| AdminHistory | Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier (1797 – 1878) was a Belgian botanist and Member of Parliament.
Dumortier was born on 3 April 1797 at Tournai to the merchant and city councillor Barthélemy-François Dumortier and his wife, Mariue-Jeanne Willaumez. In the early 1820s, Dumortier published his first contribution to botany and in 1827 he published a complete national flora, the 'Florula Belgica'. In 1829 Dumortier he became a member of the Académie de Bruxelles and studied botany and zoology. In 1862, the Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique was created and Dumortier became its president. He was instrumental in turning the Brussels' botanic garden, previously run by a company, in to a state-owned botanic garden in the capital. He persuaded Parliament in 1869 to buy the herbarium and dried collections of the late Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. A few months later the state bought the garden of the 'Société Royale d’Horticulture de Belgique'. In 1831, Dumortier became a member of the first elected parliament of the new kingdom, as the member for Tournai. He remained elected until 1847. He then switched seats, and was elected for the city of Roulers and held this seat until his death on 9 June 1878. In 1872 he was awarded the honorary title of Minister of State. He married Philippine Ruteau and they had a son, Barthélemy-Noël Dumortier (1830-1915). |