BULS Charles Gommaire François was born in Brussels on 13 October 1837 at 11 o'clock in the evening, son of BULS Charles Jacques and HELLEMANS Anne Thérèse Joséphine.
Birth certificate for BULS Charles Gommaire Joseph
His father, a well-known goldsmith in Brussels, allowed him to study at an athénée. A goldsmith like his father, he was a literate self-taught man and a traveller; he crossed Europe. In 1864 he founded the Ligue de l'Enseignement, and was a representative from 1882 to 1914 and from 1886 to 1884. In 1877, he ran for political office and was appointed local councillor in 1877. His rise to the top began in 1877, when on 8 February 1879 he was appointed alderman for public education, a post he fulfilled to the best of his ability, and in 1881 he took up the post of burgomaster of Brussels from 1891 to 1899.
He is also attached to the model school, the labour exchange, the first workers' housing, town planning and the restoration of the Grand-Place. He published travelogues as well as L'Esthétique des villes, La Restauration des monuments anciens, L'Isolation des vieilles églises, etc. He was also an art critic. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium.
Charles BULS died a few days before the outbreak of the 1st World War on 13 July 1914 (his death certificate is not yet available). A will in his own hand, dated 3 June 1888, was found at the deceased's home in the rue du Beau-Site: "I want to be buried civilly in privacy, without any speeches".
At a meeting on 14 July 1914, Mayor Adolphe MAX invited the Council to decide that a monument be erected by the City of Brussels. In his last will and testament, the deceased stipulated that no sign should adorn his grave. The site was not chosen until 1917, and the city administration decided to plant flowers and maintain a small garden as for military graves.
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Sources :
BULS Charles, Le petit dictionnaire des Belges, Le cri RTBF 1993, p 88
Cécilia VANDERVELDE, la nécrople de Bruxelles, Commission d'Histoire de l'Europe, 1991, p36
