Skip to content
VitrineRoyal Houses of Europe
Sign in

Georg von Eppinghoven

1849–1904

Born
14 Nov 1849, Liège
Country of birth
Belgium
Died
3 Feb 1904
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Liège

    Birth, Liège

  2. Died

    Death

What was it like?

The world around Liège, 1849: 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.

Georg was born around the same time as Robert Louis Stevenson, Mihai Eminescu, and Otto Lilienthal.

Born around the same time

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

    1850 · Scottish novelist and poet (1850–1894)

  • Mihai Eminescu

    1850 · Romanian poet, novelist and journalist (1850-1889)

  • Otto Lilienthal

    1848 · German aviation pioneer (1848-1896)

  • W. G. Grace

    1848 · English amateur cricketer (1848-1915)

  • Octave Mirbeau

    1848 · French writer, art critic and journalist (1848–1917)

  • Guy de Maupassant

    1850 · French writer (1850-1893)

Fashion

The blue sarrau work blouse

Ordinary working-class and agricultural men commonly wore a sarrau, a loose, knee-length blue blouse made of linen or hemp, often over other garments. It served as a protective outer layer, sometimes worn with a black cotton cap and a red scarf with white polka dots.

Women's festive and daily dress

Women typically wore a solid-colored bodice, a long skirt made of thick cotton, and a white cotton petticoat with lace. For feast days and Sundays, they enhanced this ensemble with a black silk apron and black or brown buttoned boots.

Music
Around 1850–1850

Fashionable dance: The Troïka

Around 1850, a dance figure known as the Troïka—a type of Schottische—became very fashionable, involving dancers performing polka steps in large circles.

Festivities rewarded with small coins

Lacemakers celebrated Saint Anne’s Day with singing, dancing, and picnics, often earning a small reward of five centimes from their teachers for the occasion.

Getting around
Around 1845–1845

Local transport from train stations

Upon arriving at a railway station, travelers could hire an omnibus or a one-horse carriage known as a vigilante to reach their final destination. An omnibus with 14 to 20 seats cost 50 centimes, though it was often slower than walking due to frequent stops at inns.

Tow barges for reliable canal travel

Before the railway, tow barges drawn by horses were a primary, reliable, and punctual way to travel between towns along waterways. They moved at a slow speed of 3 to 4 km per hour, but maintained a strict schedule that did not wait for latecomers.

Daily life

Access to household water via wells

Water for households was typically drawn from private wells on farms or communal wells found within the villages.

Lighting homes with oil and water carafes

Homes were often illuminated by oil lamps (lamponnette) or candles placed in glass lanterns, while on dark days, workers used a spherical water carafe to concentrate candlelight.

Food

A Simple Diet of Potatoes and Rye

Ordinary workers relied on a simple diet primarily consisting of potatoes and rye bread, with meat, butter, and fish being rare luxuries. During times of crisis, families struggled to afford even these basics, sometimes spending three-quarters of their income just on food.

Cheap Mussels as a Staple Food

In poor neighborhoods, raw mussels were an exceptionally cheap source of protein, costing only two and a half centimes for a hundred. Some families, like those in the Blandijnberg area, relied on this affordable food and deep-pumped well water to survive.

Prices and wages
Around 1846–1846

Cost of bread for workers

In 1846, the price of a kilogram of household bread in Brussels was 37 centimes, which consumed roughly one-quarter of a typical worker's daily income.

Around 1846–1846

Meat prices in 1846

In 1846, beef cost 0.94 francs per kilogram and pork cost 1.06 francs per kilogram.

Work

Children at work and unusual trade

Children as young as 10 or 11 worked in weeding gangs or textile factories to supplement meager family incomes. Verviers textile workers often lived in cramped conditions, where families sold their urine to collectors to be used for degreasing wool.

Long working days in factories

Factory workers typically endured working days of 12 to 14 hours, six days a week, often starting at 5 a.m. and finishing as late as 7 or 8 p.m. In some industrial plants, shifts reached as long as 15 to 16 hours.

News and letters
Around 1851–1851

Cost of telegrams by distance

In 1851, sending a 20-word telegram cost 2.50 francs for distances up to 75 kilometers, 5 francs for 200 kilometers, and 7.50 francs for greater distances.

Trains used for mail delivery

Belgium was the first country on the continent to use trains for mail delivery, beginning with a trial route between Brussels and Antwerp in 1840.

During their lifetime

  1. 1851

    First Belgian banknotes introduced

    The National Bank of Belgium issued its first banknotes in 1851, changing how people handled money.

  2. 1866

    Cholera epidemic in major cities

    A severe cholera pandemic struck Belgian cities including Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp in 1866.

  3. 1869

    Cheap worker train tickets introduced

    Belgian railways began offering cheap season tickets for workers in 1869, making commuting more accessible.

  4. 1879

    Arrival of the telephone

    The telephone arrived in Belgium between 1879 and 1883, transforming communication in the Belle Epoque.

  5. 1894

    Universal male suffrage adopted

    Belgium adopted universal male suffrage in 1894, although with a plural voting system based on wealth or education.

  6. 1899

    Proportional representation law passed

    A law introducing proportional representation for elections was passed in Belgium in 1899.

Family

Parents

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.