogist 5 April – Pierre Léonard Vander Linden (born 1797), entomologist 21 November – Marie Anne Simonis (born 1758), industrialist
References