1888 in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1888 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold II
 * Prime Minister: Auguste Marie François Beernaert

Events

 * Belgian State Railways Type 12 taken into service.
 * 27 May – Provincial elections
 * 12 June – Partial legislative elections of 1888
 * August – Preaching of Charles Lavigerie in Brussels Minster inspires the founding of the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society
 * 26-27 August – Polydore de Keyser, Lord Mayor of London, visits Dendermonde

Publications

 * Periodicals
 * Het Laatste Nieuws begins publication


 * Studies
 * Theodore Low De Vinne, Christopher Plantin, and the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp (Grolier Club, New York)


 * Literature
 * J.-H. Rosny, Les Xipéhuz
 * Émile Verhaeren, Les Soirs and Les Débâcles

Art and architecture

 * Paintings
 * Robert Alott, Am Strand von Ostende
 * Théo van Rysselberghe, Portrait of Alice Sethe


 * Opera
 * Patrie! performed at Ghent (25 January) and Antwerp (6 March)

Births

 * 2 February – Valerius Coucke, biblical scholar (died 1951)
 * 19 February – Hector Tiberghien, cyclist (died 1951)
 * 29 February – Fanny Heldy, opera singer (died 1973)
 * 4 March – Charles Leirens, photographer and musician (died 1963)
 * 19 March – Léon Scieur, coureur cycliste (died 1969)
 * 23 May – Dieudonné Saive, small arms designer (died 1970)
 * 14 July – Odile Defraye, cyclist (died 1965)
 * 11 August – Paul Loicq, hockey administrator (died 1953)
 * 16 October – Émile Masson, cyclist (died 1973)
 * 2 December – Omer Verschoore, cyclist (died 1932)

Deaths

 * 8 January – Josephus Laurentius Dyckmans (born 1811), painter
 * 6 February – Gaston Errembault de Dudzeele (born 1819), diplomat
 * 17 July – Henricus Franciscus Bracq (born 1804), bishop of Ghent
 * 20 July – Henri de Braekeleer (born 1840), painter
 * 15 August – Alexandre Jamar (born 1821), businessman
 * 8 October – Jules d'Anethan (born 1803), politician