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Count Philippe de Lannoy

1922–2019

Born
14 Aug 1922, Brussels
Country of birth
Belgium
Died
10 Jan 2019
facts
5
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth14 Aug 1922, BrusselsProbable1 source
  • Death10 Jan 2019Probable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Brussels

    Birth, Brussels

  2. Child born: Stéphanie, Grand Duchess Consort of Luxembourg

    Birth, Ronse

  3. Died

    Death

What was it like?

The world around Brussels, 1922: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Count was born the same year as Judy Garland, Christopher Lee, and Doris Day.

Born the same year

  • Judy Garland

    American actress, singer, dancer and vaudevillian (1922–1969)

  • Christopher Lee

    English actor and singer (1922–2015)

  • Doris Day

    American actress and singer (1922–2019)

  • Ademir de Menezes

    Brazilian footballer (1922–1996)

  • José Saramago

    Portuguese novelist (1922–2010)

  • Kurt Vonnegut

    American author (1922–2007)

Fashion

First Communion Fashion Constraints

For a girl's First Communion, mothers pressured shopkeepers to pull corsets tighter to make her waist look as slender as possible. Girls also wore tight new shoes to make their feet appear smaller.

Sunday Best in Rural Flanders

Rural Flemish men often wore a shiny blue blouse called a kiel for their Sunday best, while women donned traditional regional caps.

Music

Dancing and social life for youth

Young people often went dancing at age 16 or 17, and many young women relied on partners to pay for drinks because they only had about 10 francs in pocket money.

The rise of jazz culture

Jazz became a major craze in the 1920s and 1930s, with Belgian cities hosting their first jazz concerts and tournaments for amateur dance orchestras.

Getting around
Around 1926–1926

Train travel times between Belgian cities

In 1926, a non-stop express train connected Brussels and Antwerp in 40 minutes, while a journey from Brussels to Cologne took 5 to 6 hours.

Daily life

Home life without electricity

Houses were dark, relied on coal stoves for warmth and cooking, and lacked electricity until around 1904-1912. People often used portable lamps or gas burners for light, and coal was delivered through cellar vents.

Manual labor and domestic education

Housework was labor-intensive, with simple meals taking hours to prepare, often involving grinding coffee by hand. Household schools were established to teach young girls domestic skills like bread baking and preparing meals.

Prices and wages

Brussels household expenditure breakdown 1922-1927

In the Brussels retail price index, food accounted for nearly half (49 percent) of the measured expenses, while housing made up 23 percent and clothing 10.4 percent during the 1922-1927 period.

Around 1926–1926

Retail price index surge, 1926

During the post-war inflation period in Brussels, the retail price index reached 750 in 1926, which was 7.5 times higher than the pre-war level.

Work

Apprentice and cleaning wages in Brussels

A typographer's daughter in apprenticeship earned 25 centimes per day, while a cleaning woman hired for half a day on Saturday was paid 3 francs.

Cost of beer in workers' taverns

Beer was a staple for workers, sold in taverns for 12 centimes per glass (3-4 deciliters) or 24 centimes per liter from the barrel.

News and letters

Dedicated Belgian postmen found recipients easily

Belgian postmen were exceptionally dedicated, often delivering letters addressed only with a person's name and the city, such as "Brussels," by using police registries to locate the recipient.

Tipping customs for Belgian postmen

It was customary to give the postman a small tip of three or four sous for delivering registered letters, and they received small gifts during the New Year.

During their lifetime

  1. 1935

    First electric railway line opened

    On May 5, 1935, the national railway company opened Belgium's first electric line between Brussels-Nord and Antwerp-Central.

  2. 1944

    Operation Gutt currency reform

    Following the liberation of Brussels in October 1944, the government carried out Operation Gutt to exchange existing banknotes and curb post-war inflation.

  3. 1956

    First nuclear chain reaction achieved in Belgium

    Belgium successfully achieved its first controlled nuclear chain reaction at the BR 1 research reactor in Mol.

  4. 1958

    Brussels hosts World Fair Expo 58

    The World Fair in Brussels, Expo 58, modernized the country and introduced citizens to a new era of global possibilities.

  5. 1962

    First nuclear electricity connected to grid

    The BR 3 reactor, Belgium's first electricity-producing nuclear reactor, was connected to the power grid.

  6. 1974

    Ban on non-EEC labour immigration imposed

    Following the oil crisis, the Belgian government imposed a ban on unskilled labour immigration from non-EEC countries.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.