1905 in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1905 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

 * Monarch: Leopold II
 * Prime Minister: Paul de Smet de Naeyer

Events

 * February
 * 5 February – General strike in Belgian coal fields begins.
 * 10 February – Belgian Labour Party provides striking miners with 12.5 francs each in strike pay.


 * March
 * 1 March – Art association Kunst van Heden founded in Antwerp.
 * 11 March – General strike in the coal fields ends.


 * April
 * 27 April – Opening of the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège.
 * 30 April – First international football fixture between Belgium and the Netherlands held in Antwerp; Dutch win 1–4.
 * May
 * 1 May – Season of events to celebrate 75th anniversary of Belgian independence opened.
 * 7 May – Belgians win international football fixture against France in Brussels, 7–0.


 * June
 * 23 June – Strikes for shorter hours in Ghent textile mills.


 * July
 * 26 July – Law promulgated making Sunday an obligatory day of rest in trade and industry.
 * 27 July – Edward Joris arrested in Istanbul for his part in the Yıldız assassination attempt.


 * August
 * 1 to 6 August – 1905 European Rowing Championships held on the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal in Ghent.
 * 12 August – King opens new sports stadium in Antwerp.


 * September
 * 27 September – King ceremonially opens Arcade du Cinquantenaire in Brussels.


 * October
 * 12 October – First stone of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels laid.


 * November
 * 5 November – Independent committee of enquiry into abuses in the Congo Free State, set up in response to the publication of the Casement Report the previous year, releases its findings.
 * 6 November – Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège closes.
 * 12 November – Formal opening of the Belgian-engineered Beijing–Hankou railway.
 * 25 November – Christian democrats obtain episcopal recognition as a Catholic organisation.
 * 30 November – Walloon Congress in Liège to promote the culture of French-speaking Belgium and to oppose the movement for greater use of Dutch in public life.

Publications

 * La Nation Belge, 1830-1905, conférences jubilaires faites à l’Exposition Universelle et internationale de Liège en 1905 (Liège, Ch. Desoer & Brussels, P. Weissenbruch)


 * Periodicals
 * La Belgique Artistique et Littéraire begins publication.


 * Scholarship
 * Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 18.
 * Ernest Closson, Chansons populaires des provinces belges (Brussels, Mainz, London, Leipzig)
 * Alphonse Dubois, Remarques sur l'ornithologie de l'État indépendant du Congo
 * Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert, La Renaissance septentrionale et les premiers maitres des Flandres (Brussels, Librarie Nationale d'Art et d'Histoire)
 * Godefroid Kurth, La Patrie Belge: 75è Anniversaire de l'Indépendance Nationale (Namur)
 * Joseph Van den Gheyn, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, vol. 5.
 * Joseph Van den Gheyn, La préhistoire en Belgique (1830-1905) (1905)


 * Literature
 * Mark Twain, King Leopold's Soliloquy (Boston)
 * Émile Verhaeren, Les heures d'après-midi (Brussels, Edmond Deman)

Art and architecture

 * Exhibitions
 * 15 July to 2 November – Retrospective of Belgian art, 1830-1905, Brussels


 * Sculpture
 * Constantin Meunier, The Docker


 * Buildings
 * Victor Horta, Magasins Waucquez
 * Gédéon Bordiau and Charles Girault, Arcade du Cinquantenaire, Brussels

Births

 * 15 January – Jean Van Buggenhout, cyclist (died 1974)
 * 10 March – René Bernier, composer (died 1984)
 * 28 March – Jenny Toitgans, athlete
 * 1 April – Gaston Eyskens, politician (died 1988)
 * 3 April – Georges Lemaire, cyclist (died 1933)
 * 10 April – Edgard Viseur, athlete
 * 4 May – Désiré Acket, painter (died 1987)
 * 21 June – Alfred De Taeye, politician (died 1958)
 * 6 July – Suzanne Spaak, resistance operative (died 1944)
 * 22 October – Maurice Geldhof, cyclist (died 1970)
 * 17 November – Astrid of Sweden, Queen of the Belgians (died 1935)
 * 27 November – Daniel Sternefeld, composer (died 1986)
 * 18 December – Jane Graverol, painter (died 1984)

Deaths

 * 9 March – Paul Costermans (born 1860), deputy governor general of the Congo Free State, by his own hand
 * 4 April – Constantin Meunier (born 1831), painter and sculptor
 * 9 April – Léon d'Andrimont (born 1836), politician
 * 23 April – Théodore Nilis (born 1851), colonial official
 * 6 August – Léo Errera (born 1858), plant physiologist
 * 10 August – Georges Nagelmackers (born 1845), engineer and entrepreneur
 * 17 November – Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (born 1837), heir presumptive to the Belgian throne.
 * 12 December – Reimond Stijns (born 1850), writer